Casting In Organics

During my apprenticeship in Arizona, I was lucky to work under two talented goldsmiths, Summer and Tim. The other day I was reminiscing on my time spent learning under their guidance, and while it was focused on engagement ring finishing, Tim would share stories from his youth, working in jewelry. Tim came up with a lot of Native American jewelers. As his specialty was castings, he would bring the vision to life. Tim was a bit brittle, which I found charming, and he didn’t talk about anything he didn’t want to. Over time, I curried his favor, maybe it was the way I swept the “clean room” (dirtiest place in a shop), but slowly he would elaborate more and more on the answers to my questions about jewelry making that not was directly related to the work we did in-house. That is where today’s adventures sprouted from. The significant line I recalled was, “You can cast into any organic for texture.” Today I did just that, with noodles! As my girlfriend and I celebrate our anniversary today, I recall that before we met, I had a stockpile of pasta. My lovely Paige has Celiac Disease, so I haven’t had a need to tap into that stockpile and it was subsequently pushed to the depths of our cabinets. While the smell of dry burnt pasta is now embedded into my clothing and hair, the results were fascinating and thought-provoking. I’m excited to explore textures from organics in the future, I feel they could make great pendants/ rings/ chain links.

-Caleb William Jewelers