Adornments: Jewelry & Tattoos

Dublin Core

Title

Adornments: Jewelry & Tattoos

Creator

Holzapfel, Michelle, 1951-

Identifier

MH_310

Description

I’ve often referred to my materials--especially burls and spalted woods--as ‘gems.’ And my work is akin to that of the lapidary: burls are rare, and must be cut skillfully to reveal their best features. But unlike gemstones, minerals and metals, wood is warm and vegetal, in the venacular of domesticity, less precious because subject to decay.

Transposing the functions of jewellery from the person to the personal space--the realm of furniture/furnishings--is an exercise in scale: the locket becomes a cabinet, beads become bowls. When adorning personal space the functions of protection, concealment, display, devotion and delight can all be fulfilled on a larger scale.



I observed a row of my vases, and was struck by the idea that they resembled a string of beads--thus the necessity of making my turned forms into a large-scale necklace seized me. I've often referred to my materials--especially burls and spalted woods--as 'gems.' And my work is akin to that of the lapidary: burls are rare, and must be cut skillfully to reveal their best features. These pieces enrich the grammar of woodworking with the visual vocabulary of jewelery-making.
Jewellery often symbolizes commitment and commemorates rites of passage and echoes the bonds of family and community which may both secure and chafe. Jewellery serves a broad spectrum of needs: functional clasps and buckles; sentimental portraits in lockets; the chatelaine for domestic duty, the signet ring for official duty; military badges worn over the heart, poison rings; the brideprice coin necklace, luxurious teardrop pearl earrings; protective amulets and charms; and the burial crucifix for the after-life. Ornaments reflect all the vanity and gravity of existence.
The materials of personal adornment range from ephemeral pigments, leaves and flowers to indestructible diamonds and immutable gold. The jeweller makes use of the animal (tortoiseshell, pearl, coral, and ivory), and vegetable (amber, ebony, sandalwood, and tagua nut). But quintessentially, jewellery is made of mineral: crystalline, refractive, centripetal, enduring. Even the opal, so fiery to the eye, is cold to the touch. The material I use, wood,--with its distinctly non-mineral personality--is warm, flexible, expansive, reflective. It speaks in the vernacular of vegetal usefulness; it is not perceived as precious--it is subject to decay.
The ring given to me by my first best friend--which turned my finger green--still asserted its preciousness because it was a gift. Appreciating this enigma, I've married the humble materials and techniques of woodworking with jewellery-inspired forms. These efforts pay homage to the spirit of giving.

Collection Items

Pop-Bead Bowls
Six connected bowl forms carved from a single piece of yellow birch burl. The connecting points resemble the ball-and-socket form of plastic pop-beads. Pyrography. Watco and Minwax oil finishes.

Tattooed Vessel
Four tapered panels of basswood joined by sewing with waxed linen thread. The interior is gilded. The outer panels are 'tattooed' by pyrography with four distinct patterns.

Tattooed Bowl #2
A large spruce bowl was carved off-lathe with chain-saw and carving tools. Originally left plain (1994) the tattoo motifs were added by pyrography in 1997. Watco and Minwax oil finishes.

Tattooed Bowl #1
A large slice of yellow birch burl was chain-saw hollowed in harmony with its natural form. Interior covered with pyrography 'tattoo' patterns.

Cuff Link Bowl
An Ash burl turned and carved to resemble a sleeve cuff with a cufflink made from walnut, maple and ebony. The reverse is textured, pyrography. Watco and Minwax oil finishes.

Suspended Ring Vase
Spalted sugar maple burl, 2-axis turned, carved, carved ring can be moved. Watco and Minwax oil finish.

Dowager Vase
Turned amphora. Turned and carved, textured, burned "necklaces". Watco and Minwax oil finish.

Table Bracelet: Promenade Suite
10-part piece. Approx. 6 feet long, heights ranging from 4" to 14". Yellow birch, white birch, cherry, sugar maple, brass rod and fixtures.

Wall Necklace #2
Set of turned and carved wooden beads strung on 1/16th inch steel cable. Central medallion opens to reveal round mirror. Yellow birch cover turned inside and out, carved. Beads turned from walnut, spalted maple, yellow birch burl. Watco oil finish.…
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