Awards, Livery Dinner & Storm Darragh – Oh, My!
We interrupt our regularly scheduled online exhibition with some exciting updates!
I’m so excited to share that CraftForms2024 juror Jo Lauria awarded my necklace Ribbon Lace II the Juror’s Award for Jewelry last month at the CraftForms gala opening! I was already thrilled to be one of only three artists who had both their application pieces of artwork accepted at CraftForms. To win an award at this highly competitive, international, juried exhibition is a huge honor. It’s also a giant win for my vision of filigree as a historical craft with vast contemporary interpretations.
The only downside was that I couldn’t accept the award in person because I was traveling on a train from London to Bangor, Wales. Rauni Higson, my husband Chris, and I arrived at the destination shortly after the extratropical cyclone Storm Darragh had kicked off. There’s nothing quite so ominous as hearing the blaring warning sounds of many mobile devices going off all at once on a train car full of people. We arrived just after the rain began. Perhaps this speaks volumes about me, but as the wind nearly blew me sideways, I literally felt a thrill at being back in Northern Wales and a deep love for its wildness even in the midst of climate crisis.
Bonus: We had electricity, heat, and hot water some of the time we were there! The second week was better…except that it got much colder.
But I’ve started the story in the middle…
My husband and arrived in the UK December 4. Rauni and I met up at the Victoria & Albert Museum the next day and saw, for the first time, her incredible Chockstones piece, acquired by the V&A earlier last year, on display in the staggeringly impressive hall of historical and contemporary silversmithing.
I wasn’t the only one honored with an award. Rauni was recently awarded the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in recognition of her “unparalleled craftsmanship and tireless work in ensuring her skills are passed on to future generations.” Well deserved!
Utter geek for complex systems with clockwork precision that I am, I got to marvel at the workings of a centuries-old British tradition unlike anything the USA could ever offer us metalsmiths. I was Rauni’s guest at the Christmas Livery Dinner at Goldsmiths’ Hall. From the enormous, precision-timed, candlelit chandeliers (that they light with cherry pickers just before the guests enter) to the historical, gilt sterling place settings for each course (Don’t ask me how many courses. I lost count around the fifth one.), this incredible event was better than anything I’ve ever seen in a costume drama. The sheer amount of silver-gilt serving dishes, trays, ewers, rosewater dishes, etc. on display and at each long table (imagine a Baroque style Hogwarts dining hall) would make any commercial insurance company a nervous wreck.
Lest you think, there are that many gainfully employed, master smiths in the UK, most of the guests belong to the corporate world of suits and are descendants of smith members of what began England’s banking system and still owns a chunk of property in old Londinium. Goldsmiths’ Company do actively commission contemporary work by UK members, who are some of the mostly exceptionally skilled metalsmiths alive on the planet, including Rauni (they own 6 of her pieces). It is wildly heartening that a guild on the eve of its 700’s birthday is alive and quite well!
While in Wales, I helped Rauni master the undercuts and undulations of Eastern repoussé floral designs for a current commission. She taught me how to sink a tray. – I now understand why tray sinking is a dying art…It’s painfully difficult! – We collaborated on my theory of how to achieve high relief on pieces that require thicker metal for their structure, which I began testing on the rims of my tray. Eventually, the raised rims will have Eastern repoussé relief.
We also videoed footage for a future class we plan to co-teach on using silhouetted dies with a hydraulic press prior to hand hammering Eastern repoussé relief. I acted as consultant/midwife for this process last year when Rauni took my Extended Eastern Repoussé Course in order to create the Eastern repoussé heads on a pair of commissioned ceremonial keys.
The advantages of this hydraulic press + Eastern repoussé hybrid process are numerous. Besides allowing increased depth, it’s a fast way to create multiples that are still unique. For our purposes, we created individual pieces with mirrored outlines that easily match up in order to solder them together. I began a perfume bottle that will have a filigree base.
Somehow we crammed all that work into two weeks that began with intermittent electricity at the her studio, then her house and our nearby AirB&B thanks to Storm Darragh. – Leave it to Brits to pull out the camp stove for emergency cups of tea in a power outage!
I spent the final few days in London seeing exhibitions, shopping for books and art supplies, and attempting to eat my weight in fish and chips with my husband Chris. London at the holidays is simply magic, even for a scrooge like me. We celebrated Christmas Eve with tea at the Ritz and drinks in the Rivoli Bar. Above our table was a Lalique, relief glass panel. Heaven.
Lalique glass panel at the Rivoli Bar, London Ritz 
Christmas Eve Tea at the London Ritz with Chris
Speaking of relief, the 2025 Extended Eastern Repoussé Course begins March 1 and is open for registration. You don’t need to make ceremonial keys for royalty to learn more than you can imagine from this course. But hurry! The early bird price ends February 8!
Next week I’m back on an airplane for my first in-person presentation in over 5 years with a one-day-only appearance. I’ve been invited to give a talk and sign copies of Radiant Echoes at SNAG@Tucson on February 7 from 11:00 am to 3:30 pm Mountain Time. I hope to see you there!