Bubbling Up with Filigree Know-How

Filigree, if done well, is so gorgeously ephemeral looking, yet is deceptively strong. Perhaps that’s why so much of it from the past has survived. My drive to preserve the process is inextricably linked to my desire to push its boundaries without compromising its beauty.

Students often ask questions about making the tiny, twisted filler wires into funkier, more geometric shapes in order to make the whole piece look less traditional. I find that’s more interestingly accomplished by contrasting the space between shapes and by being more creative with the framework and the end structure itself. There is more than enough flat, evenly filled filigree in the world. I’d rather spice up the form itself!

I knew years before I had time to experiment that sheets of soldered filigree could be formed synclastically and even anticlastically like sheets of metal, but keeping galleries stocked with one-of-a-kind Russian filigree earrings and small pendants, teaching in person, and being a single mom, left me doing too much of what other people wanted and less of what I dreamed.

I had bent and curved plenty of filigree into cuff bracelets and smaller parts of things. It wasn’t rocket science to go beyond a curved filigree hoop earring or bail for a pendant. What was more involved was wrapping a long piece of finished filigree into a helix to form a tube without destroying the filigree in the process.

A number of invitational and juried exhibitions made me squeeze in time for my experiments. Who needs sleep when you can be in the studio more?!?

The first of these was in 2008 for the exhibition L’Art Pour L’Art, the 20th Anniversary Celebration of Thomas Mann’s I/0 Gallery in New Orleans. The brief involved creating a champagne flute out of an elongated, blown glass cup. With Curves in the Right Places I realized I could make an elongated strip burst out of its confines and wind the filigree up the glass while still creating a functional, stable base. I designed the filler wires and their contrasting empty spaces to mimic champagne bubbles floating up toward the top of the glass.

While working on the piece, I saw its potential to be a torc, which is how I got the idea of Curves in the Right Places II. By 2011 I joked I was measuring my filler wire by the mile.

Russian Filitini had a similar story with another gallery exhibiting artist-made martini glasses based on a plain steel cup. By then it was difficult to say whether my objets d’arts were influenced by my jewelry or vice versa. The design ideas for the next pieces nearly always come from whatever I’m currently working on, so the process is more of an ongoing conversation that continues to this day.

If you’d like to learn more about filigree and how to create beautiful structures for yourself, I’ve just opened registration for my Beginning Filigree and Beyond Online Course.

This course features the unlimited and immediate learning experience of an evergreen course, combined with live sessions for Q&A, design help, technical help, and accountability support within a dedicated community.

Different from previous versions of my Beginning Russian Filigree courses, I’ve now included bonus lessons on Nordic filigree florets and how to solder them in both Nordic and tension-fitted (Russian) filigree. I’ve also added more demos on forming tight and lacy coils, continuing spirals, ‘lima beans,’ and more.

This course now covers many types of filigree, including, Russian, Nordic, Yemenite, Portuguese, and the styles and structures of filling filigree that I’ve pioneered since I brought the technique back from near extinction in the early 1990s. Learn everything you need to know before moving next year onto my more advanced 3D Filigree course in which I turn physics on its head.

And if you’re near Seattle this weekend…

Try out my tools along with Liza Nechamkin’s wonderful green pitch at Seattle Metals Guild’s Gildfest, free and open to the public this Sunday, June 8 from 12 – 5 PM PDT.

This event is a great opportunity to meet fellow members and learn about the Guild’s ongoing and upcoming events and opportunities, including our Grants Program, Fall Symposium, Mentorship Program, and more. I’ve donated a pristine set of my Eastern Repoussé & Chasing Tools and a copy of Radiant Echoes to their silent auction that benefits the wonderful programs.