Chased and repoussé cuffs are the Holy Grail of repoussé work for jewelry. Ever since I released my DVD, Eastern Repousse & Chasing in 2009 with my very first Eastern repousse cuff bracelet on the cover, people from all over the world have been asking me to teach a dedicated course on this topic. “I want to make cuff bracelets,” is the #1 reason people tell me they want to learn Eastern repousse.

What might you might not know is that my cuffs became iconic because, many years ago, teaching the fundamental technique of Eastern repousse led me to a creative breakthrough.

My students would often ask if it’s possible to repousse a strip of sheet in relief and then bend it into a cuff. No way! That’s like trying to repoussé a flat disc and then forging it into a bowl afterwards; you would lose all your detailed relief.

The idea that the entire structure needed to be forged from the technique that defines it was hard for people to understand. I decided I’d have to demonstrate it and then the fun began.

Other teachers have attempted to hang onto my coat-tails and promised they could teach chased or repousse cuffs bracelets. Unfortunately, what they offer is low relief with repousse mostly in the center of a strip and the tips bent around to form a bracelet.

But those are not structurally repousse cuffs. 

Making beautiful repoussé cuffs requires simultaneously creating both the relief design and the cuff form itself, all while keeping the metal happy.

The idea that the entire structure needed to be forged from the technique that defines it was hard for people to understand. In demonstrating the right way to do it, I pioneered the process and created a whole series of Eastern Repoussé cuffs in different alloys, including sterling, gold bi-metal, and mokume gane.