VIRTUAL STUDIO: for Jack Kinley – Daylily Diorama

17 Feb VIRTUAL STUDIO: for Jack Kinley – Daylily Diorama

Posted at 12:41h in handmade, Jewelry Techniques, love, narrative, necklaces & pendants, process, Stories in Metal, Virtual Studio by
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Note: This is a Virtual Studio for a completed project. Enjoy!

Welcome to your Virtual Studio!

This is a creative space that we will share for the duration of our project. Here’s what you need to know:

  • You will find your project information, design references, process photos and project tracking here.
  • Your Virtual Studio will be updated throughout the project. Keep an eye on things here to observe your piece of jewelry being made.
  • Use the comments section down below to send messages or ask questions.
  • Enjoy this process!

  • Client: Jack Kinley
  • Honoree: Jack’s mom
  • Turnaround: Standard 6-8 weeks

DESIGN PARAMETERS

Sterling silver hollowform elliptical pod pendant with a window revealing a cluster of 3D lilies inside, as a diorama. Lilies are hand-fabricated and soldered inside, and vertical orientation and "upward" feel of composition intended to create uplifting presence on the body while suspended from a sterling silver chain. Patina will be used to create visual depth, and appliqué on reverse to be created from Jack's handwriting.

ABOUT THIS PROJECT

The intention of this daylily diorama neckpiece is to uplift and encourage Jack's mom. Her beloved daylilies will be inside the pod window, with a flower representing each household of their extended family. The number of stamen on each lily will correspond to the individual members of each family unit - three flowers, eight stamen. Jack's message "Together. Always." will be featured on the reverse side of the pendant.

Your sketches are here! Click >>>

How's it going?

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Idea Phase 1 of 4

Initial Inquiry, Design & Concept Consult, Design Fee Processed

Sparks often fly as ideas arrive and solutions begin to follow. This first phase is where ideas develop for your custom piece. It’s where Ginger learns what you are looking for in a custom jewelry piece and why. Your narrative is the core around which the jewelry design develops.

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Design Phase 2 of 4

Sketches, 2nd Consult, Materials Sourced, Estimate Prepared, 50% Deposit Processed

Using your narrative and all the parameters you’ve provided, Ginger retreats to design something just for you. Sketches, materials and processes are evaluated and planned as Ginger also prepares an estimate for you. This phase culminates with a Custom Jewelry Design Plan just for you.

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Benchwork Phase 3 of 4

Materials Gathered, Fabrication/Construction, Stonesetting, Patina/Polishing, Final Touches

With the design and all other plans in place, Ginger goes to her bench to create your special piece. This is typically the longest phase of the four, but the most magical. Ginger will often post process photos and other updates for you here so you always know how things are going.

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Fulfillment Phase 4 of 4

Glamour Shots, Presentation & Packaging, Final Payment, Shipping/Pickup, Client Review

With the piece completed, it will be photographed, packaged and prepared for presentation. This is the shortest of the four phases, but the most fun as you and Ginger celebrate the realization of your shared vision. Ta-daa!

Process Gallery

  • Vertical slicing of tubing for lily form
  • Slicing one end to spread into petals, and to taper the base,
  • So, I'm not liking these at all. I cannot get the visual parallels to banana peels out of my mind. Time for another approach....
  • starting with triplet forms - two per flower
  • sinking for even forming
  • sunken forms, before nesting together
  • spreading petals...
  • soldering nested triplet forms together
  • I'm feeling better about this approach
  • this feels more organic, and irregular, like a real flower, and less like an empty banana peel
  • stamen in place
  • tumbling to show more details.
  • teeny tiny
  • So that practice lily is WAY TOO BIG for the final piece. Now to make tiny lilies.
  • about to solder the nested triplets
  • moving on to forming the pod form... I cut the elliptical form from extruded acrylic, shaped and beveled the edge to give a nice pressed form, and this is the first pressing of 22 gauge sheet sterling into the handmade die, in the hydraulic press. 6000 tons of pressure created one half of the form, in one pressing.
  • now to cut out each half - cutting just outside the pressed form so the two halves will meet perfectly for soldering later on...
  • two halves.
  • two halves
  • front and back, with the window cut from the front
  • five little lilies (yes, I made extra, so I could select the best ones for Jack), with stamen and stems in place as well.
  • assessing the current situation
  • The window needs to be a little higher...
  • checking the fit
  • and the pod gets a pickle bath
  • soldering the lilies to the backside of the pod
  • these are the three best ones for Jack... with two, two and four stamen.
  • a little metal garden
  • minor lily adjustments are needed....
  • filing petal edges to shape and smooth
  • a bath in the magnetic tumbler named "gordon"
  • Jack's hand... for the inscription
  • measuring the inscription, and using an old-school layout wheel to calculate how much to reduce it
  • piercing the "always"
  • steel binding wire being used to hold the two parts in position for soldering
  • after soldering - the two are now one
  • soldered seam looks good
  • tiny lettering waiting for sweat soldering
  • first soldering of lettering
  • second soldering of lettering, after tamping
  • diamond point to clean up edges
  • drilling the bail
  • edge clean up using silicone abrasive wheel
  • hands at work
  • cleaning up the edges
  • time to wash up after sanding and polishing
  • where's that rubber duckie?
  • immersion patina, with a few hand-brushed touch ups.
  • patina applied
  • the dark period... like picasso's blue period... tomorrow will be much brighter
  • like a dark suit
  • heading into the ceramic tumbling bath
  • coming out of the ceramic tumbling
  • polishing the stamen and flower details
  • soldering the ends on the wheat chain
  • all done!
  • raised applique "together always"
  • Together Always Daylily Diorama
  • Together Always Daylily Diorama
  • Together Always Daylily Diorama
A letter from Jack: ``The Necklace Update... Sit Down If You're the Weepy Kind``

A letter from Jack: ``The Necklace Update... Sit Down If You're the Weepy Kind``

Hey Ginger,

I’ve got a ton of stuff to get to today, but before I go running off into the to-do’s I wanted to share the Mom update with you.
It’s one of those updates I keep putting off because it is SO deep and feels like it needs some big holy space for me to sink into and pull out all the magical things that happened in one sweet simple moment….
After dinner on Wednesday, Mom went to some weird “I failed you as a Mom” place for some reason. I think she was feeling overwhelming gratitude for how present I have been through all of her treatment and recovery. I put the smack down on that and told her that whatever feelings of inadequacy she was feeling weren’t true. I told her to release those and let the past be. If she had truly been an inadequate Mom, I’d be a crappier son. It seemed to quell the tears. So then I said, “Well since you’re feeling weepy, I have a gift for you. Let me go get my things from the car and I’ll bring it to you.”
When I pulled that out of my bag, I opened the box to look at it again and think about what I could possibly say when I gave it to her. It was overwhelming. I teared up, and I kind of sort of (TOTALLY) had a panic attack. So many fears came up for me.
“Would she think this is my ‘good-bye’ gift?”
“She’ll think I’m giving this to her because she’s sick.”
“It won’t feel like the gift I want it to feel like for her because she’s mad that’s she sick. It will just be an unwanted reminder that she’s sick and lonely.”
I had to sit down and breathe deeply a few times and just own the fact that all of those things could be perceived and indeed in some ways are true.
The piece itself seems to have its own power by virtue of the way it came into this world. It came through my Mom. It came through me. It came through its own storm in the fires of your workbench. And finally it needed to be born through the act of exchanging hands – from mine to my Mom’s.
When I gave it to her, I told her that I had it made for her. I told her the symbolism of the day-lillies and eagerly flipped it over to show her the ONscription (not sure what the technical word is for that). 🙂
She replied, “You had this MADE for me? It couldn’t have been cheap then.”
What you made for us was more than a necklace, it was a bridge. It called me across from a place that felt very overwhelming and lonely and reconnected me with my Mom. And her with me.
I thought all along that I was doing this for her, but it was for US. We needed a way to honor this relationship that we prize so deeply, and this necklace brought us that moment.
As she looked at it, she said, “My boy loves his Mama.” So true. Indeed I do.
She SLEPT in the necklace that night, probably because she was so tired from the long day (this was the day she was discharged from the hospital and had to settle in back at home).
It seems obvious to me now that I was creating a way to connect and heal. In the beginning it felt like a weak gesture in the face of cancer and an uncertain future. Now it seems like the most significant means of healing I’ve taken along this journey.
I’ve been pouring down tears while I typed this to you. I’ve held tightly to my emotions during these uncertain times, but this gift has connected me deeply to emotions too sweet, big and magical to contain.
Thank you for connecting to your true gifts and doing everything required to bring these gifts into the world.
I wouldn’t have broken open and dealt with all these fears and joys had I not gone through THIS process with YOU.
You’re an angel.
Love,
Jack

After the studio…

Dear reader,

Jack’s piece was completed and delivered to him, and within days he was able to present the gift to his mom. After he did, he kindly sent me a letter sharing his thoughts about the experience.

He granted me permission to share his thoughts with you here. His letter is to the left, just below the photo of his parents rocking their party hats. 🙂
<<<

Honoring relationships and elevating the human condition is why I do what I do. Thank you for sharing these moments with me here.

Ginger

Daylily Diorama

Orange Day Lily - photo reference
Together Always Daylily Diorama
raised applique "together always"
Together Always Daylily Diorama
3 Comments
  • Spoons, A Mirror, and a Vision of Beauty - Ginger Meek Allen | Metalsmith & Custom Studio Jeweler
    Posted at 00:21h, 13 March

    […] to observe the making of the piece via my virtual studio. (See an example of the virtual studio here.) And, while I’m busy at my bench turning old silver spoons into a locket with a mirror […]

  • Corinne Meharg
    Posted at 09:22h, 08 October

    I am the sentimental kind, and this did indeed make me weep. What a wonderful thing you are doing! And I have to also tell you how very fortunate you are to connect with people at this level, so close to the bone and raw. You’re living with purpose and meaning.

  • erin l.m. harris
    Posted at 15:17h, 16 October

    Just…wow. Stunning piece, stunning words.