STUDIO TOUR

 

An explanation of the processes used to make Brooke Stone Jewelry

 

Using the ancient method of lost wax casting, Brooke Stone and Jim Clement make unique and finely-crafted wildlife art and animal totem jewelry  from silver, gold, bronze and copper.

Their jewelry is completely hand-crafted, their designs are all limited-edition originals, the many animal designs being inspired by the unique environment which surrounds their home and studio in Oregon, with its abundant wildlife and varied habitats. Their lifelong study of natural history, mythology and anthropology also informs their art.

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THE PROCESS:

 

“We use two major processes to create Brooke Stone wildlife art jewelry:  lost-wax casting and fabrication. The following is a description of some of the processes used to design and produce my latest line of wolf jewelry.”

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CARVING:

  

A lot of preparatory work went into the process long before I started to carve a wolf image.

 

First, I traveled to Denali National Park in Alaska to observe wolves in the wild.  What a thrill to see wild wolves running free through the tundra, across a blazing patchwork of autumn color!  We were lucky enough to see one white wolf catch a ground squirrel!

 

Alaskan wolf habitat / Toklat River / Denali National Park

 

Next, I visited a local wolf sanctuary (Howling Acres Wolf Sanctuary in Williams, Oregon), where I could observe five different sub-species of wolves up close. To my delight, they were selling a CD containing many close-up images of wolves, which has proved to be a great reference for my carving and designing.

 

I consulted my own private library of animal anatomy books and checked out more books at the public Library, among them Barry Lopez’ Of Wolves and Men, which discusses wolf natural history in great detail. I researched wolf mythology and folklore, to familiarize myself with the meaning of the wolf totem in as many different cultures as possible. It was interesting to learn that in the Northern folklores, Wolf is often portrayed as a rube, or scapegoat of the wily Fox. Wolf is often left “holding the bag”, while Fox runs away scot-free!

 

I like to carve my “originals” in brown microcrystalline wax, which has a sticky, slippery consistency and a low melting-point. One of the advantages of this wax is that it can be pushed around with the fingers, almost like clay. It is also possible to leave fingerprints in it for texture; it produces an organic surface that lends itself to imitating fur and hair patterns.   

Carving wax original	Wax working tools

The wolf portraits were carved by the process of addition, starting with an amorphous wolf-form I roughed out and dripping wax onto it, gradually building up the surface. Home-made tools and found objects are great to create texture; one of my favorite tools is a grapefruit knife with a serrated edge! I use dripping tools made from abandoned umbrella spokes, working over an alcohol lamp flame.

 

It is empowering for a young artist, just starting out, to know that they do not need fancy, expensive tools in order to begin building a business!  Jim built our kiln himself and we put together much of our equipment from inexpensive parts. We are true believers in hand-tools and in low-tech!

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CASTING: 

 

Once the original wax wolf carving was complete, the finished wax was mounted on a rubber “sprue base”. Next a steel can was fitted over the base and filled with plaster investment. At this point, the can must be vacuumed in order to remove air from the investment, otherwise the finished casting will be covered with tiny metal bubbles, called “dingle-berries”. Once the can with wax carving inside was vacuumed and the plaster investment set up, Jim took over.

 

Mounting wax to sprue base	Pouring plaster investment into cans

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 Jim is a “master-caster”…. I wouldn’t trust my originals to anyone else!

 

He does a 13-hour burn-out in our hand-made gas-fired kiln, patiently raising the temperature a little at a time, until the kiln reaches 1200 degrees, then cools down again to 900 degrees. Then he is ready to cast in silver, bronze, gold or copper, each metal having slightly different properties and requirements.  

Placing cans into unlit kiln	Plaster-filled cans in lighted kiln

 The hot can is removed from the kiln (the wax burnt out and “lost”; thus the term “lost wax casting”).  Wearing heavy leather gloves, the can is placed into the cradle of the centrifuge, whose arm having been wound up is ready to be released. The hole in the crucible is lined up with the hole in the bottom of the still-hot can, so the molten metal will inject into the can.  

Centrifuge setup with can and crucible aligned	Melting metal in crucible with oxy-acetylene torch

 Jim uses an oxy/acetylene torch to melt the metal, and when the proper temperature is reached, releases the centrifuge arm. The arm spins at a dizzying speed, the whole machine rocks and rattles, and centrifugal force injects the liquid metal into the plaster mold within a few seconds! 

 

 The cans are left to cool overnight and in the morning, we wake up to the excitement of digging the rough wolf castings out of their plaster molds.  

 Then the real work begins!

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RUBBER MOLDS:

 

The casting process has now provided a rough casting of a wolf. Rough castings are just as they sound: “rough” and imperfect.

 

It is therefore necessary to perfect the bronze original by filing and smoothing it with hand-tools. Occasionally, it is necessary to grind down or polish some areas with abrasive wheels attached to a flexible shaft machine, like the one your dentist uses.

 

Next, a rubber mold is made in order to “reproduce” the finished bronze carving. This is done by packing thin sheets and small bits of a special vulcanizing rubber into a heavy aluminum frame, with the bronze wolf suspended inside. The rubber is “vulcanized” under heat and pressure, fusing the rubber particles together and producing a solid rubber mold.  I use a sharp metal exacto blade to cut open the mold and “find” the wolf inside, splitting the rubber mold into two parts.  

Packing mold frame with rubber	Cutting rubber mold open

 The bronze wolf is removed leaving a perfect impression of my original carving. This rubber mold is used to inject new waxes, which are called “reproduction waxes”; the rubber mold enables me to reproduce the wolf image over and over. 

Two part rubber mold	Injecting rubber mold with wax

Of course, a reproduction wax is never perfect! The new wax must be repaired with wax tools, pits filled in, flashing cut off, distortions smoothed out, new texture carved in, etc. Then the casting process begins all over again!

Eventually, the new wolf castings, reproduced in silver and bronze, are ready to be made into wildlife art jewelry!

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FABRICATION  PROCESSES:

 Fabrication, as opposed to casting, is the direct forming and manipulation of metal by a variety of techniques, such as sawing, filing, stamping, soldering, carving, grinding, polishing and riveting. We use all of these methods and more!  A brief discussion of the principal fabrication techniques follows.

Bronze Alpha Wolf w/ Moose Antlers and Water Plant Charms. 

The charms on this piece describe some of the elements found in native wolf habitat. The moose antlers are cast from bronze and colored with a speckled nitrate patina. 

Jim made the silver Saxifrage leaf, the gold Pond Lily leaf and Cattail charms by sawing small shapes from thin sheet and wire, then soldering the parts together and preparing them for patination. I super-cleaned them by blasting the pieces under a steam-cleaner and applied various coloring chemicals such as liver-of-sulphur and brass black. Liver-of- sulphur produces a black color on silver, while brass black produces a range of brown-to-black tones on bronze.  

  Sawing, soldering and applying patina

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PATINATION:

 

One of the truly unique patination processes we use produces a deep black surface on bronze. The metal must be prepared by scrubbing each bronze with pumice powder; thus “opening” the pores of the metal to receive the chemical solution. This first step allows the patina to deeply penetrate the metal; next the piece is blasted with super-hot steam to further clean the surface. Then follows a series of dunking and scrubbing steps, while a deep black surface is built up, eventually resulting in a durable black surface.

When applying patina, the jewelry is handled with latex gloves and the chemicals are applied in front of an exhaust fan.

Then the pieces are thoroughly cleaned with detergent and hot water.

 

NOTE: Although black patina is very durable with normal, occasional wear; if you wear it continually ( all day long, to bed, in the shower, etc. ) then it will eventually rub off. When not being worn, black patina pieces should be kept wrapped in tissue or in a cloth bag. 

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A  variety of polishing tools and abrasive mediums are used to produce shiny, matte or subdued surfaces on metals. My current favorite is pumice powder brushed on with a toothbrush!  

 

After the final polishing and cleaning, all the pieces are assembled using needle-nosed pliers.  I use stone cabachons for the eyes: Onyx for black eyes, Tigereye or Citrine for gold eyes, Swiss Blue Topaz for blue eyes, Carnelian for orange eyes.

 

Jim sawed out the backgrounds for the pieces shown below from silver, bronze and copper sheet, while I  rolled bronze wire through a rolling mill to square it, then soldered each tiny piece on to the background. Next bezels were made from thin strips of gold, silver or brass, to hold the stones.

 

I often carve organic materials such as wood or fossil ivory and walrus tusk, which need to be attached to a surface without heat. This is done with tiny threaded nuts and bolts.

I also use Mokume and Shakudo, fragile Japanese mixed metals which cannot be soldered but must be attached by riveting methods.

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KUMBO:

 

Kumbo is an ancient Japanese sword embellishment technique, in which fine gold is burnished on to fine silver at a very high heat. I use this technique on several of my designs. The silver must be super-heated in a kiln, then carefully removed and, while still hot, 24 kt. gold foil strips burnished down. Heavy leather gloves are required for this operation but, although it is a very difficult and hot process the result is so lovely, the discomfort is worth it! 

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LAPIDARY:

 

Most of the stones in my works are cut from slabs of Agates, Jaspers, and other semi-precious stones which have been collected over many years of searching, or buying from “rock hounds” and miners. In America, most of these miners are retired folks who conduct business out of the backs of their pick-up campers; we call this culture “The Grayline Express”.

 

Like most lapidaries, I work in an outdoor, gravel-floored building, filled with grinding and polishing machines supporting abrasive wheels of all sizes and grits. Larger pieces of rock are slabbed with a large rock saw then cut into smaller pieces with a six-inch trim saw. Then I mount the roughed-out shapes on wooden dopsticks using “dop wax”, a sticky, glue-like wax made especially for this purpose.

 

 

Next I begin shaping the stones with diamond wheels and carborundum sandpaper wheels of finer and finer grits. This is a very cold, wet and messy process. The rotary wheels splash water all over the lapidary shop, despite my attempts to keep it contained. I am always soaked from the tips of my fingers to my elbows and would be soaked down to my toes if I didn’t wear a rubber apron!

 

Finally, the stones become smooth enough to polish with tin oxide on a leather wheel. Despite the wet nature of this work, it is wondrous to watch the “picture” in each stone gradually emerge! It is actually one of my favorite processes; each stone is especially precious since nature makes each stone only once.

 

Polished stones attached to dopsticks	Setting finished stone in a bezel

 

 

Silver Timber Wolf under Botswana Agate Moon

 

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I hope this Studio Tour has given you a glimpse into the creative and technical processes involved in making our wildlife art jewelry.

 

You can see more Brooke Stone Jewelry by going to our website:  www.brookestonejewelry.com ,   and looking in the Art Gallery section.

 

We welcome your questions and comments at all times!

  

Brooke Stone and Jim Clement

 

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Acknowledgements: 

 

The magnificent close-up photos of the casting process, photos  #10 through 14, were taken by Andy Johnson-Laird.  Thank you, Andy

See Andy's photography websites at:

www.bruisedpixels.com   (unreal photography)

www.brushoflight.com     (nature)

 

Many thanks also to Ken Stroud, editor of Wildscape Magazine,  for his encouragement and editing skills.   See Wildscape's website at:

www.wildscapemag.co.uk

 

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