Sarah King - Creating Wooden Jewelry: 24 Skill-Building Projects and Techniques

For Jeff, Felix, and Emma

2019 by Sarah King and Fil Rouge Press Ltd

All rights reserved. Creating Wooden Jewelry is an Americanized edition of the book originally published by Fil Rouge Press Ltd under the 2019 title Creating Jewellery in Wood in the United Kingdom. This North American edition is published by Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc., 903 Square Street, Mount Joy, PA 17552.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means whether electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the rights holder.

All designs contained within this book are for personal use only, and may not be sold on in any form for profit without the prior written permission of the rights holder.

Fox Chapel Publishing Team

Vice President-Content: Christopher Reggio

Editor: Katie Ocasio

Jacket Designers: Llara Fazdan and Wendy Reynolds

Fil Rouge Press Ltd Team

Publisher: Judith More

Designer: Janis Utton

Photographer: Katherine Fawssett

Print ISBN 978-1-4971-0001-5

eISBN 978-1-6076-5718-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: King, Sarah, 1965- author.

Title: Creating wooden jewelry / Sarah King.

Other titles: Creating jewelry in wood

Description: North American edition. | Mount Joy, PA: Fox Chapel Publishing. 2019. | Creating Wooden Jewelry is an Americanized edition of the book originally published by Fil Rouge Press Ltd under the title Creating Jewellery in Wood in the United Kingdom. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: Contains information on skill-building projects and techniques for creating wooden jewelry. Includes step-by-step instructions and photographs for each project and technique discussedProvided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019023186 (print) | LCCN 2019023187 (ebook) | ISBN 9781497100015 (paperback) | ISBN 9781607657187 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: WoodworkAmateurs manuals. | Jewelry making-Amateurs manuals. | Wooden jewelry.

Classification: LCCTT185.K555 2019 (print) | LCC TT185 (ebook) | DDC 745.51-dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019023186

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019023187

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Because working with wood and other materials inherently includes the risk of injury and damage, this book cannot guarantee that creating the projects in this book is safe for everyone. For this reason, this book is sold without warranties or guarantees of any kind, expressed or implied, and the publisher and the author disclaim any liability for any injuries, losses, or damages caused in any way by the content of this book or the readers use of the tools needed to complete the projects presented here. The publisher and the author urge all readers to thoroughly review each project and to understand the use of all tools before beginning any project.

Chapter 1:
INTRODUCTION

Chapter 2:
BASIC TECHNIQUES

Chapter 3:
SHAPING WOOD

Chapter 4:
CONNECTING

Chapter 5:
SURFACE TREATMENTS

Chapter 6:
TOOLS AND MATERIALS

Within this book, I have aimed to reflect the scope of the use of wood in contemporary jewelry. It is written very much from a jewelers, rather than a wood specialists, point of view.

For beginners, there are some easier projects, and for those with jewelry experience, there are ways of adding to the scope of your work with small additions to the usual hand tools. Large topicswoodturning, working with willow, gilding, and laminatingare just touched upon All of these techniques could be explored and expanded into whole bodies of work. With a combination of imagination and exploration you can transform humble woods into striking pieces of jewelry.

Alongside the four studio jeweler profiles on , where you can find a wider range of wonderful work.

In my own practice, I work with wood, bio-resin, and precious metals to make sculptural, contemporary jewelry. Playing with spatial structures and sensual forms, they range from a relaxed, everyday collection to large transformative statement pieces. I am interested in the visual qualities of different materials and the technical possibilities they allow.

A selection of rings in wood, silver, and bio-resin.

I developed the Oak Strata Necklace on .

My early work in silver was influenced by the work of the sculptor Constantin Brancusi, Japanese aesthetics, and African jewelry. Searching for contrasting materials to use in my work with which I could control the shaping led to experimentation with wood and resins, and I became a pioneer of the use of bio-resin in jewelry. Bio-resin is an eco material of sophisticated chemistry, made from sunflower seed oil. It doesnt have the yellow tinge of epoxy resin, which is important for my frosted clear pieces. I have replaced the exotic hardwoods I used in my early work, such as African blackwood, with woods such as ebonized oak and bog oak, as they are more local alternatives. I have often combined precious and non-precious materials such as wood and pearls, or silver with wood or bio-resin.

My solo Light Constructions exhibition held in Tokyo in 2003 began a new body of work in silver, white, and translucent bio-resin, and explored ideas of space and transparency, partly inspired by the artist Robert Ryman. The display was an installation creating a white world, with the pieces lit to accentuate their shadows. The jewelry was limited to rings and large bangles, often displayed in series of repeated shapes to focus on their sculptural and relative qualities. Some of the metal structures went on to be developed in silver and gold using laser-welding. Developing work for this book has led to a renewed interest in combining bio-resin, silver, and wood in new ways, in jewelry and some larger scale objects.