rough texture, calculated to resem-
ble ancient metal and stone, the way
color pops against patinated metal.
Sometimes they start with a de-
sign, then go to their boxes of gem
rough and fi nd a fi t. Other times
they’ll go out on the hunt. “Color is
the pivotal element,” Catherine says.
“There have been times where we’ve
been on the hunt for years.”
One piece made with jadeite and
bamboo took nearly four years to
complete because they couldn’t
fi nd the perfect stone. “It had to
be not Imperial jade, but a good
apple green,” she recalls. It took a
few years of hunting through the
Tucson gem shows before they
found it. Showing at JCK Tucson in
recent years has seriously curtailed
their shopping. Now dealers come
to their studio.
They buy cabochons as well as
rough. “Neither of us are faceters,
but we are cutting, cabbing, and
working with the surface,” Cath-
erine says. “In many cases, we
use the raw surfaces, such as the
botryoidal surface in turquoise... I’ll take a piece of rough — and
I mean rough — and give it a lick
and a polish to create an alluvial
surface, like it’s been tumbled. Or
I’ll go hunting for the fi re in an opal
nodule.” She uses a lap, sanding
belt, Foredom, and grinders.
“One of the advantages of our
look — and the rough textures we
use in silver, bronze, or gold — is
if a stone is absolutely, perfectly
polished and symmetrical, a really
incredible stone, it often looks out of
place in our jewelry. It’s too good.”
Inclusions and rough surfaces, on
the other hand, work quite well
and give them a wider selection to
choose from.
Likewise, their metalwork captures
the way metal ages over centuries.
The silver is slightly pitted, while
the gold accents are worn but solid.
They spent many years perfect-
ing this imperfection. At fi rst, they
experimented with traditional
methods, such as hammering. Then
they tried acids but abandoned that
eventually. “We can go through 20,design
Talentum Bands and Pendant925 silver, 22K gold
Inspired by excavated Viking pieces.“One of the advantages of our
look — and the rough textures we
use in silver, bronze, or gold — is
if a stone is absolutely, perfectly
polished and symmetrical, a
really incredible stone, it often
looks out of place in our jewelry.
It’s too good.”NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019 63