"Crypt of Wanton Riches"
"Crypt of Wanton Riches" - Detail with open gates.
"Crypt of Wanton Riches" - Rear of piece.
This
sculptural belt buck features a cast bronze archway with functional
hinged sterling silver gates. The gates open to reveal 27 bead-set
natural yellow sapphires and 10 bead-set cognac diamonds scattered
among the chaotic bronze forms. This piece was an absolute joy to
work on, as I was able to implement my expanding stone-setting
capabilities gained through working for years as a traditional bench
jeweler in service of my own creative and artistic vision. Also, I
was finally able to utilize a bronze belt buckle casting from several
years ago that was never properly finished, with the sprues still
evident from the casting process and the back not properly ground
down and polished. The sterling silver gates were cast from scale
architectural model parts several years ago, and the result was an
incomplete casting due to the thin nature of the vertical bar
elements. This left me in the strange position of absolutely loving
the imperfections within the castings, but being creatively paralyzed
about how best to use the castings in a piece knowing full well that
I likely could not achieve such a delicate balance of imperfection
again even if I tried. Once again, time and experience has proven to
be the greatest mediator of technical skill and creative vision.
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