The Legend of the Lost Wax Ring

We use the Lost Wax process a lot here at Walker Goldsmiths. I really enjoy knowing that it’s an ancient procedure that, of course, has been upgraded to meet the modern tools, but all the same, it’s still an ancient practice.

Metal casting has been archaeologically found to have begun in India around 3500 BC with the earliest known lost wax casting.  Ancient craftspeople  used beeswax to create the image and the metals freely used were Copper, Bronze, Silver and Gold.  All over Asia, Egypt, Europe, the Bronze Age Mediterranean areas, Africa and Latin America there are antiquities to be found to show the lost wax process was used to create what the people wanted.

Photo of Janet carving a wax ring

Janet carving a wax ring

When making a ring using the lost wax process I first have to carve a wax to the exact specifications needed, like size, width and height.  If there’s stones to be in the ring the seats for the stones to sit in can be cut into the wax or just the right space for crowns to be welded in after the ring is cast in metal. If the ring is a custom order, this is the time for the final OK from the customer. Adjustments are so much easier in the wax than in the metal!  Owen says, “10 minutes in the wax or 1 hour in the metal” to remind me to make those changes in the wax before it gets to him to cast and finish.

The wax is then put on a little post support called a Sprue and set in a base with a tube surround. We call it spruing up the wax. At this point a slurry of investment like a very smooth plaster is poured in and around the wax ring where it’s left to dry to a very hard state.

Photo of wax rings on a sprue base

Wax rings on a sprue base ready to invest

This is where the “Lost Wax” legend comes in…sounds very mysterious, but it’s just an accurate description of what happens.  The wax in the flask is then brought up to the melting point of the wax by either steaming it up to temperature or baking in a kiln and the wax is totally lost at this point and all that’s left is the imprint of the wax.

Photo of Owen melting gold in cradle ready to cast

Owen melting gold in cradle ready to cast

Then on to Burn Out where the totally empty flask with the imprint of the wax inside is brought up to the temperature where the wax is completely consumed. The goal here is to get the metal into the shape left by the wax.  Owen uses Centrifugal Casting that shoots the molten metal into the hole where the wax was.  The plaster investment that the metal was centrifugally cast into is boiled off the casting by immersing the extremely hot flask into cold water and the investment comes apart and away from the metal ring and boils off.  Lots of steam and splashing about here at this point!!  Then there’s Finishing, meaning cutting/sawing the ring off the sprue, checking the size to be accurate since there’s always some shrinking in the process, sanding, polishing, final touch ups, possibly soldering on the crowns and setting the stones. Then another polishing, cleaning and photographing at Walker Goldsmiths! Voila! A Ring!

What are Blue Russian Trade Beads?

Graduated strand of Blue Russian Trade Beads

Blue Russian Trade Beads

 

More interest about one of my favorite subjects, Trade Beads, is always a treat for me.  I’ve received quite a few questions about Trade Beads in the last few months and have determined that we really need a blog post about them on Walker Goldsmiths not just on Active Artists .

Blue Russians are the beads that have raised the most questions lately. That is the name given to the beautiful Cobalt Blue, hand faceted, tubular glass trade beads originally traded by the Russians to the Alaska Natives in exchange for Sea Otter pelts or anything else they might want. The beads were a desirable form of currency. Kind of like the Wampum of the far north. They range in size from approximately 10mm down to 5mm in length and some are slim and some are chunky. The larger the size of the bead the greater the value.

In this picture you can see the round Czech glass beads spaced between the faceted Blue Russians.  I do this to protect the antique glass. These Blue Russians are quite possibly over 300 years old, and since they are tubular shaped when the necklace bends the potential for chipping is a reality.

“We accept now that the blue trade beads probably originated in Bohemia (Czechoslovakia) and first made their appearance in Russian America in the late 1700’s.  The only mystery is how the Russians obtained them.  The Bohemians sent wagon trains of their glassware all over Europe including Russia.  The Russian American Fur Company may have bought the beads from such a train and shipped them to the colony.  There is also a story of them being stocked in the European storehouses in Canton, China and shipped to the Russian colony from there.  The beads may also have been obtained from the Hudson’s Bay Co.  There is evidence that they had them to trade in Canada and the Great Lakes region.  John Jacob Astor, of the American Fur Co. reputedly sold beads to the Russians.  Whatever the route, trade beads arrived in the Pacific Northwest in considerable quantity.”
(E. Harris)

Blue Russian Trade Beads are still very desirable and collected all over the world. In fact, they are getting very hard to find,  so if you see any at an antique shop or maybe even if you’re lucky at an estate sale, snatch them up immediately! Then get a hold of Janet Walker at Walker Goldsmiths and we can enjoy them together and I can help you decide how best to use them.

Sea Bear Bracelet

 

Photo of Hand carved sterling Sea Bear Bracelet

Hand carved sterling Sea Bear Bracelet

If you lived in a lovely green land that was filled with bears both black and grizzly and did most of your traveling on the sea you would call the animal that we call a sea lion today, a Sea Bear.  Grizzly bears eat salmon, sea bears eat salmon, people eat salmon therefore we are all pretty much the same.  The logic is unassailable.  The old mythos of the coast is that all the creatures have their own villages where they take off their animal suits and eat around the fire with their families like everyone else.

Photo of Hand carved sterling Sea Bear Bracelet

Another view of Hand carved sterling Sea Bear Bracelet

The Sea Bear is one of the family crests of the Raven Clan.  Almost any characteristic that can be attributed to the grizzly bear also applies to the sea Bear, indeed in some old stories the two are not really considered as two different bears.  The sea bear is seen as a grizzly bear that has taken to living in the sea.  Perhaps they loved eating fish so much that they just stopped coming to shore.

Bears are associated with powerful primal instincts. Those with this totem are often strong and creative. As water is the creative element in the world, the Sea Bear Spirit is associated with creativity and wealth, and protection of family and loved ones.  This design was first created in the late 1970’s and has survived about a dozen incarnations, as I was not happy with it at first, so it got changed and tweaked over and over, until now, well even now because I usually change something each time I carve it.  Maybe it is so changeable because it is a water creature!

photo of Hand carved sterling Sea Bear Bracelet

Side view of Hand carved sterling Sea Bear Bracelet

 

 

Hand-carved Sterling Silver Sea Bear Bracelet by Owen Walker, 1.25 inch width, tapering slightly to 1 inch with Abalone inlaid eyes.

 

 

 

D 18 price: $600.00

 

 

 

 

My Momma was a Cowgirl

Memory Necklace made with mom's Sterling Bracelet Charms

Memory Necklace made with mom’s Sterling Bracelet Charms

This post is not only about my mom, but about recycling jewelry, so I thought I’d post it here on our Walker Goldsmiths blog page.  Mom left a western themed Sterling Charm Bracelet when she passed away and I’ve always wanted to do something with it to remember her and share it with my girls. Here’s a bit of her story and what I did with the charms.

My Momma, Doris Pfeifer, was a cowgirl born at home on the ranch in Ballantine, Montana in 1926.  She could hunt, fish, shoot and ride with the best of them.  She could also cook a goose and sew all her clothes.  I learned to cook from her mostly over the telephone.  She’d leave something out to thaw and go off to work and then when I came home from school as a kid I’d call her on the phone and she’d direct me how it should be cooked.  It worked out pretty well. Her sewing lessons were sort of on the same level where she’d show me once or tell me how and then I was on my own.  I’d whine about a bit sometimes when I was stuck and she’d re-explain, but never do it for me.  She was the most organized woman I’ve ever known and taught me the value of lists.  There was a permanent list for every family outing that she’d whip out and order us kids to follow and like lightening we were out the door.

Both she and her sister were born on the ranch in Ballantine, Montana during the depression years of the horrendous 30’s.  Granddad Harvey Pfeifer was a horse rancher and came from horse ranching people in Missouri.  That’s what his family did when they weren’t traveling preachers.  The depression was so severe for granddad that it caused him to lose the ranch to the bank.  He and gramma Jeanette James picked up their little girls and moved to Billings hoping to find work.  Work being so scarce they joined the WPA crews and traveled the northwest with other working hungry families building bridges and working wherever they were directed.  Gramma Jeanette told me once that was a very happy time in their life.  No more worries about the ranch, and just going from job to job with other folks in the same circumstances was a relief.  She told me about card games in the evenings and brewing beer behind the wood stoves and homemade music.

When the depression cleared up some and the girls needed to go to school they headed back to Billings and rented a home.  Granddad would never again buy a home, always rent, and we figured that it must have been just too painful for him to take the chance of losing again.  Gramma Jeanette got the girls in school and started taking in sewing for extra money and Granddad hired out as a carpenter.  I remember as a little girl being so very fascinated with the fact that nails would come out of his mouth!!!  And Gramma joined the Montana Cow Belles.

Logo for Montana Cowbelles

Logo for Montana Cowbelles

The Montana Cow Belles is the women’s auxiliary of the Montana Cattlemen’s Association.  They officially promote horses, cattle, sheep, home economics, handiwork and the western heritage.  They are the PR team for beef products with their cookbooks and recipes for beef, sheep and wild game. I have one of their cookbooks and love all the practical recipes.

Teenage Mom on horseback

Teenage Mom on horseback

Mom and her sister Dorothy were the cowgirls in the town.  Both good horseback riders who loved to hunt and camp out.  They loved their Montana.  Among mom’s jewelry there was always the sterling silver charm bracelet with all the fascinating little western charms that were very appealing to me as a curious kid.  She’d let me look at it and fiddle around with the charms, some of them had moveable parts and spanned the history of the west from Indian days to WWII.  It was quite a heavy collection of charms given to her one at a time from girlfriends and old boyfriends.  When she passed away I got that old charm bracelet and still found it interesting.  I put it in my safe and there it stayed for over 12 years to be viewed occasionally, too big and cumbersome to actually wear.

Then I got this great idea!  I have 3 daughters who knew my mother before she died so why not make charm necklaces for each of us and divide up those charms to a reasonable number. I also found a great picture of mom on horseback as a young woman and reduced the size in Photoshop.  Owen created a sterling bezel for me for each necklace and I put the photo in each one covering it with epoxy to create a protective top.  Then I assembled the necklaces with Coral, Turquoise and Sterling beads and chain to make 4 necklaces each different yet similar.  I think they turned out wonderful!  A wonderful fun tribute to my Cowgirl Momma!

Memories are Recycled in Jewelry

In our Walker Goldsmith Studio recycling can mean cleaning, restringing and redesigning 5 new pearl necklaces from Great Grandmother’s pearl necklace probably from the 1950’s. The original pearl necklace from Great Grandmother was a type of cluster necklace that looped and draped around her neck and was broken, ancient with rotting silk string and beyond repair. The granddaughter who brought it to me to repair wanted the necklace refurbished and restrung into 5 necklaces to be given as mementos of Great Grandmother to the great granddaughters and herself.

Four pearl necklaces made from Great Grandmother's pearls

Pearls From Great Grandmother Made Into Four Necklaces

I knew this Great Grandmother, Lucy Shook, in the 1970’s and she was a lovely, kind woman.  She lived an adventurous life and shared generously her love of life with the many people she met.  “In 1965, she went to Afghanistan with her husband when he was posted to Lashkar Gah, a town about five hours on a bad road southwest of Kabul.  There she became manager of the Staff House, a small hotel that catered to the American community and visiting diplomats.  Lucy wrote copious letters home, detailing the sights, sounds, and smells of Afghanistan and describing her experiences with the Afghan people.  Sometimes poignant, oftimes hilarious, the letters reveal the love she has for her ‘boys’ and for their country.” (taken from the book Letters from Afghanistan) Her daughter, Liz Adair, has compiled a book titled Lucy Shook’s Letters from Afghanistan that can be ordered through SWAN (Serving Women Across Nations).  Proceeds fund humanitarian projects that aid women and children in developing countries.

So one can see how recycling the jewelry from this Great Grandmother can have a marvelous affect on her granddaughters; to have a little bit of Great Grandmother to remember her and her spirit of adventure.

One graduated pearl necklace and earrings made from Great Grandmother's pearl

One graduated pearl necklace and earrings made from Great Grandmother’s pearl

This kind of recycling is my favorite.  Jewelry is an emotional issue and I love to work with customers to create memories and pass on mementos.  It’s always so interesting to hear what motivates people to want jewelry created to remember a person or an experience in their lives.  We’re always doing this in our business and it’s so fun.  It’s either restringing old necklaces to create new, melting old metal to put into another shape or setting stones from one thing into another; Walker Goldsmiths is in the business of recycling memories.

 

Flying Frog Bracelet

Flying Frog

Photo of sterling silver Flying Frog Bracelet

Flying Frog Bracelet

Frog’s appearance in ancient Haida Art is fascinating because there were no Frogs on Haida-Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) until they were recently introduced.  To the Haida, Frog was a strong spiritual being and was a watchman and messenger from the spirit world.  While Frog may seem a small and helpless creature, he is really a being of great power.  The image of Frog, in Northwest Coast Indian Art, is often portrayed in the act of transferring spiritual power; this is often portrayed as two creatures with their tongues connected.  When you see this tableau in the art it has meaning far beyond artistic license.

 One day Frog, while on his way home, was absorbed with his own thoughts and as he hopped around a bend in the trail he startled  Grizzly Bear. Bear growled at Frog and bared his huge teeth while he tried to step on him. Frog escaped and ran (hopped?) back to his village where he embellished the story about the horrible monster that was seen nearby. All of the Frogs held council to determine the best course of action to avoid the new scourge of the neighborhood.  They determined to combine their magic powers and grow wings so they could fly to the mainland and escape the horrible monster.  Thus, there came to be no Frogs on Haida-Gwaii.  This Frog is shown with feathers where his front legs should be so he can fly away from the Grizzly bear or bear the wearer far from danger.

I have always been fascinated by this story because of the crazy idea of flying frogs.  I thought the concept was unique to the North west coast until one day Scott Jensen brought me a little wood carving from Indonesia of a frog with wings!

 

Hand-carved Sterling Silver Flying Frog Bracelet by Owen Walker, 1.25 inch width tapering to .75 inch, with Abalone inlaid eyes.

 

D14 price: $650.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another Kind of Potlatch

Kwak waka' wak carved wood Crooked Beak mask worn by dancer at Potlatch

Kwak waka’ wak carved wood Crooked Beak mask worn by dancer at Potlatch

 

Owen Walker wrote a blog last week about the Potlatch and what it is today and historically on the North West Coast of North America. Last night we attended a kind of Potlatch. Saturday night, December 10th was the annual Stonington Gallery Celebration of the Holiday Season in downtown Pioneer Square, Seattle.  Gallery owner Michael Bonsignore invited artists and friends of the gallery for an evening of supper, conversation and live music.

 

Traditionally Potlatches have that same venue of food, conversation among visitors, talks or speeches by those of authority, music and dancing. A delicious Buffet was provided and a 3 piece band played great Samba and Cha-cha music while we feasted. Michael Bonsignore welcomed all the artists and friends of the Stonington Gallery and gave a brief history of the gallery and his 10 yr. involvement.  He thanked the staff of the gallery acknowledging the immense job that they do. At this point he introduced the long time gallery friend and artist wood carver, Duane Pasco, who told a great story of fishing on the Olympic Peninsula and finding a hidy-hole of Kokanee Salmon.  Duane displayed his carved cedar mask of the Salmon fisherman. He then introduced Bill Holm, Professor, teacher, wood and silver carver, author, artist, & etc. who is always The Authority on Northwest Native Art. We were all very well treated to extraordinary stories and songs sung at Potlatches that Bill has attended in his extensive history among the NW natives. Bill had with him his beautiful wife, Marty and a large Hamatsa Crooked Beak mask carved by master carver, Willie Seiwed.

Wooden Hok Hok mask worn by dancer at Potlatch on Cormorant Island

Hok Hok dancer at Potlatch in Alert Bay

 

Fred and Ivy Fulmer and their family did a wonderful song and dance from their native Tlingit culture and included all of us. Fred displayed a maskette that he had carved and invited the men and women to learn different parts, follow them in singing while he danced, and we were led in song by Fred and his daughter Yolanda singing and drumming.

 

Toward the end of the evening, master carver Scott Jensen showed some great old slides of the first Potlatch he had ever attended on Cormorant Island with the Kwakwak’awak people in 1974. Bill Holm knew so many of the people in the slides that he could name these old friends and explain the dances and masks being displayed.  It was a rare treat for us to witness this slice of history. These photos were taken by Owen Walker when we were able to attend the Potlatch to celebrate the reopening of the Big House in Alert Bay on Cormorant Island, BC, Canada.

 

The show that the gallery has had up since the first of the month is focused on Masks; the masks displayed in the gallery carved and made by current artists, Bill’s teaching us about the Hamatsa Crooked Beak and Hok Hok Bird Masks and Scott’s historical slides all blended together to create a wonderful experience for those attending.  We went home from this wonderful evening of good visits, good food and good learning glad to have been able to attend this Potlatch. Many thanks to the Stonington Gallery!

The Potlatch

The Potlatch

 

          The potlatch may be one of the most misunderstood social mechanisms in history.  When settlers and traders arrived on the Northwest coast, they were invited to great week long winter parties where every one was fed, and fed very well, and great quantities of goods were given away.  To them it was incomprehensible that a person could give away all their goods, it even seemed evil.  The thing they did not understand is that in a non-literate society there has to be a social mechanism for a person to establish his right to names, territories, houses and privileges.  On the North west coast that mechanism is the potlatch.  Please notice that I did not say “was”, as the potlatch system is alive and well!  Essentially what takes place is that all the assembled guests are paid to witness the event, meaning that in future if there were to be a dispute they would all be obligated to come forward and say that they had witnessed the event, and it really did happen, no disputes.  In addition to the assembled guests there would be several formal witnesses who would be persons of position, power, and social stature, these designated special witnesses would be given more property than the assembled guests, and therefore have a greater obligation as witnesses.

Old photo of Kwakwakewak potlatch

Look at all those bracelets!

It does not matter what the event, birth, death, naming, marriage, if you get invited to a potlatch, it is an honor and you should go.  For one thing you will enjoy the best of native food and hospitality, and make lifelong friends.  We have been privileged to be part of many potlatches, both as participants and as suppliers of special goods to be given to witnesses.  If you are planning and working toward a potlatch, naming or memorial, contact us for pricing and a catalog.  We will work with you to get the things you need at the right price and on time!  If you want your own family crest on a bracelet we can do that too.

Hand carved Sterling Silver Northwest Totem Design Rings

Collection of Handcarved Sterling Silver Northwest Totem Design Rings made by Owen Walker

Collection of Handcarved Sterling Silver Northwest Totem Design Rings

 

Owen Walker has been making and selling these custom made hand carved Sterling Silver Northwest Totem design rings for over 30 yrs at Walker Goldsmiths.  These 5 rings shown in the photo are Eagle, Kingfisher, 2 Salmon, and Raven. These are two dimensional designs with some slight deeper carving here and there. Owen makes them in all sizes and widths in many different Totem Designs. These 5 rings range in width from the smallest at 6mm to the widest at 10mm. He also has made them in white and yellow gold.  The custom hand carved Sterling Silver rings pictured here vary in price from $75 to $150 depending on size and width.

 

The history of hand carved Sterling totem rings goes back to fur trade days on the northwest coast when the Native people got beads, iron, copper, clothing, guns, gold and silver coins in trade for their furs.  They turned the useless coins into works of art and in turn sold them back to the traders at a handsome profit. There are many wonderful old archival photos of chief’s wives and women of status wearing hand carved bracelets and rings.

Raven Transforming

Raven Transforming

photo of Design 11 Raven Transforming

Design 11 Raven Transforming

It was Raven, with both human and bird qualities, which placed the sun, the moon and the stars in the heavens. First, that sly character, would devise a way to trick Grandfather Creator into letting him play with the glowing orbs in his magic box. Succeeding in that as a human, he transformed back to Raven and flew with them, out through the smoke hole, and released them into the sky. That Raven, thank goodness he did! Raven was ever helping, or hindering the Creator in organizing the world.  This bracelet shows Raven with both bird and human parts.  He is mostly bird but shows his human hand as he transforms to fly out of the Creators house with the sun.

photo of Design 11 Raven Transforming 4

Design 11 Raven Transforming 4

Walker Goldsmiths created this design for my daughter’s high school graduation present and it is still one of my favorite designs to carve, perhaps because I am a Raven.  I have lived in the bush most of my life and ravens have always been part of the milieu in which I operate.  I speak pretty good raven except that I don’t have the vocal equipment to make some of the more exotic sounds, but I do enjoy hearing them.  I have included a link to a site here with recorded raven sounds, they are VERY good recordings with out background noise, but missing is one of my favorite calls.  It sounds for all the word like a large brass bell, being struck with a hammer, one peal at a time!

photo of Mokume Gane raven transforming

Mokume Gane raven transforming

 

 

Hand-carved Sterling Silver Raven Bracelet with by Owen Walker, 1.25 inch width, tapering slightly to 1 inch, with Abalone inlaid eyes.

 

 

 

D11 Raven price: $600.00

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