The Arc

Animals have been a major theme for me this past week. Ever since the bobcat ran across the tracks in front of me I feel like I have been staring into the eyes of creatures at every turn. The zoo started the week with a bang; shortly followed by a trip to Angola prison for chit chat with the incarcerated, and the purchase of a percheron hunter (thats a horse). I had moments on horseback, a small skirmish with fleas on my dog, the release of two rabbits to Jimmy Club's pastoral lawns, several hours with the egrets in Audubon Park and the purchase of a chicken. Each of these experiences have something to do with jewelry and the challenges inherent with using animals as a theme in pieces of jewelry. My personal belief is that the most important individual pieces of jewelry ever created are animal themed. Take the Cartier panthere, or the David Webb frog cuff bracelets, Slumberger's jellyfish brooch, or Verdura's South Sea pearl elephant pins as the very tip of the iceberg.

My first job after gemology school was at David Webb in New York City. I was a sales person who was really not allowed to talk to clients. This provided me plenty of time to watch jewelers as well as go through all the pieces that David ever did. He was prolific in the amount of jewelry he created and much of it was animal themed. What I often read into the pieces is that he had trouble finishing the jewelry with clasps or earbacks without disturbing the harmony and organic fluidity that is most attractive about working with animal forms. Perhaps I am mistaken by this presumption, however it seems that jewelers tend to reuse the same closures over and over again. The elephant in the image is helping to punctuate the doughnut technique of finishing scores of  bracelets. The trunk goes through the hoop on the top of the wrist and there you create the clasp. It has been done as well in the panthere bracelet by Cartier. It is elegant, works, and does not disrupt the animal itself. I have always had a problems with balancing the animal form and creating the mechanical exigencies of fine jewelry.

More importantly however, the miniature longhorn, T-Roy, is getting along very well with Lerae the miniature donkey.