by Sam Patania on April 24, 2009
Friend, patron and mentor Lona Bjornsen commissioned a bracelet using a huge piece of Landers turquoise in a style made popular by my grandfather. She wanted the bracelet to be my own and not a copy of my grandfather’s work. I loved that challenge. I feel that I was able to keep in the parameters she asked for and stretch them enough to really please myself.
Working with an expensive piece of turquoise like Landers is nerve wracking just like setting a large diamond. The thing about a diamond is that it could be replaced much easier than a piece of Landers. One more thing about this turquoise is that it is much larger than any other piece of Landers I have ever worked with. It could never be replaced and I found the nerves coming up when I set it. It is a nice thick piece of stone so that was not the concern, it’s just that any stone can break during setting.
Bracelet by Sam Patania
I have been granted more patience in my craft by who ever grants such stuff and am enjoying more detailed work. I made the round elements or charms with different stamps that I have from previous family generations, all made in the Patania studios. Some of the charms have round edges and some have scalloped. Each is unique. I cut out the bracelet’s back so that the charms would seat and stamped the bottom of those charms so that from underneath they are visible.
Inside of Landers Charm bracelet
This bracelet is a nice heavy weight, 164 grams finished.
Side view Landers Charm bracelet
This piece took me longer than I thought it would because I needed to engineer it on the fly. It is hard to judge how much room , visually, that I will have when the bracelet is bent. A flat drawing cannot tell you how much space you will end up with. Lona is very generous and asked that I make it how it needed to be made and not stuck to a design I had drawn. If there was one thing I could wish into existence it would be the ability to draw better, or at all. But, I have stopped struggling about my drawing and accept that I am a 3-d thinker.
by Sam Patania on April 20, 2009
I have been making pieces that are all metal, no stones, and depend on design alone to make them interesting to me. I have many influences which I have already written about for this type of work and I just received two books from Marbeth Schon, “Form and Function, American Modernist Jewelry 1940-1970″ and “Modernist Jewelry, 1930-1960, The Wearable Art Movement” which are going to be right down my alley as far as influence on my work. Marbeth is also going to carry some of my pieces in her gallery which is a big boost to me, I am very happy about the opportunity to be seen in her collection of artists.
Bracelets by Sam Patania, 2009
These two bracelets are all sterling silver, pierced sheet with domes added. I have taken a photography tutorial and have started to take my photographs on a reflective surface so that they can be seen from two angles at once. In the reflection you can see the three dimensional aspect of these two pieces as well as the pierced areas.
I enjoyed these pieces so much and I hope to continue making pieces like this which seem to be a new direction for me. I would like to add stones, I think geometric faceted stones sets as well as calibrated cabs would fit well with these designs. Gold and silver combinations as well. I currently have a commission from a patron to make one of the ZigZag ( silver and gold) bracelets which I posted about last time in platinum and 18K gold. Working with platinum like that is an amazing opportunity for me, I’ll post about it when I’m done.
I named these two bracelets Rio Plata ( 1 and 2) as a nod to the Mexican influence which I live in. I love my work.
by Sam Patania on March 20, 2009
Very few times in my life have I been this satisfied with anything I have made. This bracelet was inspired by a spoon handle I saw in a book about Navajo spoons that Dick Barber brought in last week. He was inspired to make spoons and this zigzag handle caught my eye and I told him I have to make that as a bracelet. It is not often I am inspired and able to sit and knock out a piece that quick either. I love this piece and was so excited to make it I burned my fingers while I polished it because I didn’t want to stop.
I have two books I look at constantly, “Messengers Of Modernism” by the Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts given to me by Joanne Stuhr and “Spratling Silver” which I found at the Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe. These books have a hook in me. None of the work in the Spratling book has high end stones and very little gold. The Messengers book is very much the same way, I decided that the artists represented in these books relied on design, not materials to make their work. Now lots of the pieces in the Messenger book bug me because they don’t look well engineered but they seem to be loved by many people anyway, myself included.
My father also works with materials that are not considered high value and I remember him saying it wasn’t the materials that matter. This was a point of departure for me from my previous generation’s work, I wanted to use high dollar materials and have good design. So I consciously fell in love with 18K gold and platinum.
Bracelet in Sterling Silver and 18K Gold
And I really love those materials but, I kept looking at these books and understood that design drove these artists and felt I was somehow missing that in my work. I thought that I should do this and that to make my work more design and less materials. I didn’t work, I can’t make myself do things like that. I am not in control of my creativity, I really am not. I loved making this bracelet, I want one myself but I made this one in a woman’s size, damn it. I find it hard to make myself anything, I have little patience for that.
Anyway, if you want to see my influences, check out those books. I made a sister piece to this since, as I have posted before, hate to make one of anything. I’ll post that bracelet next week when I finish it it’s sitting in the liver of sulphur solution right now, otherwise known as stink water.
by Sam Patania on February 21, 2009
It’s been a while since I posted since I was caught up in the Tucson Gem Show. I have been enjoying the show like I do every year and getting behind in my work and catching up with my work. Now I have some breathing room I can post some of the work I have been doing.
The gem shows ( there are 30 plus shows at venues all around Tucson) are wonderful to see what is going on in the market in my industry. I get to see many friends who come to town for the shows and the tool trade shows are amazing for a tool junkie like me. Rio Grande puts on a great show as does Stuller and Otto Frei. I get to see and handle all the tools they bring. My favorite gem supplier comes also, Tim Roark who got my loyalty when I saw him set up at the SNAG conference.
I have had two commissions both to duplicate previous generations of Patania’s work. Frank Patania and Frank Patania Jr, my father and grandfather, were and are very strong designers and their work has become very collectible and getting scarce. I am asked to duplicate their designs on a regular basis. I still have turquoise they bought so I can offer that to clients and in one case I had silver elements of my grandfather’s to incorporate into the work.
I find this work very challenging since I find myself trying to think like they thought when they were making the original pieces. My own techniques and ideas creep into this type of work though and I look at them like they are wrong. These clients are asking for duplicates of work, not my ideas. It’s tough sometimes but I am so grateful for the work. I get to use materials I love, silver and turquoise and learn how they thought through their work. Interesting.
Necklace and Bracelet by Sam Patania
The necklace and bracelet set were the first pieces I completed this past week. I had been working on it for a week when the gem show hit. I would work on it a few hours aday during the show as well as the next peice pictured.
Bracelet by Sam Patania
This bracelet is a variation of a design my father made in the 1960’s He called it Bits-O-Silver so I continue calling it that. I used Bisbee turquoise I bought from Bruce Mead in this piece and Persian turquoise int he necklace and bracelet above. The Persian was turquoise my grand father bought in the 1950’s.
Thanks to Orchid for the many friends I have who come to Tucson each year and for the opportunity to meet more people in my industry. Robin Hawke, Dave Arens and Kevin Potter deserve special mention this year. I love Orchid.
by Sam Patania on January 26, 2009
When I make floral elements for necklaces I don’t really plan it out and end up with some that are the wrong shape or two big or too small. I work this way in silver but for cost considerations I can’t do that in gold. I had made this large flower several weeks ago and wanted to use it somewhere but it was so large I didn’t want to use it for jewelry. I decided to put it on top of a box where I can be more sculptural but still use all my jewelry making ideas and techniques.
Box by Sam Patania
I had some Morenci ( Arizona) turquoise that my grandfather bought in the late 1950’s or ealy 1960’s that I used. I am almost out of this stone and will miss it when it is gone. I have a couple different shapes of this turquoise , some more pears and some marquis shaped which I will have to figure out how to mount. I had sold this turquoise to a man named John Joyce who I met at the Tucson gem show many years ago. I ended up buying back most if not all this turquoise after I realized how nice it was. Such is the life of a turquoise man.
Box by Sam Patania
This is a hinged lid box with feet, in the second photograph I show the back feet and the hinges. I had fun making the feet with sterling tubing filled with a concave sterling disk. On one of the feet I put my hallmark.
The flower is almost 4 inches long by 3 inches and the box itself measures 4 1/4 by 3 inches. I modified the flower as I mounted it onto the box to make the design flow more and textured the box lid to give the flower more depth and contrast. Most of the bezels are sawtooth, made on the shear my grandfather and Mike Mariott made in the 1950’s. The top of the flower has plain bezel. I did this because as I am making a flower like this I think about how a flower would grow, how does the inside look and how do the colored elements attach and come out of the flower. How does the flower open up and age. I do this with the vine parts of the flower too.
by Sam Patania on January 20, 2009
Bracelet by Sam Patania
This beautiful coral was purchased from a friend Steve Booth, boothballoon@earthlink.net, a couple weeks ago. I bought enough to make two bracelets, one went to Mark Bahti right away, the other I still have in the studio. These bracelets are very complicated and exhausting to make.
Bracelet by Sam Patania
They have many layers and elements as well as the bezels. Dick Barber made the bezels for me, nice to have an apprentice. Then I spent many hours backing and finishing the bezels before I could start the bracelet itself. Once the bezels are done I make the frame the whole bracelet will be built on. I forged the frame for both of these bracelet out of 6 gage round wire. I used Argentium sterling through out except for the bezels themselves. Argentium allows me to weld areas so the later on in the construction it won’t fall apart while I am soldering.
Bracelet by Sam Patania
The bracelet at the top of this post is called Sea Creature and is the more complicated of the two, the bottom one is called Sea Life. Sea Creature has 13 corals while Sea Life has 11.
Setting these odd shaped stones is nerve wracking since if I break one I an stuck. With almost any other material another stone can be bought or cut to fit into the mount but these corals are each one of a kind. It would be difficult or impossible to replace one of the bezels if I broke a stone since coral is very heat sensitive. Cold connection could be done but would not be in keeping with the rest of the design. Thank God, I didn’t break a stone.
Bracelet by sam Patania
I will be taking a break from this design for a long while. I have made enough of them recently and started wanting to get back to gem stones. As I stated before I won’t be buying any more coral. I do have some stock which will be used over time but I don’t have any more branch coral. Unless my dad has some branch coral these will be the last I make in coral of this style. I will be happy to do remounts of coral. It’s odd to be writing that, I haven’t come up against any barriers to materials like this before but, I just can’t continue buying coral.
by Sam Patania on January 14, 2009
Coral in 18K by Sam Patania
I was contacted by a group called Too Precious To Wear who is trying to raise consciousness in the jewelry industry about saving coral. I have been watching the laws changing about the use of coral for some time. I found inconsistent information is all over the place. One set of information says that if I can be provided with documentation of the origin of the coral I would be alright in purchasing it. The documentation must be from a reputable coral dealer who buys legally harvested coral. The problem is what kind of documentation is necessary. Is an invoice good enough? who decides if my supplier has purchased and imported legally harvested coral? Game and Fish from each state has different ideas and the Feds have their own set of ideas.
I have a feeling that someone will be held up as an example and be prosecuted by what ever governmental body feels they want to. All it would take is a couple high profile prosecutions to stop coral from being used.
I have understood for a long time that the ocean’s coral reefs were being damaged which is cutting our own throats. Just like oil, how long do we humans think we can abuse this planet and continue to enjoy it? Money talks and if legally harvested coral is still allowed to be sold internationally then illegally harvested coral will blend in with the legal supply. I can see the complete ban of the sale of coral just like elephant ivory or tortoise shell being the only solution. Those bans, as far as I can tell, actually work. Someone would have to be a fool to use either of those materials for legal and moral reasons.
I told Too Precious To Wear that I would not purchase any more coral. I would use the stock my family has and when that runs out that will be the end of me using coral. I hate to say that, I know , right now, very well priced beautiful coral available. Damn. What temptation. Oh, well,now that I have publicly said what I just said I’m stuck and I know it. I have thought allot about these statements and will abide by them. Some money is too expensive to own.
by Sam Patania on January 13, 2009
Necklace by Sam Patania
I started this necklace when I made it’s sister necklace in azurite/malachite as a commission for Christmas. I like to make more than one piece at a time. I bought this Tyrone turquoise from my friend Bruce Mead a couple of months ago. Tyrone is not very common, it is from a copper producing area in Southwest New Mexico. It’s beautiful country. I have a friend who is a mining engineer who works for the mines there and I have asked him to ask around for turquoise but he won’t. Something about being professional.
I always have an eye out for American turquoise. Not that I’m a nationalist about minerals but, I got burned out by the mountains of Chinese turquoise I see every year at the Tucson Gem Show. Another material I can’t stand due to gem show burn out is fresh water pears. There is nothing special about the huge mounds of them I see at the show. Now I know most people don’t get to see all that and a strand here and there might seem interesting. I feel the appeal of them is purely price driven. They are not expensive. Chinese turquoise beads and cabs are so available and inexpensive ( I’m being kind) that I don’t want them. High quality Chinese turquoise is interesting to me. It is also harder to find, just like any interesting material.
I want to use materials that have a value to them. To me value is driven by scarcity. If everyone can have something them what value is it? Diamonds seem to be an exception, not only to me but the rest of the world. They have been so well marketed that demand has been high for many decades. I can,at any time of the day or night, call 10 different suppliers and get any diamond you can think of. If you called me to find Bisbee turquoise or Tyrone, I would have one person I can think of to call. If he doesn’t have any I don’t have another supplier to call.
The gem show is coming and I love the gem show, I have so much fun meeting people and old friends. I also get to shop the market and see new things. The big tool suppliers are also here, what more could I ask for? I do get new friends around gem show time, friends I won’t see again until the show comes. They all want to get into the parts of the show that only the trade can get in. Or they want me to tell them that the crap they bought is fantastic and can’t wait to tell me where they got it so I can also get some. One piece of advice for non trade folks going to the show, just because it is at the show doesn’t mean it is good. If you buy a ring for $5 then it is a $5 ring. I will charge you $20 to size it.
by Sam Patania on January 9, 2009
Sterling Buckle by Sam Patania
I was fortunate to be born into a family which makes jewelry and to have fallen in love with the work. There are many ways to learn the craft of jewelry, I was apprenticed to my father as he was to his father. All three generations have made many pieces which were not considered art work but which show pride in craftsmanship.
In my art work I often have no idea what the end product is going to be exactly. In a piece like the pictured buckle I have many examples to compare it to. My grandfather designed this buckle and I have no idea how many have been made over the past 60 years. I was taught by my dad and Dan Enos, both of whom had made many of these themselves, to cut initials and fabricate this buckle. Initial cutting is not creative work when the design was done 60 years ago. The challenge to make this buckle is to maintain the standards that the past generations have set. I don’t want to make this buckle which can be identified as mine, it has to be a continuation of a tradition.
This buckle has been ordered by a client to have their loved one’s initials on it but to be the same quality she has seen in the same buckle from past years. In that way it is no different that the other buckles with initials I have made. I have made buckles with the clients cattle brands and other symbols that I had no part in designing. As a craftsman I need to take the client’s ideas and turn it into jewelry. I really appreciate this work, I appreciate the trust people have in me to make high quality work with their symbols.
Pin by Sam Patania
This pin was commissioned to be in 18 karat gold and set with sapphire. The metal, stone and design all had important symbolism for the client. It was ordered on a deadline which didn’t allow me to communicate with the client very much but, he trusted I would be able to make a piece up to his standards. I love that. I really appreciate the amount if trust I encounter in this business with both clients and suppliers.
Sterling Buckle by Sam Patania
This buckle had the cattle brand of a local rancher. He was able to provide his own art work, all I had to do was make a vertical design into a horizontal buckle. I made the buckle out of heavy sterling to last generations. Many of the projects I am commissioned to work on only require I be able to work out the engineering of the piece and turn a client’s ideas into jewelry.
by Sam Patania on January 8, 2009
Bracelets by Sam Patania
The Patania Collection are pieces I make which are classic best sellers. I have the Collection available for retail and wholesale. I have drawn on over 80 years of my family’s designs to make the Collection and adapted the designs to keep the pricing affordable.
The Maria bracelet is a design I made myself a couple of years ago when I was experimenting with my Bonny Doon press. I had just received the old style doming tool set from Lee Marshal and was pushing it to the limit. Some designs can be made with the old doming set that the new one can’t make and the new set created another opportunity to make designs the old one would not allow.
The Maria design is made by forging wire to make the outline of the design then soldering the wire onto a back. The bracelet is then formed in the concave forming tool to push the back through the front. Forming this way gives a repousse’ feel to the bracelet but forming this way is much more consistent and quicker than repousse’. The urethane in the Bonny Doon gives me the ability to produce this kind of work and keep my prices affordable.
I make several variations of the Maria bracelet, three of which are shown. I add turquoise to some, in the picture I have used Bisbee turquoise in two and left the third plain. I also chiseled the central oval wire on one of them to make a rope design. I have many ideas for this design to make them individual and want to make one in 18K gold. I have also made a smaller version of the Maria where I use narrower wire which produces a more delicate bracelet.
I love experimenting with the tools I have. My Bonny Doon hydraulic press is still my favorite tool and I have lots of ideas to make new designs for one of art pieces as well as my Collection work.
