Chain by Sam Patania, Bracelet by Frank Patania, Jr.
In this photograph I combined my dad’s and my jewelry for a two generation shot. Both pieces in sterling silver. Dad’s bracelet was made in the late1960’s or early 1970’s. It was a box form with a star Topaz on the top. This is typical of dad, classic design, clean work and shiny surfaces. No where to hide any blemishes. My father is a master craftsman. He has the patience and skill to be unafraid of designing clean pieces with highly finished surfaces.
My chain was made when I was in Michael Croft’s metals class at the University of Arizona. Michael had me working in techniques I had not been exposed to during my apprenticeship. He had me making pieces that had content which was a real stretch for me. I am not used to thinking in terms of symbolism for my own jewelry except that which is brought by those who buy it. I admire people who can make jewelry that has political or social meaning.
Jewelry is historically important to the society which produces it. I used to think my job was to make pretty things which held meaning to me as the maker where I had done my best to produce excellent work. I slowly realized that people would pick out a piece of my family’s work to mark occasions. The occasions varied from person to person, some were big like a weddings or small like commemerating a visit to Tucson. Nobody bought with out the piece meaning something to them. Some people would buy commissioned pieces which were one of pieces and they were included in the designing. Some would come in and look into our show cases and fall in love with the work we had made. In any case jewelry reflects, in a long lasting way, the fashion of a period and the personality of the wearer. The wearer assigns meaning to the piece by what is happening in their own lives. Just show interest in some one’s jewelry and they will often be willing to tell you the story of where it is from, when they bought it and what they love about it. Dig deeper and youfind out what the occasion was they were celebrating.
The chain pictured was made by lost wax casting. The waxes were made in plaster “bats” where the design is carved into the plaster and wax poured in. This is an interesting way to make multiples similar to tufa stone carving except wax is poured into the mold so the mold lasts a long time. The waxes are then cast in silver and linked together.
I shot this photo on the same apprentice I wrote about before, sometimes we really did get good shots.
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