Process
I design and fabricate the metalwork. After drawing the design to scale I will use many techniques including sawing, piercing, soldering, carving and stamping .
My brother then cuts and inlays the stones.
In-lay involves using an 18 inch diamond saw followed by various diamond wheels and bits to meticulously fit each stone into its bezel.
One of the materials we use quite a bit is Fossilized Walrus Tusk. These are tusks from Alaska that are hundreds to thousands of years old and they are found by digging on the beach or diving in the ocean.
After inlaying, I often scrimshaw the inlayed Fossil Tusk. This involves bringing the tusk to a very high polish with no scratches and then etching the drawing into it and using ink to fill the designs. I like to say that its like tattooing the tusks. After Im finished with the scrim I put a layer of wax to seal in the ink.
Finally it is time for finishing. Using compounds and an assortment of wheels the metal is brought to a high polish and the stones and Fossil Tusk is set with an epoxy and the pegged for security.
Below are photos of different parts of our process.
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