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KOHLMYER COX GROUP Writing & Outdoor Photography
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Romancing the Stone Brenda Kohlmyer Jewelry artist Sharrey Dore' loves working with stones. This show in the exceptionally detailed 3-dimensional jewelry she creates. Working with sterling silver and 14K gold she forms boldly delicate housings for the large natural crystals and stones she features in most pieces. The result is one-of-a-kind wearable sculpture in the form of rings, pins that can also be hung on necklaces, and earrings that are striking in their simplicity. Many of her pins are actually miniature sterling silver boxes. Sharrey uses roll printing to emboss sheets of sterling silver for textural interest, then uses the silver as back and face plates holding the central stone in place. No two pieces are exactly alike because each piece of jewelry begins with an individual stone. Sharrey feels that "The stone speaks for itself and if you do too much you've taken away from the beauty of the stone." She often uses oval and bullet cuts of onyx, agate, carnelian and jasper, but incorporates gem like cuts of amethyst, citrine, and peridot. Some of the most striking pieces center around cuts of drusy, citrine and chrysoprase that allow their crystalline nature to shine. When creating pins she will often mix more than one type of stone, sometimes setting a mid-sized citrine or amethyst on the sterling silver box holding an agate and adding onyx baubles to dangle and create movement below the main assemblage. The effect is very much like a puzzle with stones layered on embossed silver, which is in turn layered over another stone, and more silver highlighted with 14K gold accents. Adding to the puzzle effect is the fact that many pieces interconnect. Especially with the larger pins, she sometimes makes a secondary pin that will clasp onto the primary pin and swing free of the garment. Sharrey credits the texture and layering in her jewelry to her past life as a needlepoint artist. Working with thread, she learned to build up a piece of needlework to add texture and interest to large expanses of cloth, creating intricate tapestries that took months and sometimes years to complete. That's one of the reasons she began making jewelry, while it was satisfying to create the needlepoint, it took a long time to see the final result. Finishing a piece of jewelry provides more immediate gratification. Not that her entry into jewelry making started with a form of the art that's inherently less time consuming. Her mother started to get into beadwork and Sharrey joined her, creating long, intricately beaded necklaces that often included three or four interwoven strands and multiple types of beads. About 5 years ago she decided to expand into metal jewelry and took a class from Florence Baker at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle. That first class interested her enough that Sharrey returned to Pratt later and attended another class, this time from Virginia Causey. For some reason, that second class "took" and she was hooked on fine metalworking. Further classes from Lynn Hall at North Seattle Community College helped her refine her work and define her style. Now, by her own admission, she's become "a bit of a tool junkie." Her well-organized studio includes an array of needle nosed pliers, a small drill press and a roll printing press for embossing sheets of silver. Shelves are lined with other delicate tools, boxes containing the items she assembles into her jewelry and books on her chosen craft. One of the small tools she routinely uses helps her create the miniature rivets that hold many of her pieces together. She uses the cool connection riveting because the fine detail in the embossed silver would melt away if the edges were soldered. Instead, the precisely spaced rivets add yet another detail, and layer, to the finished pins. They also add detail to the back of the pieces, helping to finish a side of the jewelry that most people will never see, but that Sharrey feels should not be neglected. She says, "Your work should be as interesting on the back as the front." This philosophy shows in spades on some of her more intricate jewelry pieces. On these pieces the back plate is also embossed to compliment the front so details are truly carried around the entire pin, creating a miniature sculpture that's beautiful all the way around. Because of this sculptural quality in so many of the larger pieces, Sharrey is also experimenting with ways to display the pins when they are not being worn. She has discovered that shadow boxes are one way to frame individual pieces while giving them room to swing naturally on the necklace loop. That quality of natural swing is also evident in her series of earrings. Long and slender, the pierced earrings hang gracefully. The bale wire often becomes an integral element of the designs by swooping down nearly to the tip of the front of the earring, creating the visual effect of an elongated oval. As with the pins, Sharrey incorporates sterling silver and 14K gold in the earrings and usually ends the sweep of silver with a pipe set stone. Her favorite pieces at the moment are made of a long sterling silver and gold square pipe ending with bullet shaped stones set in gold. She says she has to really be in love with a design to recreate it and, luckily for her customers, these simple, elegant earrings are easy to love. When you stop by her booth at the Best of the Northwest show, look for these earrings, but don't be surprised if they are sold out. Don't worry though, Sharrey has plenty of other beautiful jewelry on display. -END-
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