A Copper Alliance Member
Copper in the Arts
Issue #70: February '13 - Cont'd
Ecolibrio: Turning Recycled Cables Into Stylish Jewelry and Handbags
Copper wire earrings.
Photograph courtesy of Margarita Hansen
Hansen began experimenting with copper wire art in her spare time and started collecting more electrical wires.
“I discovered they were being thrown out in bunches at my job so I convinced them to let me keep them. When people found out I was working with these materials, they donated some. Now I have a friend who does home theater installation and saves the scraps for me instead of taking them to the landfill. He hadn't realized he was wasting that much wire. I had been attending small jewelry shoၼws so I replaced the beadwork with wires.”
Though Hansen has lived around the U.S., the self-taught artist currently works from a one-room studio behind her house in South Carolina. The first thing she does is strip the jackets and remove the copper wire inside. She then organizes by color and gauges. She has a tub full of copper and the only metal she buys is copper chain. The name of her business, Ecolibrio, is derived from the Spanish word for balance and one meaning environment.
Copper jewelry artist Margarita Hansen.
Photograph courtesy of Margarita Hansen
In keeping with the ecological or green aspect of her work, Hansen has used the colorful cable jackets to make clutch handbags. She cuts and hand weaves these in a size that people must observe closely. "I use different stitches from magazines for beaders and line the handbags with colorful cotton, linen or other upcycled and vintage materials. Sewing with a needle and thread finishes them off and a touch of glue holds them in place. I then make the handles out of copper wire."
Hansen describes her designs as "innovative and eco-conscious, edgy and daring with a bit of fun thrown in." In 2006, she placed 2nd in the Charleston County Creative Recycled Art Contest. In 2010, her bag "A Touch of Love" was chosen in the top five for Best Green Handbag at the Independent Handbag Designer Awards in New York City. During Earth Day in April this year, she will no doubt attend some independent craft shows. She is also busy with future plans for her business.
Resources:
Ecolibrio, Charleston, SC
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Tiffany & Co. Unveils New Copper-Hued Rubedo Line
Interlocking circles bangle in Rubedo and silver.
Photograph courtesy of Tiffany & Co.
Metallurgists concocted the trademarked metal over a long testing period after experimenting with different alloys, creating the first new metal in the company’s history. Empire Gold Buyers, a gold refinery in New York City, performed an element analysis with a fluorescent X-ray spectrometer which found that Rubedo is made of approximately 31% gold and 55% copper, in addition to silver and zinc.
The new metal made its first appearance in Tiffany & Co.’s 1837 Rubedo limited edition collection that launched last year. The debut of the new metal marks the next milestone in the company’s legacy.
The name Rubedo, which means red in Latin, is derived from the medieval philosophy of alchemy. It was the title of the very highest achievement, when matter and spirit fused to create something of rare beauty. The Rubedo metal is the company’s latest in a history of innovations in metallurgy, and Tiffany & Co. were the first American company to incorporate the 925/1000 British standard of silver purity which led to the U.S. government adopting the standard.
Rubedo padlock charm on a chain.
Photograph courtesy of Tiffany & Co.
The date of the collection implies the founding date of Tiffany & Co. by Charles Lewis Tiffany. Each piece in the collection is finished with the year in which Tiffany & Co. was founded and many bear an inscription of Charles Lewis Tiffany’s signature.
In some cases, certain designs in the collection include Rubedo paired with sterling silver, such as the interlocking circles bangle and necklace. Prices range from $175 for a circle bracelet in Rubedo and sterling silver to $8,000 for an interlocking circles necklace, also made of Rubedo metal and sterling silver.
While Tiffany & Co. initially announced the Rubedo collection would only be available in 2012, pieces of the collection are currently available at select Tiffany & Co. stores worldwide and at Tiffany.com.
Resources:
Tiffany & Co., 727 Fifth Ave., New York, NY, (212) 755-8000
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The Charming Jewelry of Heart in Chains
In this copper moon tree necklace, an antique copper wire frame beams in a hammered and textured lure. Inside the ring is a tree made out of copper wire, which makes up the trunk and branches. A green jade disc bead fills the role of the moon in this design.
Photograph courtesy of Laure Lovelace
Her work sells mostly through festivals around the city of Bethlehem, but her online presence has continued to grow, especially as she develops more styles of necklaces that pull at people’s senses.
Two such designs have been a tree of life pendant, with copper wire as tree trunk and limbs. Lovelace places very tiny green beads on some branches for reminders of the warmer seasons, reminiscent of leaves, and in autumn-inspired efforts, she adorned select lines of the copper wire with red beads.
After seeing a friend wearing a necklace that spelled out the word “love,” Lovelace began experimenting with twisting out the word in copper wire and has since also manipulated sections of wire to spell out “vegan,” a cause that’s close to her heart.
Her bracelets and necklaces often incorporate ceramic beads and crystals but mostly gemstones. And preferring the hook and eye closure over the lobster claw, Lovelace laces love by hand into the means that clasp a bracelet or necklace conveniently around a wrist or neck.
“I call it unique, wire-wrapped jewelry that is often funky or even industrial but casual and affordable,” Lovelace says.
Antique copper wire twists and wraps around two faceted
Czech gemstones in this fully adjustable ring.
Photograph courtesy of Laure Lovelace
One of her most cherished tools is her coiling gizmo; she has a cat named Gizmo, too.
“For me, making jewelry takes me to a place of peace,” she says. As part-owner and teacher of an outdoor bootcamp fitness academy, the act of creating copper art helps give her balance. “And copper is just my love,” she says. “The color goes with so many beads and has such an earthy look.”
Lovelace obtains her materials from several sources, including Parawire, Wiredup Beads, Vintaj and Cherry Tree Beads.
“I don’t count links, and I don’t measure what I’m making,” Lovelace says in explaining that to her, what makes the work so meaningful to her is keeping each design unique and its own, not something calculated and repetitive.
Although if people request a design that’s already sold, Lovelace does her best to replicate it while still keeping it from being an identical copy to the original.
“With antique copper and bronze wire, colors are so rich,” she says, adding that this is really what she loves about this choice being a part of her finished jewelry pieces.
Lovelace’s next appearance will be at the Northampton Community College spring art show slated for April 2013.
“I love how you can form these metals into anything you want them to be—you can bend, shape, twist, coil or leave them straight,” Lovelace says. “My husband sees me working at night and says he can’t believe it all started as just a piece of wire.”
Resources:
Heart in Chains, Catasauqua, PA, (610) 403-2323
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Copper in the Arts: NEWS
Precision and Splendor: Bronze Clocks and Watches on View at the Frick Collection - February 04, 2013
Mantel Clock withStudy and Philosophy, c. 1785−90,patinated and gilt bronze, marble, enameled metal, and glass, Horace Wood Brock Collection.
Photographe courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The earliest example in the exhibition that incorporates an escapement, a coiled spring, and a fusee is a gilt-brass table clock made in Aix-en-Provence about 1530 by Pierre de Fobis. One of the most famous French clockmakers of his time, Fobis is still recognized today for his durable and highly refined movements. The Frick’s clock is among Fobis’s rare surviving works and is one of the earliest extant spring- driven timekeepers. Its complex movement is set into a typical sixteenth-century French clock case, inspired by classical architecture and ornament rediscovered during the Renaissance. Except for the small dial in blue enamel, the hexagonal gilt- brass case is covered entirely with acanthus scrolls, urns, winged heads, and tiny figures whose limbs morph into elegant, intertwining foliage
The exhibition also showcases several clocks from the late eighteenth century which incorporate sculptures in bronze made by or after renowned artists. One such example is the stunning mantel clock of about 1785 to 1790 representing Study and Philosophy after a sculpture by Simon-Louis Boizot.
Resources:
The Frick Collection, 1 East 70th St., New York, NY, (212) 288-0700
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