My Process and Inspirations
I really cannot pin point one exact influence. Life has so many crossroads, facets and experiences, which influence us on the subconscious and conscious levels…
That being said: I grew up in a very international area: Twenty Five miles west of Manhattan.
Many ethnic backgrounds, traditions, food, art, music, etc…..
My Pop was Italian and my Mother was Parisian. My Father, a devoted Catholic and my Mother, Orthodox.
I spent many Sundays with my mother attending Divine Liturgy.
I can still see all those ornate vestments, the jeweled mitres,, (crowns), gold icons and beautiful bejeweled Crosses.
One of my favorite childhood hobbies was collecting rocks. You can find a myriad of rocks when you are an avid mud pie maker. I would dig them up, meticulously clean them, and then put them in my special box in my closet, which I often took out to admire. That’s definitely one influence, which stuck! :-)
A HUGE Antique addict, my Mom dragged me to probably every antique shop in Westchester County over the years. She would spend hours looking at Antique jewelry, ornately topped sterling ink jars, chain mail purses: EVERYTHING antique!
She decorated our house Eclectically with Antique pieces of furniture, knick-knacks and dust collectors of all shapes and sizes.
By time I was married, she graduated to collecting Crystal Borealis Brooches and earrings and I confess I caught the bug! I had sparkling brooches in most every shade and when possible, matching crystal earrings. Mom thought it all went well with Blue Jeans and called it Blue Jean Chic or Casual Chic.
Along with this factor, was my Aunt Rose who amassed a major collection of costume jewelry, most of which I inherited. She was the family “character” and one of her most infamous stunts was to dress up as a Christmas Tree for a family member’s Christmas Season Wedding…. But that is for separate Blog.
So, being close to New York City, my Pop and I often attended Operas. My favorite was The Barber of Seville. We also attended many musicals. Enchanted totally with the singing/dancing and of course the opulent costumes, these images still linger in my mind’s eye.
Along with shows and operas, were the museums which if my family did not visit, our schools frequently sponsored a great many cultural trips to the City. I still remember being TERRIFIED when I first saw Tyrannosaurus Rex at New York City’s Museum of Natural History.
And then there was always The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I can remember seeing Egyptian Jewelry and Artifacts and similar exhibits for Native Americans and many other exhibits.
Honestly, I believe influences are always developing/evolving.
My husband’s job took us to many corners of the US and also to Germany for nearly 10 years. Certainly the amazing architecture of Europe influenced me. Too many styles to name here, but I recall being particularly stunned by the many Baroque churches in Bavaria… but then, also gorgeous Gothic and Romanesque buildings, etc.
I then would transfer any ideas to a sketch book, try to finalize the sketch/idea. From there, I will make a template of the main, say pendant and then the component links.
Takes a bit to figure the right size. From there, I carefully cut out my template from sturdy paper and glue it to whatever sheet metal I would be working with.
A metalsmith saw cuts the shape out. If my design has gemstones or semi-precious stones, I would then figure out what type of setting would best suit the stone and the design: then solder those settings to the piece. That’s how a design moves forward.
ALL these things seem to come together in my creative mind’s process. At times, I actually see a piece in my head first.
Sometimes, it a whole work, or sometimes, it’s a shape or two.
Going to saw these two shapes out , then layer and solder the two pieces together:
Not pretty—yet:
Now, cleaned up, stone bezel setting soldered and time to start assembling:
The Beautiful Mountain Jasper Stone is set: The bail’s citrine stone is also set and attached to the pendant:
SOLD! To a lovely Lady in the UK!
I often line up my “rock collection” and contemplate designs!
I also work in Precious Metal Clay. The process is similar, but obviously, Clay is malleable. However, it does need to be cut. Here again, templates are used.
There are many tools involved with both processes, but with clay, one rolls out the product for however thick a piece you are designing. At this point, decide whether you will texturize it and if so, include a texture pad in the rolling out process.
Two separate shapes are “glued” with water before putting it in a Kiln. A Kiln is used to transform the clay into metal:
2 Hours later, it is metal and can be treated in the same way as sheet metal. I solder a Prong Setting here for this beautiful White Topaz Gemstone. Setting Soldered and Gemstone is set. Here is the same design below, but with a Swiss Blue Topaz Gemstone which is for sale:
Who can say what of all this had the strongest influence—I’m gonna say my obsessive rock collecting! But, just maybe, my Crystal Borealis Brooch hunts with my mother stemmed from those rockin’ mud pie days!
Pictured here is what remains of my Crystal Borealis Collection:
Sadly, many are missing… due to our house getting hit by some 14 large trees (100s down on the property) by a freak Micro Burst 3 years ago. Gratefully, we were not there as I was engaged to perform with my Jazz Trio on the Long Island Sound.
My husband, my hero, painstakingly dug through the rubble and found the above pieces.
So, what could have been…… had we been there?
It took one year to rebuild the house. We sold it and moved into a great place.
We are truly grateful and we joke often that we always did want to move! :-)
I exhibit my jewelry in a fine Art Gallery:
https://www.brushstrokesfredericksburg.com/michele-milano
I have just finished a Greatest Hits CD And BEST of all-- I have 2 great furry studio buddies: Melody and Misty:
What more could I ask for ???
SO NOW, I am all set up in my various studios and work shops and am RARING to Create, Create, CREATE!!