Beautiful Garnet Pendant

[WinkHPD]

Here is a fun piece that we donated for the Botanical Garden Auction this evening. Stone cut by Richard Homer, hand made pendant mounting in 18kt yellow gold by Bei van Tiet. Horrible picture by Wink.

 

[researcher]

What a gorgeous stone! I'm not one for yellow gold, but that's a beauty!

 

[chialea]

You posted pictures of some gold work by that guy before, yes? Beautiful stuff... thanks for sharing

 

[Hest88]

Oh wow. I rarely get to see engraving on the *side* of a pendant. That's so cool!

 

[Daniela]

----------------
On 6/11/2004 6:54:55 PM researcher wrote:

What a gorgeous stone! I'm not one for yellow gold, but that's a beauty!----------------

Well, I disagree (but amicably, of course)! I totally love the yellow gold, I think it suits the warmth of the garnet perfectly. Wink, thanks for showing that beautiful piece.

Daniela

 

[strmrdr]

only thing I can say is .....
WOW

You sure are a lucky guy to get to see all of these awesome works of art in person.
It must be hard to send them off to their new owners when its time.

 

[WinkHPD]

----------------
On 6/11/2004 8:00:55 PM Hest88 wrote:

Oh wow. I rarely get to see engraving on the *side* of a pendant. That's so cool!----------------

As I said, horrible picture, that is not engraving, those are hand made flowers and vines on the side of the pendant. If you look closely at the setting you can see that the prongs on the diamonds are a little rough also. Bei makes EVERYTHING by hand. No casting.

He starts out with gold casting shot, alloys them to 18kt if they are not already and then melts them into a large lump then starts squeezing it through a press. When he has squeezed it through enough times he cuts some off the now oval sheet of gold and starts running it though a grooved press until he has it the thickness and the width that he wants, then he cuts out the wire for making the basket.

After making the basket he will cut out the flowers from the sheet, and then make some really thin wires for twisting together by hand for making the vines. To make these wires he starts pulling some fairly thick wire through a plate with holes of many sizes. after each pull he hammers the point of the wire into a point then pokes the point through the next smallest hole and pulls it through. I have watched this old man stand on a chair, put the plate beneath his feet, grab the point of wire with a pair of pliers then slowly straighten as the wire comes though the hole. a piece of thick wire that may start out only an inch or two long may be several feet long by the time he is ready to use it for the vines.

He does not have a Stuller account, I doubt that he knows who Stuller is. When he first came to this country as a refugee in late 1979 I gave him a job and bought him tools. The first thing he did was to destroy many of them making them resemble the older style "primative" tools he had used prior to fleeing Vietnam. I can tell you the first time I caught him breaking his new files in half and grinding the "V" shaped edge into a "U" shaped edge I really wished he spoke English so I could tell him not to do it.

Still, I held my peace and soon accepted that his work was beautiful. His prongs are not the artistry of a Mark Morrell, or a Leon Mege, but his hand made flowers and vines are incredible. I have had him make many pieces for me, both for my clients here, and for clients across the country. I always tell them that the prong work will be primitive and why, (he hand makes the heads too,) and I always have very happy clients when the job is done. He now owns a Vietnamese market here in Boise with his wife and makes a lot of 24kt gold jewelry for the Asian market here. He hand makes 24kt gold chains one link at a time, and he works at his own pace, it make take many weeks to finish a piece, but my clients always feel the wait worth the result.

They had a very lovely lady wear this piece at the Botanical Garden auction last night and it went for a very good price for the Garden. It was a pleasure to work with the Garden on this, and to see so many friendly people last night.

As Storm Rider said, it is sometimes hard to let these go. Here is the piece that I gave last year. It was a 64ct amethyst called the "Eye of the Idol". That one I really miss!

Wink

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Impossibly beautiful! Thank you for sharing your story about the goldsmith--it reminded me of my Father who, in l975, hired a young goldsmith from Hong Kong who also spoke little English and had nothing but his (unbelievable) work to recommend himself. Gifted in all facets of benchwork, Kwong outpaced all others in my Fathers shop, save one Canadian fellow who learned from an Italian master and eventually went on to start his own sucessful business.
Seems a lifetime ago--thanks for helping tweek those wonderful memories!

cheers

sharon

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

That was a great example of hand made work.

I studied with a Cambodian guy who was another miracle worker. He taught me to do one thing at a time. Is there another way? I was asking him how he can be so fast as none of the guys at trade school (ages ago) had heard of jewellery being made at his speed. By watching him I learned that each job (one piece takes many) is in preperation for the next. It sounds obvious, but you forget it at times.

He died of a bloood disease sadly, but there are some other Vietnamese jewellers I know of with equaly outstanding reputations.

Thanks again Wink for desribing the hand made process so well, humour included.

Phillip

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

Sharon, I am on memory lane too, because his work looks just like the work of a Greek guy I was apprenticed under. I amn reminicing the world of gold....

 

[canuk-gal]

Date: 9/2/2005 6:48:30 PM
Author: Platinumsmith
Sharon, I am on memory lane too, because his work looks just like the work of a Greek guy I was apprenticed under. I amn reminicing the world of gold....

HI:

Phillip, when I once again saw this leaf design I immediately thought how perfect it would look fashioned in pink gold holding a twenty odd carat Imperial Topaz I drooled over recently...a toast to the world of gold.....

cheers--Sharon

 

[WinkHPD]

That sounds like a truly delicious project!

 

[just_looking!]

Have you seen some of the carrera y carrera jewelry? I was drooling over some of their stuff earlier!