like a jeweler may set a stone in a piece, i jammed rusty washers into areas created on the outside of the cup and hammered the walls down around it to hold it in as if it were a sort of bezel setting. one of the washers remained flat. the other washer, the washer visible in this image, was formed in a dapping block into a domed shape and then a small gold cup was hammered into it with a riveted piece of coral. this was done before it was set into the vessel and made entirely with cold connections. the pairing of the different materials, the fine silver and the found rusty objects, makes a combination that is dramatic and exciting to me. it functions as a drinking vessel. the cup on the right has areas where i initially planned to "set" similar objects into these spaces but instead left them empty until it is picked up and forms to your hand. it is an intimate pairing, the cup and the hand. the cup feels good to hold especially the area where the thumb rests. on the surface of this cup i used numerous different sizes of cross pien hammers to strike different sized hammer marks and achieve the desired finish. both pieces were burnished by hand. return to works