Reincarnation
As seen in Rings & Things 2010 Fall Supplement
Artist: Alex Seitz (Deer Park, WA)
Polly's Pick, Found Objects & Miscellaneous
"My inspiration for this piece came from the rib bone itself. In 2007, I moved from Seattle, WA, to a 5-acre piece of land in Deer Park. As I explored the acreage, I found a few sun-bleached deer rib bones scattered around the back side of the property. I picked them up and took them with me, not knowing exactly what I was going to do with them. When I got back to the house, I set them on a shelf and forgot about them for quite a while. In 2009, I noticed them up on that shelf and they got me thinking about how, at one point, they were part of a living creature, and now they were just sitting there doing nothing. This inspired me to give them a new life, a sort of reincarnation.
"One of the three bones was broken, exposing the delicate innner structure of the marrow. After seeing this, I knew that I wanted it to be visible in my final piece. I sketched a pattern on one of the bones and started to cut away with my dremel. I was halfway through cutting out my design when I slipped and broke the bone in half. At that point, I had put one to two hours of work into the piece and was ready to give up. I pulled myself together, grabbed my final worthy rib bone and went back to work. This time, as I sketched my design, I decided that a couple of black onyx cabs would be a great accent to the bright white bone. As I cut my second, and only, remaining bone, I took extra care not to break it. ... From there, I moved on to the silver work. I hand cut the bezel from 28-gauge sterling silver in a pattern to match the bone. After soldering the silver pieces of the cap together, I polished them and assembled the pendant. As I strung the necklace, I knew that it needed something more than just black leather cord. I decided that a simple spray of sterling silver beads would be just the thing to accent the pendant. Finally, I bent and hammered out my clasp and attached it, finishing off the ends with sterling silver cones.
"By the end of this journey, I had spent 10 to 12 hours working to resurrect a simple rib bone and create something that could live on for years to come."
-- Alex Seitz
Polly’s Picks are designs our editor especially likes despite the fact that they did not win a formal prize. These designs are often simple, practical and/or whimsical examples of how to use Rings & Things components well.
View more 2010 Polly's Picks. Or, check for details about our most recent contest!
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