The oyster world chain, pearl string and earrings are made to remind you that the world’s your oyster.
The Baroque style period (1600-1750) got its name from “barocco”, the Portuguese word for an irregular pearl. Because baroque pearls are a big inspiration to me, I wanted to reverse-engineer a new Baroque style with the sculpted, craggy, organic links that are reminiscent of oysters.
The Oyster World chains and earrings are a mix of sculpted links made with lost wax casting in sterling silver and handmade sterling silver wire.
I started out sculpting three chain links in wax. Then I had those cast in sterling silver, and made a silicone mold.
Every wax link is finished by hand, so they all look different. Some have droplets, others are smooth or craggy. The pink wax chain links go to the foundry again to be cast in sterling silver. When the silver casts come back, they still have some white plaster attached from the casting process.
Every link is hand-finished, spruce sawn off, filed and checked for sharp edges.
With the left-over "sticks" or spruces from the foundry, I made wire to form extra chain links and the toggle closure. Then, I solder or fuse all the wire links and add the closure.
Finally, I polish the whole chain until it's shining like a mirror.
Here, I'm trying out a prototype, the links are not closed and the silver casts still need some filing and polishing:
