"Employing" Skill To "Teach" Techniques in Jewelry- Through a Commission

By: LaMar Gayles

Expanding from my project on Archaeogemology and initial research on Gemology as a social practice, I employed a local Chicago Heights metal sculptor and forklift driver named Eric Suderow to create a piece inspired by his series of  sculptures titled Iron Men which loosely pulls from the robotic imagery of several early counterculture films such as Iron Giant (which was made in a regionalistic style) and The Terminator. The purpose of the commission from Suderow is the produce an object which pulls from from the ideologies and epistemological frameworks surrounding found steel and gemstones in the late twentieth century in the United States. In this period persons were beginning to once again appreciate gemstones for their metaphysical prowess and this became popularized, simultaneously found metal became a popular material in art to showcase the overabundance in debris caused by commercialization and mechanical pollution. The product of this collaborative commission conceptually constructed by myself, but physically made by Eric Suderow is a metal pendant which consists of a pair of his signature steel robot-like hands latching onto a piece of purple chalcedony a stone often associated with natural meditation, which alludes to the developments of man-made spiritual objects which were used to amplify natural materials like stones. 

In this short article we shall review parts of Suderow's process in order to gather a sense of reflexivity for the project and to provide a space for technical reflection and commentary. 

The artist begins with a sketch on paper and then translates the design to a thick sheet of found steel ,

Suderow estimates the approximate spacing he will need to set the stone. It is important to note this is his first time attempting stone setting a difficult jewelry making process. He intuitively understood the complexities of spacing and the level of pressure/precision needed to set a stone in place properly.

He utilizes industrial metalworking tools in his practice for sculpture and uses the same when making a piece of jewelry. Eric is approaching jewelry-making and stone-setting the eyes of an experimental sculptor who works in metal and carved/sawed media. In this image we see a pre-soldered hand being held in place by an vice while Suderow cuts divots into the respective fingers. 

After cutting in divots to allow the fingers opposability Suderow solders the hands together in order to craft the rough form of the desired finish piece. In addition, during the soldering process as he puts it he is attempting to "color the metal with fire" which "trained" metalsmiths call "flame patina".

By using a metal cutting rotary tool Suderow refines the soldered form of the metal hands and to add opposability.

Image of Suderow fitting the stone in a the work in progress steel setting. The piece is coming along and will have aesthetic bolts added as a mode of connecting to Steampunk Counterculture, which is something Suderow is interested in.  

Image of Suderow fitting the stone in a the work in progress steel setting. The piece is coming along and will have aesthetic bolts added as a mode of connecting to Steampunk Counterculture, which is something Suderow is interested in.  

Image of Suderow fitting the stone in a the work in progress steel setting. The piece is coming along and will have aesthetic bolts added as a mode of connecting to Steampunk Counterculture, which is something Suderow is interested in.