Art adventures: Ring making in Nelson, NZ

I had heard about jeweler Pete Elsbury before arriving in Nelson, at the top of New Zealand’s South Island. My obsession with paua had led me to seek out genuine paua artists as I’m not a fan of mass-produced “artwork.”

On our first day in town, Brian and I walked right by Elsbury’s Lustre Gallery–which he owns with his wife, Zoe Buchanan–but I didn’t realize it. The next day, after browsing through the Suter Gallery, I saw some of Pete’s work in the gift shop and was reminded about visiting his workshop. We found out where it was but didn’t intend to head there straightaway; we deliberately chose to walk through Queens Gardens and then along the river first, but to our surprise, our chosen path literally led straight to Lustre Gallery.

Once outside, Brian agreed to a brief visit although he was feeling galleried out. Our “brief visit” turned into more than an hour chatting with the lovely Zoe, who told us about the work on display, her and Pete’s mentoring of young artists via the gallery and Klustre consortium, and Pete’s one-day ring-making workshop. I inquired further about the workshop and Pete agreed to a class Monday morning before our scheduled bus departure.

The Artist’s Way course I recently completed talks about synchronicity, when desires and reality happily coincide. For me, meeting Pete and Zoe, and having the opportunity to take an impromptu metalsmithing class was definitely a moment of synchronicity. Having just finished my art clay silver class in Auckland, it was a great time to learn traditional jewelry making, yet I’d had no idea that Pete taught. And had we not ended up at Lustre that Saturday afternoon, I might have missed the opportunity completely, what with the gallery being closed on Sunday and our bus leaving Monday afternoon.

I had expected metalsmithing to be similar to my glassblowing and lampwork experiences: hot work. I was surprised that it primarily involves cold metal work, actually.

The first step in making my new pinky ring was to determine my NZ size: E. (My wedding band is a 4 1/2 in US sizes, which corresponds to an “I” in New Zealand.) Check out this conversion chart for more.

Pete taught by first demonstrating how to do something and then having me follow along on my own project. He annealed (heated) the sterling silver wire (925) to soften it for working, cooled it, and then we pressed it through a machine with some gauze to create an interesting pattern on the metal. We then cut our lengths: mine 45mm, and his two samples, 50mm and 55mm.  We each stamped our rings with our initials and then bent the wire around a mandrel using a rubber mallet. The goal when wrapping around the mandrel is to get the two ends to align evenly so there will be a clean seam.

We then cut solder, dipped it and our rings in flux to protect them from fire scale during torching, and then soldered the seam closed with a gas flame. Next, we re-shaped our rings into circles and dipped them into lime sulfur to create contrast within the pattern (similar to what I did with liver of sulfur in the art clay class). To finish, we polished the rings with a large buffing machine and polishing compounds tripoli and rouge.

And voilà! A tiny pinky ring with texture on top:

The whole process sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it? I’m sure it is for an expert–after all, Pete made three rings while I finished just one–but it is a small, fine-motor-skill kind of art form.

After finishing our rings, Pete took some time to show me his work with paua. He buys whole shells from a local diver and then cuts them down to meet his needs. Paua is a protected, quota-capped industy in New Zealand and divers must free-dive (without oxygen) to depths of 40 or more feet to harvest the shells.

When making a paua ring, Pete first creates a bezel using fine silver (999). Then he crafts a base and ring shank from sterling. He solders the bezel closed to ensure a tight fit around the shell, but doesn’t actually mount it until the ring is finished and polished. With the bezel adhered to the base, he solders it to the shank and then finely trims and sands the base flush to the bezel. After everything is mounted and secured, he then polishes and finishes the ring. The one below is still in progress, but check out his online gallery for more examples.

I had a great time at my morning ring-making class. Many thanks to Zoe and Pete for their hospitality!

What are some examples of synchronicity in your life lately?

Cheers,

Tips for visiting Nelson:

• Need a reason to go? Nelson has some of the best weather in New Zealand and was a lovely respite from rain and cold.
• The area has a great cafe culture, but if you don’t know where to look, you might miss it! Walk through the darkened bars around the city center and emerge into sunny, cheerful interior courtyards. For good food, check out bar/cafe Elsewhere and When in Rome. Sprig and Fern also serves some good craft brews.
• When we arrived at the Paradiso, our accommodations for the weekend, it was full of 20-something backpackers. We decided to upgrade to their Apartments, and we loved it. Unlike the backpacker side, the apartments were quiet, we had an ensuite bathroom with jacuzzi tub, and a small kitchenette with refrigerator for 99 NZD/night (about 75 USD).
• If you’re into the arts scene, check out the Suter Gallery and the WOW museum (World of Wearable Art & Classic Cars) along with Lustre Gallery.