it is made of two materials:
-- 14karat goldfilled wire
-- the discarded steel bristles from an Italian streetsweeping machine
they are made from the bristles of the street sweeping machines of Rome, Italy. My old studio was in the old quarter of Rome -centro- and one good thing about living here is my street is swept daily. Like clockwork {odd for Italy} at 4am the sweeper machine loudly comes by.... maybe just up the middle but he does come by.... in the morning stuck between the cobblestones are these steel pieces lying around here and there... i search them out... then sterilize them by heating them to over 2,000 degrees F.
its one of a few urban pieces that i did last year.... the scribbled look is individual looking and a tad funky...... the bristles are soldered with actual 14karat gold and i appreciate the dicotomy of mixing real gold with discards found in the street....
i have tried to handle this recycled material in a sensitive and jewellerly fashion: all the edges have been smoothed, burnished and polished to make a wearable and admireable pair of earrings.
the pair weighs 4.3grams and they are 2.25 inches [57mm] in length...
i've tried to take photos under various different lighting conditions and backgrounds in order to most accurately and fully represent this piece but if you would like to see other images or have any questions please feel free to contact me at anytime
all of my work comes packaged in either a gift box or a small cloth drawstring pouch; just tell me your preferance in the "note to buyer" during the checkout process...
thanks for your interest in my work... i appreciate it...
mark kaplan
to get into my shop just click here: http://markaplan.etsy.com
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