Tuareg Jewelry event

Last week I went to an event here in Tucson that was put together by Yvonne Foucher, owner of Cata Vino's wine shop, and member of Local First, Tucson. The featured artist/group Tuaregjewelry.com was represented by their US representative, AnnElston. I was lucky enough to find a gorgeous pair of silver earrings for my collection. It is rare for me to purchase jewelry; I usually wear my work only..(like a walking billboard)... But these pieces were truly remarkable, and I knew immediately that I wanted to have a sample of the amazing technique and "soft geometry" of the designs. 

here is an image of my sample pair- remarkably, they are Hollow, and not soldered.. the piece is cut and folded into it's box shape- I believe (based on their weight) that there must be a small piece of wood in the core, to keep the light gauge silver from collapsing. I'm going to do a little research to find out if this is a technique that the Tuareg metalsmiths employ 

(I'll let you know when I find out)

in any case, these are made with stamping and repousse techniques: (with hammers and broken screwdrivers and files, as told by their rep...sounds right to me!)

repoussé |rəˌpoōˈsā|

adjective(of metalwork) hammered into relief from the reverse side.nounornamental metalwork fashioned in this way.ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: French, literally ‘pushed back,’ past participle of repousser, from re- (expressing intensive force) + pousser ‘to push.’

As a bonus piece, I was given a fantastic deal on a gorgeous hand sewn leather piece, which is a smaller version of the Tuareg sleep mats (mine is the size of a pillow). The hand tooling and design of this piece astounded me. I feel fortunate to have it, and am very grateful to have had the opportunity to hold many more beautiful metalworks at the event.

You never know what opportunities arise, and I am so glad that I took time out of my busy day to be in the presence of such amazing craftsmanship.