Ornament is the leading magazine celebrating wearable art. Explore jewelry, fashion, beads; contemporary, ancient and ethnographic.
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MICA FRAME BOOK LOCKET of sterling silver, mica riveted over leaf skeletons, 3.8 centimeters high, 2013. reports with pride and pleasure that Kahn has a flourishing jewelry business of her own, working in PMC. Fago's second serious apprentice, Erin MehargHarris, who is also a University of Vermont graduate, started working with her two years ago. MehargHarris, who has developed a successful line of pet portrait jewelry and reliquaries, accompanied Fago to Haystack this year to help facilitate her workshop. As far as marketing her work goes, Fago has a robust website featuring Robert Diamante photographs of her one-of-a-kind and limited edition work. Her former apprentice Kahn set her up with an account on Etsy, that worldwide "egalitarian" marketplace. "If I don't have Etsy," she notes, "I have work sitting in a bag for six or seven months, not doing anything," adding, "With Etsy, it's out there and people want to see sold work." Back at Haystack, the ten or so students in Fago's workshop take a very brief break from their work to greet a visitor to the studio overlooking the ocean. Fago has them focusing on polymer bracelets, which serve as a "blank canvas" to which the students add an array of adornments made in PMC. Fago is also covering polymer mokume (layering of translucent clay), texturing (including the aforementioned tear-away technique), carving and painting textured surfaces. Add some metalsmithing techniques to the mix and the students are fully engaged. Fago continues to delve into the process of her jewelrymaking—and of art in general. She recently read Mason Curry's Daily Rituals: How Artists Work and has been enjoying choreographer Twyla Tharpe's The Creative Habit. She is fascinated by artists' rituals—What time do they go to work? What do they wear? How many hours do they work at a time? Asked about her own rituals, Fago replies, "I walk." That's the centering element for a very fertile and productive life in art that seems to endlessly evolve—one twig, one hinge, one book at a time. SUGGESTED READING Bone, Elizabeth. Silversmithing for Jewelry Makers: A Handbook of Techniques and Surface Treatments. Loveland: Interweave, 2012. Dancik, Robert. Amulets and Talismans: Simple Techniques for Creating Meaningful Jewelry. Blue Ash: North Light Books, 2009. Diffendaffer, Grant. Polymer Clay Beads: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration. Asheville: Lark Crafts, reprint edition 2011. Fago, Celie. Keum-Boo on Silver: Techniques for Applying 24K Gold on Silver. Selfpublished, 2004; revised and expanded edition, 2007. McCreight, Tim, and various authors. PMC Technic: A Collection of Techniques for Precious Metal Clay. Brunswick: Brynmorgen Press, 2007 (chapter by Fago on PMC hinges). 53 ORNAMENT 37.1.2013 jeweler, who continues to take classes herself each year. "You put your trust in someone you probably don't know very well to handle you kindly, patiently and explain things." She is continually amazed by students who come up with a different question about something she has been teaching for years. Fago believes in the benefits of apprenticeships. She has been involved with them since she was twenty, either as one herself or serving as a mentor. In 2001, University of Vermont graduate Jennifer Kahn became her live-in apprentice, staying till 2010. Fago