Ornament is the leading magazine celebrating wearable art. Explore jewelry, fashion, beads; contemporary, ancient and ethnographic.
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28 ORNAMENT 38.1.2015 have give to them. They can take a beating, but the wood springs back. If you dropped one of my applewood brooches it would most likely bounce. Ebony, because it's thin, dense and not resilient, might break from a drop like that." Given the varied physical characteristics of his media, DiCaprio employs two different methods of creating his work: one systematic and fairly predictable and another more exploratory, evolutionary and amenable to the unexpected. Both begin with drawing. When working with ebony, he typically produces fifteen to twenty sketches of a proposed brooch before arriving at a satisfactory design that can be accurately transferred to a block of wood. The dense grain of ebony assures that any reasonable form can be carved without need for deviation from the plan. In the case of applewood, however, DiCaprio generally dispenses with the sketchbook and instead draws directly onto the block, anticipating what he might discover within it when he begins to carve. This method embraces an element of uncertainty and even risk. "I work around the knots and cracks when I can," he says, "but if I cut the block open and find a crack going all the way through it, I might have to scrap the piece." Color figures into DiCaprio's work early in the conceptual phase. "As I'm forming ideas in my head, I'm matching up colors and considering the kind of wood to use," he explains. "If I want something dark and mysterious, I'll use ebony. If I want it to be plantlike and green, I'll use lignum vitae, and if I want vibrant, synthetic color, then I'll use holly." In the last case, he soaks the finished piece in water to raise the grain, then sands it smooth and repeats the cycle two or three more times so that the dye seeps deeply into the grain. His earliest wearable wooden pieces were sealed with wax rubbed on in several coats, but this finish proved over time to wear off, becoming less efficient at repelling moisture and leaving an unwanted residue on clothing. To his more recent brooches, necklaces and earrings, he has applied several thin, even coats of spray lacquer. This change in finish confirms that DiCaprio takes into account both the wearer and the longevity of his work as he develops it, though the aesthetic aspects of his designs never originate in concerns for practicality. "Some of my larger pieces aren't necessarily easily wearable," he admits. "It would take a collector to wear them, but I've always considered that at least they're not inconvenient to wear. I try to keep them comfortable, but I think that with any art or craft, people are drawn by the ideas. Nobody's drawn to the work of someone who was only considering how comfortable a piece VESSEL BROOCH of ebony, silver, 6.4 centimeters, carved wood with metal wire inlay, fabricated pinback, 2011. MUTATION II BROOCH of African blackwood, twenty-two karat gold, fourteen karat gold, silver, 6.4 centimeters, carved wood with metal wire inlay, fabricated pinback, 2008.