Marianne Willumsen | Earrings with Lots of Stripes

Artist:  Marianne Willumsen

Materials: Sterling silver and bimetal (silver and copper alloy)

Dimensions: 2"x3/4"x1/4"

Origin of featured materials: Shining Wave Metals / Phillip Baldwin

Story behind the piece:  I favor movement in my pieces. I really liked the idea of this design: straight black and silver stripes contrasting with moving dangling elements. 
I expected the Baldwin patina would blacken the copper-colored stripes. It didn't. Lesson learned, learn about the metal you are using, e.g. test the patina.  

This was my first experience with Mokume-gane and bimetal. Learned a lot...
Since the Mokume-gane contains many layers be careful when filing or sanding the surface. My metal had a solid silver on the back side, and I did wipe out the pattern on a thin piece of Mokume-gane. Test patina on the metal before you begin. Some Mokume-gane alloys patina more readily than others. Also, I found some thicker pieces of the Mokume-gane was very tough to shape. 

Artist Bio: All my life I have created things: from small houses for my imaginary childhood friends to jewelry and holloware during my study under John Marshall and Ramona Solberg at the University of Washington, commissions and gifts while working in the jewelry supply business, software as a programmer analyst for community colleges, and as content designer and writer in the software industry. I’ve now returned to my early passions: art jewelry and metalsmithing.

This piece is part of, From Wave to Shining Wave: a Celebration of Phil Baldwin and Shining Wave Metals Baldwin. The exhibition is presented in collaboration with the Seattle Metals Guild. 5% of sales will be donated to help fund an endowment at Pendland in Phillip Baldwin’s name. Learn more HERE. All work will remain on exhibit through July 20, 2025.

📂 [View the entire collection HERE ]

ℹ️ [Learn more about the exhibition HERE]