Patrick Smith, M.A.
Navajo (Diné)

                                                                                 

MATERIALS

• METALS
  • Patrick uses only solid sterling silver or solid 14k or 18k gold in his finished jewelry. 
  • He draws new experimental designs on paper. He then makes them first in copper to get a better idea of size and shape requirements, and to avoid waste of his more expensive silver supply. 
• NATURAL STONES & CORALS
  • Patrick uses only natural turquoise, corals, and other stones in creating his jewelry. Natural Australian opals are used only in gold jewelry creations.
• LAPIDARY
  • Patrick begins with rough stones and corals, and using his lapidary unit, cuts, grinds and shapes each stone to fit.
  • Cabochons are stones that have been shaped and polished usually to a dome shape and are flat on the bottom (round, oval or other shapes). They are inserted into bezels on the jewelry piece. Patrick works with natural stone and coral cabochons that he purchased many years ago, or makes his own for a particular piece.
  •                                                                                         TECHNIQUES

• HOLLOWFORM
• Hollowform is created by shaping a bottom form, and then shaping its opposite form (like a box, circle, oval, or other shapes) and soldering them together as one enclosed shape/form. Patrick's hollowform shapes are hand created one at a time.
• Care must be taken when soldering to apply just the right amount of heat to not split or collapse the form. 
• CORRUGATION
• Patrick experiments with metal corrugation to add a new creative and imaginative look to certain jewelry pieces. 
• Patrick uses a hand-cranked rolling mill tool to feed silver sheet through bi-directionally which creates cross-corrugation. 
• The corrugation piece gets soldered into the frame of the jewelry piece.
• DIE-PRESS FORMING
• Patrick uses die-press forming equipment and hand made plastic-acrylic sheet cut-outs to press-form a desired shape to incorporate into a piece of jewelry. 
• SYNCLASTIC & ANTI-CLASTIC FORMING
• Patrick uses the Heikki Seppa synclastic and anti-clastic sinking (also known as Hyperbolic Paraboloid) forming methods along with hand made hammers to make creations such as The Form Necklace. 
• HANDMADE CHAINS
• Chain links (jump rings) start out as one long loop of solid sterling silver round wire.
• Patrick wraps the wire around a mandrel/rod, inserts a section into a cutting box, and saws them down the middle to make individual links.
• Patrick makes links in standard gauges and sizes that work well with his jewelry. He uses mostly 18 gauge sterling to make 5-6 mm links. 
• Chain links are not individually soldered, but the end pieces are soldered to add stability.