P r esen t s LEARN DEDICATED TO THE BENCH ARTIST
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
WITH DIANE SCALESE LAW & BORDER
T H I R D E Y E A S S E M B L Y A conversation with Buddy Austin
T
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Glendo LLC. Although the highest care has been taken to make the information contained in “Learn” as accurate as possible, neither Glendo LLC nor the authors can accept responsibility for damage of any nature resulting from the use of the information within. © Glendo LLC 2021 with Buddy Austin, owner and artist behind Third Eye Assembly, study Law & Border with Diane Scalese, plus inspiration, tips, and more! We’re sure you’ll fall for the articles in this newest issue of Learn! In this issue, you will find a Q&A LEARN DEDICATED TO THE BENCH ARTIST We l come back to
CONTRIBUTORS Learn magazine wouldn’t be possible without our awesome contributors! If you have an idea for an article, tips or techniques you’d like to share, or just want to send us some photos of your latest work, please email GRS at creative@glendo.com.
Buddy Austin studied art from a young age and discovered that he gravitated towards creating small-scale, meticulously detailed pieces. In 2008, wire wrapping became his artistic medium of choice. In 2010, Buddy attended North Seattle Community College to add to his skillset. He continued to expand his knowledge by attending several courses at the GRS Training Center and the New Approach School. Buddy brings together his expertise in wire wrapping, mineralogy fabrication, stone setting, engraving, casting, and wax carving to create fine jewelry, fashion jewelry, and festival jewelry. He feels very fortunate to say that his passion is also his profession and appreciates the many life experiences that have brought him to this point.
Buddy Austin Third Eye Assembly, page 04
WORK BY BRADLEY REIDER
Diane Scalese has been building and engraving bits, spurs, trophy belt buckles, saddle silver, and jewelry for over 30 years. Scalese has previously held the title of Engraver of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists. Her engraving style is traditional Western bright cut, but she adds techniques such as bulino, flare cut, and many firearms engraving styles for a result that is both traditional and attractively fresh at the same time. This difference helps her students develop and expand their own styles. Diane is passionate about teaching, which her students notice right away. She has taught at the GRS Training Center for over 20 years now.
Diane Scalese Law & Border, page 14
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On the cover: 04 TEA PHOTOS COURTESY THIRD EYE ASSEMBLY. TECHNICALLY SPEAKING T H I R D E Y E A S S E M B L Y A conversation with Buddy Austin
WITH DIANE SCALESE LAW & BORDER
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INSIDER EMPLOYEE PROFILE: RYAN DVORAK 19 A FINE FINISH BRADLEY REIDER’S COMPLETED 2019 GRAND MASTERS PROJECT 19
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TE 2021 FALL 04 grs.com T H I R D E Y E A S S E M B L Y A conversation with Buddy Austin
EA 2021 FALL 05 @grstools HOW DID YOU FIRST BECOME INTERESTED IN ENGRAVING/JEWELRY/STONE SETTING? This is my long-winded answer to how I became interested in engraving, jewelry, and stone setting. I was pretty involved in music culture in high school and college. I played piano growing up and was really attracted to the live music scene at a young age. The first time I saw the band Sound Tribe Sector 9 was at the second Bonnaroo in 2003. I remember walking up to the show and having an eye-opening experience. The way everyone there danced, styled their clothes, and showed a sense of community really resonated with me. This was also the first time I saw a wire wrap and little did I know at the time that wire wrapping would be the catalyst that started my career in jewelry and engraving. Years later, after hundreds of concerts in the jam band scene, I realized that my position in the community could be more than a fan. This is when my whole mental attitude shifted and I realized if I wanted to be a creator in my beloved music culture, I had to begin creating. Not only creating for fun but getting serious on one skill set. I had been dabbling in many different creative outlets, but wire wrapping was my favorite. I decided to focus all my energy into it. I truly believe the more you put into something the more you get out of it, and this life lesson proved to be true with wire wrapping. I found a community of jewelry artists who lifted one another up, and through metalworkers.org we were able to share our jewelry with like-minded people throughout the country. This was before social media, so metalworkers was it for us! There was definitely healthy competition within the community along with support. Some of the more supportive friends I made encouraged me to level up my jewelry skills beyond wire wrapping and this is when I started looking towards more traditional jewelry making techniques and engraving. HOW DID YOU LEARN THIS SET OF SKILLS? WHAT TRAINING HAVE YOU PURSUED? Around 2010 I went to North Seattle Community College, learned some basic jewelry making skills like soldering, basic fabrication, wax carving, casting and stone setting. I used these skills in my artwork along with wire wrapping for a few more years and then found out about GRS. I was in the second-year class of folks in my metalworkers.org community. Basically just saw what the first group learned and then another group of us decided we had to go as well. Shoutout to Adam Caver for leading the pack on that first custom class with Todd Daniels at GRS. I proceeded to take two more classes at GRS including one with Sam Alfano and one with Rex Pederson. Learning to work with GRS tools was a huge motivating factor in excelling my artwork to the next level. Sam encouraged us to learn to draw in Procreate and now this is one of my biggest assets in my business. After all the amazing things I learned at GRS, I still craved more education. I guess you could say I was and am still hungry to push myself to the limit in craftsmanship. PHOTOS COURTESY DANIEL ZETTERSTROM
I found New Approach School and studied under Blane Lewis for 3 months. This really helped me to wrap my head around various aspects of jewelry making and pinpoint the direction I wanted to go from there. Studying with Jason Marchiafava at New Approach was really motivating too. We took a step back from the modern day pneumatic engraving system and studied hand push. This really helped with my basic fundamentals of graver control. Once I went back to the pneumatic system I never looked back, but those couple weeks of hand push were crucial in my journey.
PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR WORK HISTORY/ METALWORKING EXPERIENCE.
My work history is a pretty easy one to answer. I’ve been self-employed for the last 14 years. In the last 5 years, I have done a bit of contracted work for some larger companies here and there. Starting a successful business and gaining a reputation as an artist required thousands of hours of intensive work and trial and error. “ ” YOU HAVE YOUR OWN JEWELRY BUSINESS, THIRD EYE ASSEMBLY. HOW DID IT GO FROM AN IDEA TO REALITY? The idea of owning a business was a seed that was planted at a young age. My dad was always self-employed and I saw the benefits of that through observing his career. I studied business at UNCW with a concentration in finance. I started my business in my junior and senior year of college on the side while also working a part-time job at the local Co-Op, Tidal Creek. One thing that really helped me navigate the paperwork of starting a business was the Small Business Association in Wilmington. Looking back on it, the paperwork and red tape was the easy part. Actually, starting a successful business and gaining a reputation as an artist required thousands of hours of intensive work and trial and error. I was doing what I loved though, and I truly believe if you follow your heart’s desire and put in the hard work, the universe answers. Some say that doing what you love and hard work may be conflicting ideas. In my experience, there are a lot of times I don’t feel like doing what I love but I show up and do it anyways and it has served me well. There’s nothing satisfying like going home after a long day of work and relaxing with friends and family knowing you seized the day. Carpe Diem.
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HOW DO YOU PROMOTE YOUR WORK AND GAIN NEW CLIENTS? IS SOCIAL MEDIA/YOUR WEBSITE A LARGE PART OF THE THAT? Social media and my website are a huge part of promoting my work, I like to think of them as the gas that keeps the engine going. But the engine is real life experience and interaction. There is nothing better for promoting my work than meeting people in person and showing them what I do. My biggest advocates are people who know me personally and spread the word about my artwork, ethics, and drive. People who don’t advocate for me are typically threatened by me. There is always going to be someone trying to keep you down or stand on your shoulders. All we can do as artists and entrepreneurs is speak the truth, do our best craftsmanship and treat others with kindness. If you know in your own heart you are doing the right thing, then those few and far between people can’t bring you down. Went on a little tangent there but it needed to be said. Back to social media for a second. Again I believe the more you put into it the more you get out of it. I have been consistently posting for my entire career, about once per day on average. It may have taken 7 years, but the community found me. Its been about 7 years of sharing my work with an actual community of people who appreciate my work and I must say, it feels great! I am so grateful for everyone in the TEA family. Every single interaction with TEA online is super appreciated and I make a point to answer every message that comes my way. I think my collectors really appreciate the open line of communication and professionalism. WHEN CREATING A NEW PIECE OF WORK, WHAT PROCESS DO YOU GO THROUGH (SKETCHES, RESEARCH, ETC.)? Research is a big one, and for me sometimes its just looking back at my notes on my phone I’ve been making to spark an idea. I believe that ideas float around in our collective conscious and we are just sitting on the riverside fishing for them. If you get a bite, you better hold onto it. And in my experience I hold onto it by taking note of it and coming back to it later. Its a catch and release method. Catch it, write it down and then release it back in to the collective consciousness. Sometimes I get to it first, sometimes someone else beats me to it. But really if you find your own style and perspective, you can make an original piece with the same concept as someone else. It’s not easy but it can happen. The false belief of ownership of an idea, only leads to personal suffering. After research, I begin to sketch. I do drawing studies of the content I want to share and find where they will fit into the end result. Oftentimes, only about 40% of what I draw ends up in the final work.
PHOTOS COURTESY DANIEL ZETTERSTROM
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WHERE DO YOU GO FOR INSPIRATION? ARE THERE PARTICULAR ARTISTS THAT INSPIRE YOU? Gemstones and crystals are a huge inspiration. They were my first inspiration for wire wrapping as well as my first line of cast jewelry called the Lattice Series. Nowadays, I’m finding a lot of inspiration in history and studying past cultures, deities, and art styles. I am really inspired by sculpted engraving. I’m inspired by a lot of people but these are some of my current favorites Jason Marchiafava, Bram Ramon, Danilin, Roman Booteen and Florian Gullert.
Want to see more work? V I S I T :
T H I R D E Y E A S S E M B L Y . C O M I N S T A G R A M . C O M / T H I R D E Y E A S S E M B L Y
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE /MOST MEMORABLE PROJECT? WHY ARE THESE YOUR FAVORITE/MOST MEMORABLE? Wild Coat is still my favorite. Overcoming the difficulty of inlaying rose gold felt like a huge personal triumph. Now I do it pretty often across my work. It was also such a big idea, at the time it felt like it would be impossible. Oftentimes with something of this magnitude I look for benefactors to help make it happen. My two go-to benefactors at the time said they weren’t able to help fund the project, so I looked elsewhere. One of my best friends answered the call of action and together we made it happen. The watch was engraved as part of the Fin Des Temps collection, which served as a springboard for me into the watch engraving field. It was a triumph just to get the materials in front of me. The next step was looking down the pipeline of about 500 hours of unpaid work. I knew it would sell eventually but no idea when. The concept was something so commonplace yet no one had ever done it the way I planned to do it.
PHOTOS COURTESY DANIEL ZETTERSTROM
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Over the next 3 months, I set out to engrave a leopard print pattern in 18K yellow gold with 22K rose gold and black rhodium relief rosettes on 3 pieces that valued at about $80,000 before I even touched them. It was a risk but it paid off. The reaction to this set was exactly what I had hoped it would be and more. It was on display at Art Basel in Miami, and thanks to a Crown Collection curation - Billie Eilish wore it in her main annual photo shoot, and it was on display at Peter Marco on Rodeo Drive where it eventually sold. This piece was memorable to say the least and while it may not be my most complicated craftsmanship to date, it was a super special set to me and revealed a lot of truths about who my true friends and advocates were. WHAT ARE YOUR INTERESTS OUTSIDE OF JEWELRY AND ENGRAVING? Quality time with friends and family, my dog Mr. Charlie, music, travel, snowboarding, gardening, hiking, canoeing, golf, wine, and food. DOES THAT OUTSIDE INTEREST INFORM OR INFLUENCE YOUR CREATIVITY IN ANY WAY? I wouldn’t be who I am without my interests outside jewelry. I feel like it is really important to have a healthy work/life balance. Some of my best ideas come to me while I’m hanging out with friends and family or exploring in nature with my dog. These are the most important things to me and I am only able to access the collective consciousness when I am doing things that feed my spirit. Thankfully creating jewelry is one of my most favorite things and some of the best ideas come while physically creating the jewelry itself. Some of the most innovative design ideas reveal themselves while in the act of making jewelry and realizing in that moment of creation how I will improve the next piece.
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PHOTOS COURTESY DANIEL ZETTERSTROM
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WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS/DREAM PROJECTS? In reference to jewelry, building the dream workshop is a 5-year goal. Making a new line is another goal. One of my personal goals is to continue to push my craftsmanship and find ways to be able to spend more time at my workbench. The larger
the business gets the harder it is to stay at the bench, which is where I want to be. It is a constant battle to create the time for actual jewelry creation while keeping the rest of the business moving forwards.
It is our job to educate people as to why supporting handmade work means something. “
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WHERE DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF JEWELRY AND HAND ENGRAVING? People say it is a dying art form. But when you look deeply into our community of jewelers and collectors, a whole different story is being told. The future is bright! As art forms which require highly skilled craftsmanship become more rare, they will also become more in demand. It is our job to educate people as to why supporting handmade work means something. And the best way to do that is to explain it is through our craftsmanship. The quality of the artwork will always speak louder than words. IF YOU COULD PASS ONE BIT OF ADVICE ON TO OTHER ARTISTS, WHAT WOULD IT BE? In a world full of distractions, disinformation, and a dystopian outlook, we as artists find ourselves trying to make sense of it all. Simultaneously we are living in a world full of attractions, information, and the most utopian outlook mankind has ever had to look forward too. It’s all in our perspective of things. Are we going to choose to go down the path of being a victim and blaming everyone else for our own failures? Or are we going to take pride in our failures and use them as fuel to feed the flame of our artistic fury? I’ll take the latter.
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I N T E R N A T I O N A L TRAINING L E A R N I N MO R E L O C A T I ON S W I T H
INTERNATIONAL JEWELLERY SCHOOL
AKTIV GULD
ALLOY GOLDSCHMIEDE-AKADEMIE UND ATELIER
ATELIER ALAIN LOVENBERG
ALEXANDRE SCHOOL FOR OPTICAL DIAMOND SETTING
WING WO HONG
GRS.COM/INTERNATIONAL-COURSES
Work by Nadja Ihsen.
Work by Roman Karakurkchi.
Work by Alexandre Sidorov.
Work by Alain Lovenberg.
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If you need advice with engraving or GRS tools, call Rex!
13 M-F 8AM-5PM CST ANY TIME! ASK FOR REX PEDERSEN
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
WITH DIANE SCALESE LAW & BORDER
In the engraving design system, borders are created by two separate yet equally important types of gravers: single point, with deep and narrow cuts, and the flat graver, that produces wider and brighter cuts. Diane Scalese executes her borders using flat gravers. This is her story.
GETTING STARTED
Determine repeating length of border. 1:1 repeating length 1:2 repeating length
Determine border width. The width of the border is usually determined by the object on which you are working. For general reference, most borders are between 1/8” and 3/8” wide.
Scribed guidelines with marked & repeating section lines help make border design and execution significantly easier.
Scribe Guidelines
Scribe Repeating Lines
USE
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RUNNING LEAF STEP 1 USE
GRAVER 42 FLAT
Start 1st cut parallel to inner scribed line, turn vise in a counter-clockwise motion while cutting. While cutting, rotate wrist of your cutting hand slightly to the inside of the cut. This gradually adds width to the cut. Finish cut perpendicular to outer scribed line.
STEP 2
GRAVER 42 FLAT
USE
2nd cut starts inside the outer scribed line. Angle cut toward scribed line. Turn so outer edge of graver rides the scribed line. Rotate wrist to the inside of the border. Pop graver out just before reaching 1st cut.
STEP 3
GRAVER 42 FLAT
USE
Add shade lines for depth. Shade lines cut from thin to thick.
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SCALESE SCALLOP STEP 1 Wriggle cut the outer scribed guideline. To wriggle cut, rotate wrist quickly from left to right, and back again while the graver moves forward. The flat graver should “walk” down the line. Finish step 1 by wriggle cutting the inner scribed line. USE GRAVER 37 FLAT For a wider wriggle cut, 38 or 39 flat can be used.
STEP 2
GRAVER 37 FLAT
For a wider wriggle cut, 38 or 39 flat can be used.
USE
Starting from the inside wriggle cut guideline, wriggle cut a semi-circle line with the apex of the semi-circle touching the outside wriggle cut guideline. Wriggle cut, or “walk” the graver in semi-circle shape. Stop cut at end of semi-circle. Repeat.
STEP 3
GRAVER 42 FLAT
USE
On the centerline of the border, start a thin line, then roll wrist away to add width to cut, then roll wrist back to centerline while lifting graver to finish cut.
STEP 4
GRAVER 42 FLAT
USE
The finishing cut starts at the same point as step 3, but this time turn the vise so the cut curves away from the centerline.
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DOUBLE SCALLOP STEP 1 USE GRAVER 42 FLAT Cut a tight scallop shape. The cut should be about 1/3 the height and 1/2 of the width of the guidelines. While cutting, rotate wrist to the inside of the cut. This adds width to the cut. Finish cut before turning back into the inside guideline.
STEP 2
GRAVER 42 FLAT
USE
2nd cut starts outside of the 1st cut. This cut is wider and taller, and leaves a small space next to the 1st cut. While cutting, rotate wrist slightly to the inside of the cut. This gradually adds width to the cut. Finish cut before turning back into the inside guideline.
STEP 3
GRAVER 42 FLAT
USE
Add accent lines by cutting down the repeating, dividing guideline. While cutting, rotate wrist slightly toward the scallops. This adds width to the cut. Lift graver to finish cut before reaching the guideline.
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JEWELRY BORDER STEP 1 USE
GRAVER 44 FLAT
Start cut in corner of guideline and repeating line. As you cut the line, keep outside edge of graver on the guideline. Slowly and evenly rotate wrist to inside of cut. Pop graver out right before reaching the repeating line.
STEP 2
GRAVER 44 FLAT
USE
Repeat step 1, but in opposite direction. Slowly and evenly rotate wrist to inside of cut. Pop graver out right before reaching the repeating line.
GIVE YOUR BORDERS AN EXTRA WRIGGLE. Adding a wriggle cut line outside the border adds layering and definition to the design.
LAAYYEERR UUPP Stacking a variety of borders gives the piece a sophisticated look.
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EMPLOYEE PROFILE RYAN DVORAK Working for Glendo since 2007, Ryan Dvorak loves the laid-back atmosphere, awesome hours, and air conditioning! As the Assembly Supervisor, Ryan ensures smooth operations on the assembly line while also running the laser-etching machines. He also enjoys seeing the progress of artists that have come through the GRS Training Center. In his spare time, Ryan likes spending time with his son playing video and board games, as well as outdoor activities like fishing, disc golf, and soccer.
Bradley Reider recently shared his completed plate from the challenging 2019 Grand Masters course, Comprehensive Master Level Engraving. Instructor Sam Alfano led students through his design, which required them to learn several advanced techniques, including finely shaded arabesque scrollwork in deep relief, sculpted leaf design, raised 24K gold overlay, and flush inlaid 24K gold.
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Q U I C K C H A N G E S E T S AVA I LABLE AT GRS.COM
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