Student Work-Medals of Childhood

When I attended a required design class in undergrad, I had an assignment designing 3-D paper objects based on fractals. I wasn’t particularly excited about fractals at the time and due to my lack of interest completed a half-hearted project. I SWORE if ever I was an instructor that I wouldn’t force students to create pieces based on my personal pet projects.

I stand before you, a self-professed hypocrite. I have a keen interest in medals, especially those of friendly societies/fraternities. This semester I introduced a project for my Metals I class that would incorporate the technique of lost wax casting and sweat soldered findings. The assignment was to create a wearable medal of achievement with a childhood theme.

The medal above by P. Cauthen is based on the student's time as a boy spent on bicycles.

This piece, created by K. Grimm represents the books of adventure she read as a child. For K. Tunks, the movie Toy Story dominated her childhood.

The below medal, by J. Barnett, was based on a memory from her childhood. When she was a girl, she once cut the heads off her neighbor's roses, then went around the neighborhood selling them for a penny a piece. I told her that artists had to be good entrepreneurs!

UNT featured on AJF Blog

The Art Jewelry Forum has posted an entry highlighting the University of North Texas. I'm proud to have my work help represent my graduate metals department.

AJF is an organization highly involved in promoting and supporting the contemporary art jewelry genre. For more pictures and to view the full entry, please go to the Art Jewelry Forum blog.

Carbuncle: The Gem of Inflammation

For personal summer enjoyment, I am currently reading the book, Spice: The History of a Temptation by Jack Turner. My interest in spices is in relation to commodity monies. Mr. Turner's book is a meandering read, not a bad thing, but has proved to be slow going for me. It is dense but a delight for those who appreciate details. He has researched so thoroughly his subject matter, that I feel he might have been compelled to pack it ALL in. I do believe he could have gotten at least three books out of his commendable research (if not more).

On page 86, Turner includes a passage written by Saint Jerome (ca. 347-419/420) that refers to trade in India. "Here are found carbuncles, emeralds, and shining pearls, for which desire burns int he breasts of noblewomen..."

Due to my summer class on the history of jewelry, I already knew what a carbuncle was in reference to gems. It is a red cabochon, normally a garnet but sometimes a ruby. A carbuncle is polished but not faceted. The literal translation is "little coal" or "cinder" thus the relation to red stones. Webster's online dictionary has a thorough definition which includes the word's usage associated with an angry red boil. Flashy! This may explain the term falling out of favor in the fashion world. A gem that is also an unpleasant skin condition would be a tough sell.

Below is a nice example from the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. It is a Sarmatian diadem from the 1st century AD.

I have run across more than one online source, such as the Encyclopedia Britannica, that suggests a carbuncle is specifically an almandine garnet, but this is its contemporary definition. General consensus of its ancient usage was any red gem cabochon. The below picture is from minerals.net and Gemhut.It does look as though it might need a medicated salve, doesn't it? As far as gems go, garnet cabochons are still reasonably priced. I got my current stash from a Dallas gem show, but Fire Mountain Gems has a nice supply. I recently used a couple in my Dollar Earrings I set and was pleased with the results. They look almost black in the picture, but in reality are a deep red.

My other current work can be found on Crafthaus.

In search of En Esclavage

For a college course this summer, I studied the history of jewelry. My textbook was the book, Jewelry: From Antiquity to the Present by Clare Phillips. It was a relatively easy read, but did not illustrate all of the foreign or obscure terms. I sure this was due to budgetary concerns. One term that was on our test but not in the book (I think) was the phrase, En Esclavage. It was presented as a type of necklace with a removable pendant as in the picture below.

After further research, I don’t know if I entirely agree with this definition. The direct translation from French means “in slavery.”


The Antique Jewelry University website defines it as “Bracelets and necklaces in a style with plaques connected with multiple chains is called en esclavage.”

The website ADIN Fine Antique Jewelry gives this definition:
“Esclavage, French for slavery. A type of necklace composed of three chains or strings of beads or jewels in which the chains or strings hang approximately equidistant from each other. They were worn in Normandy as peasant jewelry in the mid-18th century.”

From the sold archives of One of a Kind Antiques .com was this piece:

The description also give a little history:

“Collier d'Esclavage. "slave necklace". A complete example of early 19th century French regional jewelry. The gift of a "slave" necklace was a marital tradition in most of France's most fortunate regions. It symbolically represented the transmission of wealth and at the same time the bride's engagement made on the wedding day to produce a bounty of children for each additional plaque of gold and its chains corresponded to a subsequent birth. The "esclavage" was an important investment reserved for those with important means. Each chain of the esclavage necklace represents the price of a pair of oxen, or a thousand francs, which in the 19th century was a very important sum.”

This definition is echoed on other sites such as the French blog, Jewelry and Precious Stones which posted several examples.

Roughly translated from the blog “The collar of slavery, in gold, was in the nineteenth century, the greatest gift a husband can give to his young wife, the Empire or the Restoration.
It usually consists of several chains in festoons, generally has three connected ovals, rectangular, glazed or not.”

Side note- festoons are the floral and fauna elements draped and swaged between larger focal components.

This example is from BijouxAnciens:

Musées en Haute-Normandie has a nice piece in their collection.The term could certainly have been used for any manner of necklaces over the years evolving with fashion trends. In fact, contemporary examples tend to be of the fetish persuasion. Since words have different meanings depending on period and region, the example shown in class may very well be en eslavage but I believe the other examples above illustrate a more common usage of the term

The Quest for Dormeuses

In conjunction with the jewelry history books I mentioned in a previous post, I am also reading Cartier: Jewelers Extraordinary by Hans Nadelhoffer.

I tend to leave pieces of paper on the pages with words I don't understand as I am reading so that I may look up their meanings later. This book, though very well written, doesn't make enough of an effort to explain the french terminology. The words are just italicized and the writing moves on. Since my french is not very good, this book is riddled with my little notes.

This morning I attempted to look up the word dormeuses. Which on some online translators comes to nightcap, mopcap, or sleepers. None of which make sense in relation to jewelry.

Finally, with great relief, I found a video on youtube of an old French jeweler being interviewed and his responses were translated into English.




Les dormeuses pronounced [Fr. dawr-mœz ] translates to The Sleepers. They are earrings that have a main portion with a hook that goes through the ear. An extra ornament can be hooked on the main part's loop in order to dress it up. Called 'Sleepers" because the wearer would sleep with the main portion still in the ear and wear for everyday, only adding the dangle for special occasions or for church.

If one performs a search on Google for dormeuses earrings, all sorts of single drop and straight dangle earrings turn up which leads me to believe the term has been commandeered by uninformed jewelry marketers.

I'm going to believe the old timer on this one.