"and water cuts rock"

This Saturday’s Port Townsend Market was of particular interest to me. I was able to introduce a piece I call “and water cuts rock”. It is a bit of a play on words as many of my titles are these days. It recalls the old game of “paper, rock, scissors” but it is a tribute to the fact that given enough time…a river of water will cut through a mountain of rock. This simple geological fact still fascinates me.

The argentium sterling silver in these pieces has a texture called coining. The highlights from this texture remind me of the shimmer of sunlight on the surface of rapids. The beach rocks have been cut in to two pieces then tilted and separated by a wedged shaped space. The pieces are reassembled using the “post and pad” method. This means that both side of the beach rock has been drilled to receive a post of argentium and it is also attached on a pad. This is the preferred method for securely attaching fine pearls to findings and it seems appropriate here as well.

I found it gratifying that about 25% of the visitors went to these pieces first. Both pieces are on they way to a new home in Tacoma, Washington. I have several other beach rocks already prepared for this same treatment, one of which is a turtle back rock. I can hardly wait to see how they turn out.