Jane Drucker

At My Bench: A New Focus

As the Covid-19 pandemic gained momentum, realizing that I wasn’t comfortable working in a communal studio, I set up a jewelry bench in the corner of the living room of my small condominium. And because my tool choice is limited and my torch is only a butane creme brûlée type, I committed to creating small scale jewelry using scrap pieces of silver and copper, and sample tidbits created in classes and workshops over the 19 years I have been making jewelry.

In a pendant I titled “Verdi Gris” I framed a piece of patinated copper that I created in a Ken Bova workshop at Danaca Design in 2009.

In other pieces I have included scraps of niello I created in a workshop with Micki Lippe at Pratt. Niello Is an ancient Egyptian technique in which a black metallic amalgam is fused into the engraved markings on silver, creating a black and silver design.

At a swap meet at Danaca Design a number of years ago, I bought some scrap pieces of Mokume Gane from Phil Baldwin. While setting up my living room “studio,” I discovered a small bag of this beautifully laminated copper and silver material in distinctive layered patterns. I am committed to integrating this wood-grained looking metal into the small pieces I am creating in my private little corner.