Botanical knowledge stemming from her former career as a botanist is beautifully captured in the cloisonne' enamels jewelry designer Emily Chesick creates. Scroll down for more art...
A middle school craft class in enameling turned into a lifelong passion for jewelry designer and maker, Emily Chesick. Although eventually, her formal studies led to a career in botany, she also took many art classes along the way. Enameling, however, continued to remain a constant in her life, but only as an enjoyable hobby.
That all changed in 1998 when she plunged into jewelry making full time working for a local jeweler. Now, instead of toiling daily as a botanist, she infuses her creations with botanical flair.
Always drawn to the outdoors while growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, it helped that her family regularly took camping trips. Exploring the national parks and southwest United States broadened her view of the natural world and inspired her artistic eye.
The process of enameling is labor intensive. One pair of earrings from start-to-finish might take Emily up to five hours to complete. She follows the color trends set by the fashion industry to ensure her jewelry creations are always current and match back to her patrons’ wardrobes.
“My mother had an enameled pendant from Greece,” Emily recalls. “I remember as a kid how much I admired the shiny, swirling glass elements in it that reflected light. Now, as an adult, when I remove my work from the kiln, I still love seeing how the heat has transformed those raw materials into something shiny, glassy and beautiful.”
Emily adds other features to her enameling creations that include real gemstones, both faceted and cabochons. She often chooses to work with moonstones, garnet, black drusy, rutilated quartz, pearls, jasper and agate.
Her inventory includes earrings – no two ever alike – and they run from $150-$250. Pendant necklaces depending on materials used run anywhere from $75 to $600. She works in both sterling silver and gold.
See more on her website: EmilyChesickDesigns.com; Instagram: @emilychesickdesigns; Etsy: EmilyChesickDesign; and at Ripple River Gallery in Deerwood, Minnesota. ###
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