It has been awhile since I made a post but this blog has been on my mind. There are so many more things I want to share about Dad. I finished off a busy fall semester and then was caught up in the chaos that the holidays often become. I also started a new job, and this past week the intensive winter semester started. So, basically I am saying, I will have to save a longer post for another time. However, I have been meaning to share some art of Dad's for awhile.
As many of you know, Dad was a talented welder and sculptor. He could make anything out of metal it seemed. Besides working at a sheet metal company welding and then doing design work for most of his life, he also had a side business where he made many of the famous microbreweries in Oregon their brew kettles. When he was a young man he also was a jeweler. He worked at a company that did mass production, and he also did his own o the side. I will share more later of his craftiness since friends of his have said he made their wedding rings, etc. and have promised pictures.
Here are a few examples:
In case you are unsure what this one is, its a roach clip! What can I say, Dad was definitely product of his generation! This really needs to be polished, but you can still see how beautiful it is.
This one is unfinished, it will be shiny silver once it is filed and polished. This is something Dad must have cast but did not complete for whatever reason...but kept it!
Here is a lapis ring Dad made:
Dad made this for my mother when she was pregnant with me. She gave it to me right before she died. It needs a serious polishing, but you can still see how cool it is. Of course I was totally grossed out by it when I was little however. Anyway, my mother made me promise I would give it to my first daughter some day. I figure if I do not end up having children, or have boys instead, I will give it to Josslyn.
As many of you know, Dad was a talented welder and sculptor. He could make anything out of metal it seemed. Besides working at a sheet metal company welding and then doing design work for most of his life, he also had a side business where he made many of the famous microbreweries in Oregon their brew kettles. When he was a young man he also was a jeweler. He worked at a company that did mass production, and he also did his own o the side. I will share more later of his craftiness since friends of his have said he made their wedding rings, etc. and have promised pictures.
Here are a few examples:
In case you are unsure what this one is, its a roach clip! What can I say, Dad was definitely product of his generation! This really needs to be polished, but you can still see how beautiful it is.
This one is unfinished, it will be shiny silver once it is filed and polished. This is something Dad must have cast but did not complete for whatever reason...but kept it!
Here is a lapis ring Dad made:
Dad made this for my mother when she was pregnant with me. She gave it to me right before she died. It needs a serious polishing, but you can still see how cool it is. Of course I was totally grossed out by it when I was little however. Anyway, my mother made me promise I would give it to my first daughter some day. I figure if I do not end up having children, or have boys instead, I will give it to Josslyn.
As you have probably figured out, while this blog is centered around my father, it often ends up being as much about me and my siblings as well as my mother and other family members along the way. Family is woven together like that. Below are a few things we think my mother made but Dad kept. She had told me that she had made several castings of animals or made up creatures (much like she made them out of material her whole life) so when we found these they had a real mark of Mom's imagination.
Finally, there are my first metal jewelery pieces. Dad had always said he would show me how some day but didn't ever get to. Santa Monica College, where I am currently a full time student, has a wonderful art department and I have started adding back art classes along with my academic ones. This past semester I took jewelry design for the first time and these are a few of the pieces I completed. The stone below is a brown opal and is one of gems we found in one of Dad's "treasure boxes".
these are all beautiful pieces, and what a special collection, you definitely have the talent that both of your parents passed down to you. thanks for sharing Ona.
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