Heartfelt Indigenous Memorial for a lost BC Carver
Our New Westminster, BC location owner Cashius Clay (@cashiusclayton) was approached by a local client to commission an art piece made as a replica of an Indigenous wood carved art piece that his father made years before. This is the story of how we took the wood carving below and turned the Iconic BC artwork into a beautiful gold and diamond pendant.
We took delivery of this piece with zero expectation of size or really any idea of what it would look like in person, but once we received it to our flagship headquarters in Edmonton, we knew it was gonna be very feasible and we would produce a second amazing piece of art to honour the clients late father.
The first important step of the project was hand crafting the wax model of the pendant, carving it one piece at a time just the way the clients father would have done it. Our team of world class designers including a master carver took to the workbench with the plan laid out and began working right away. Once completed, we were left with a near exact replica of the original wood carving but made of a special jewelry wax.
The customer also asked if we could incorporate a place for his fathers ashes so the carver created a pocket in the back of the pendant with a small cover that we would later seal off completely.
Majority of people don't know this fun fact, but there is actually a calculation we can do with the weight of the wax to figure out what the weight of the piece will be in gold, so at this point we do all of our weight calculations to make sure it will be within the parameters required to stay in the customers budget. Modern technology allows computers programs to do this calculation ahead of time, but since we're doing it more traditionally, the calculation is done the same traditional way.
Once the piece is ready to be cast we then go through our casting process and we are left with a 14K Yellow gold version of the pendant. We polish the piece to completely prepare it for diamond setting, then its a nice polished version of the final product, and the piece will now change work benches to our world class diamond setting team. Keep in mind that at this step in the progress the piece will still look rough as its not undergone final polish and finishing.
The pendant once in diamond setting goes through a rigorous process of mapping and planning to make sure every stone will fit snug together and produce a world class final product. Every single stone is then hand drilled, hole polished, prongs cut and set by hand under 200-300x magnification.
After the setting process is complete the piece will return to polish for final polish and then be passed to the hands of our owner Cody Kiks (@kiks) for final inspection before delivery to our team in Vancouver and then delivery to the customer.
The Raven background and one of several meanings behind it: Because of its black plumage, croaking call, and diet of carrion, the raven is often associated with loss and ill omen. Yet, its symbolism is complex. As a talking bird, the raven also represents prophecy and insight. Ravens in stories often act as psychopomps, connecting the material world with the world of spirits.
RIP William Watt
Please share our story and share this blog and consider us for your next custom project idea. We can make your dreams become reality and turn your idea into a custom piece of art today. The finished photos of this project are posted below. Be sure to follow our team on instagram @goldteethcanada.
Article and photos by: Tyler Johnstone (@tjshotthat)
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