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High
Relief Eastern Repoussé
The
new DVD,
Metal Techniques
of Bronze Age Masters: Eastern Repoussé
and Chasing is
now available
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The
word repoussé is French, meaning to push
out. I use thin gauge sheet silver or gold, hitting
alternately from the front and back to create
the high relief you see. Traditionally, the process
of hitting the metal from the front is called
chasing and may be
done alone or as part of the repoussé process.
THERE ARE NO MOLDS OF ANY KIND. Really, nothing
but my tools, my hammer, and my imagination.
I
first hammer my design on the front of the sheet
with a line tool, which looks like a dull chisel.
Next I hammer the metal from the back with oval
ended tools. By this time I’ve work hardened
the metal, so it’s time to anneal it (the
process of heating then quenching the metal to
make it soft again.). I continue hammering on
the back and front alternately, and annealing
until I have achieved the height I want. This
can be anywhere from five to ten rounds.
Once
it is “puffy” enough (a technical
term), I begin hammering more from the front to
create the ledges, and swirls that are characteristic
of my style of repoussé. To achieve the
look of relief upon relief I return to hammering
from the back to further "puff" out
the shapes. It is a long but rewarding process
that cannot be duplicated by any other smithing
technique. |
| Once
& Future Box |
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Eastern
repoussé is the technique of the ancient
Egyptians and Greeks. It has been mostly lost
in the west and much of northern Asia, though
it is still practiced in the Republic of Georgia,
Dagistan, and other former Soviet countries.
“Western” repoussé (which
is also done in eastern Asia) differs in that
it is not
usually done in such high relief. Often, the
metal is sunk to achieve height and then chased
from the front to create detail. The tools are
shaped differently and, rather than being struck
at a 90º angle to the metal, they may be struck
at almost a 45º angle, as if one were chiseling.
Unfortunately, there are many incorrect explanations
of these technique in art history books and
web sites. Many of them describe hitting the
sheet metal over a stone or wood form until
the metal conforms to the desired shape, a feat
that defies the laws of physics. The ancients
did use molds for repeating elements, such as
the small amulets placed within mummy wrappings
in Egypt, or the acorn or other seed shaped
repeating elements in the Hellenistic and Classical
Greek gold necklaces, but in such cases, the
metal was pressed into these molds rather than
being hit over them.
|
 Inspiraled,
Eastern Repoussé Cuff Bracelet
|
|
Echo
Knowledge
(Book spines are repoussé.
Bookcase doors are Russian
filigree.) |
Complex,
one-of-a-kind, or larger works, such as Tutankhamun’s
mummy mask, the inlaid necklaces also of the late
18th dynasty, and many of the unique Greek and
Scythian pieces of gold work were not made with
molds, but by the Eastern repoussé technique,
described at the top of this page. It is fairly
easy to tell the difference between molded and
not molded work. The repoussé pieces have
distinct tool marks on the fronts which create
much more definition in the relief. There is also
a third category of pieces that were molded for
efficiency and speed, and then chased from the
front to create beautiful and unique details. |
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Nights |
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"Lost
in a Masquerade" (detail) |
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