Chased , Russian Filigree, and Hollow Constructed Amulet, Suspended from a Roman Chain

18K, 22k Gold, Sterling Silver, Fine Silver, Holly Blue Agate Titanium Bonded Chalcedony Drusy
3-1/2” long x 1-1/4” wide x 1/2" deep, chain adjustable to 22"
© 2004, V. Lansford $2110.

This piece was featured in Metalsmith magazine's 2007 Exhibition in Print and was part of Framing · The Art of Jewelry at SOFA in Chicago, 2007 and at The Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, Oregon, 2008.

When I started this piece (it took 6 months), I knew 2 things, that it was to be an amulet, and the I wanted to construct the outside similar to the shape of Indian love temples. Everything else came intuitively, not as flashes of inspiration, but as subtle thoughts and abstract ideas of which I did not realize the significance or even the form until afterwards. The chased eye pattern on the front I mentioned on the page for Temple of Love. I made that piece during the time I worked on this one and chose to do the same chasing on the front of it. The eye represents awareness and knowing.

When I shaped the frame wire for the moving figure inside, I was aiming for an abstract shape that went with the overall design. As I began placing the tiny filigree wires, I realized that I had created a figure praying. What more appropriate image for the inside of a love temple? I then realized the piece reflected my ever growing understanding that love is not something we find, but something sacred, something we already are, therefore, the word I chased on the inside back, the word that the figure faces, is "amour."

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