500 Silver Jewelry Designs: The Powerful Allure of a Precious Metal

For anyone who wears silver jewelry, or has created jewelry out of silver, you know how utilitarian yet beautiful it is. The color of silver can be worn up or down, dressy or casual, with lots of colored gems or beads or all by itself. If you are interested in designing silver pieces or viewing some truly terrific designs, 500 Silver Jewelry Designs would certainly give ideas.

Silver: Not so Plain

500 Silver Jewelry Designs is a compilation of 500 different jewelry pieces representing different forms, or method of manufacturer, of sterling or fine silver:

• Oxidized
• Forged
• Soldered
• Riveted
• Cast
• Hollow constructed
• Hand engraved
• Repoussé
• Hammered
• Plated
• Pierced
• Enameled

All the pieces show that silver can out shine gold or other precious metals when worked with creativity. Some pieces are modern, some are natural and earthy, and some are challenging to view simply because of the intricate piecings or structure of the piece.

Memorable Pieces
There were three that stood out for me:

• Brooch by Anastasia Azure, "Double Indemnity" (2009) is made of fine silver, sterling silver, nylon monofilament, pearls, quadruple-cloth loom-woven structure, fabricated, oxidized. The weaving goes in and out with pearls peeking out from the sides with a larger pearl in the center. The finished size is 8x8x2.5 cm.
• Cufflinks by Sandrine Vieira, "Untitled" (2009) is made of silver with paper and pencil. Literally. The model shows how to where them, and his shirt is closed at the wrist with a tiny book and pencil, which would be a perfect custom give to bibliophiles.
• Braille arm ornaments by Pavel Herynek, "Two Arm Ornaments" (1996) consists of two unique arm ornaments with Braille inscriptions. With no other details or translation of what is written in Braille, the viewer can only guess and imagine what they both say, and if they are to be read while holding both sides at the same time in a close embrace.

Bringing Allure to Silver

While many of the pieces here may not be prêt-à-porter, so to speak, all bring to focus of what the allure was to silver in the first place, and what drew all the designers, fabricators, and artists, to this one metal. There are many different forms to this metal, and 500 Silver Jewelry Designs showcases each separately on a page. Recommended reading for any jewelry designer looking for inspiration.

Book Information

• 500 Silver Jewelry Designs: The Powerful Allure of a Precious Metal; Talya Baharal, Juror, Edited by Julie Hale
• Lark Crafts, an Imprint of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
• ISBN13: 9781600596315
• Paperback, 420 pages

Disclosure: This book was provided by the publisher, and any opinions are my own.

Renee Shelton.