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 Fantasy I $150
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 Rings, various sizes, $30 ea
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 Fantasy II $60
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 Holly earrings $50
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 Plique-a- Jour Cup $900
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 Trilogy earrings $50
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 “Fishies” Pendant $80
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 Parrot Pendant $90
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 Star Pendant $129
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Artists Profile
Before retiring in 1990 from Union Carbide as a Metallurgical Engineer, my hobby was making stained glass lamp shades. What a wonderful jewel-like effect you get with the light shining through the glass. I had an idea that it would be great if earrings could be made with stained glass design to get the same jewel effect.
Regular glass with leaded joints would result in earrings heavy enough to drop your ear lobes down to your ankles. So I searched for a way to make light weight earrings that would transmit light like a stained glass window. My search led to an enamel process called plique-a-jour. Famous jewelers of the past such as Lalique and Faberge used the process, but no one had ever written a "how to" manual about plique-a-jour enameling. Then I came across a magazine article about Valeri Timofeev called "Plique-a-jour, Yesterday's Technique Today”. I wrote to Mr. Timofeev and he invited me to attend his next class. During the course of a year I learned two dimensional, three dimensional and advanced plique-a-jour techniques. Mr. Timofeev, a Russian master jeweler, had studied the notes and journals of Faberge in Russian libraries over a period of years and perfected a detailed plique-a-jour procedure.
The Plique-a-jour Process
Plique-a-jour literally means "light of day". Designs are created using 18 karat gold or sterling silver wire soldered together to create filigree forms. Each cell in the design is then filled with ground transparent glass (vitreous enamel). Unlike cloisonné, this is done without metal backing. It can take as many as 100 firings in a 1400 degree F kiln to fill the openings with glass. The result is miniature stained glass. It is a slow, tedious process that requires much time, patience and a steady hand. Consequently there are very few artisans creating plique-a-jour.
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