Karen Burke

I am a Boston-based metalsmith, jeweler, and curious tool-using mammal, and these are a few of the things that cross my bench. All pieces shown were made by my own hands. I'm happy to answer any questions about them, probably in excessive detail. Postscript: All images copyright Karen Burke 2009-2015 (unless otherwise noted in caption).

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Wedding bands.

14kt yellow gold, fabricated.

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Engagement presentation plaque.

304 stainless steel and brass, acid etched, fabricated.

I used a multi-layer etching process to achieve differing depths and bring out the details of the client’s supplied artwork; the darker lines are etched deeper. The heart is offset using spacers out of brass, and ribbons held the ring in place for the proposal.

She said yes. Congrats!

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Molybdenum band.

A client wanted a ring made from pure molybdenum. On the Asylum’s 10″ Colchester lathe, I faced the solid round bar, center-drilled and bored out the ID to just short of a size 8.5, then rough-chamfered the band contours.

The metal is gummy and likes to tear and bind, a little like niobium, and the HSS and uncoated carbide tooling I have left a rough surface finish, but this was enough of a start for me to finish the work by hand, carving the domed profile with files and finishing it to a brilliant shine.

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Trilobell.

Sterling silver, cast and fabricated, rings beautifully.

Part of the Firefly Arts Collective’s Somerville Open Studios 2015 show at Velir.

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Swoop trio.

Rings in sterling silver, hollow construction.

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Borealis (centerpiece detail).

Collar in oxidized sterling silver, 18k gold, and stainless steel cable, with dyed moonstone, amethyst, pyrope garnet, spessartite garnet, black star sapphire, black spinel.

This photo doesn’t yet capture the full piece well. It curves gently to fit the neck and chest at about choker-length.

Shown at the Nave Gallery for their 2015 show “Metal and Fire: Children of Vulcan.”

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Mesh rings. Argentium silver, brass.

These are based off a classic watchband mesh technique and are made from 20g and 21g wire. It was good soldering practice – there are about 40-50 joints in each one, attaching each coil to a pin in between them.

I started with the 00 tip on the Smith air-acetylene torches, then worked my way up to a size 1 tip just to see how big a flame I could manipulate for such a small joint.

A Little Torch or even a pulse arc welder would’ve been the easy way, but I’ll try the latter when I do them in titanium...

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Danger: Sharks With Lasers

Custom etched placard in nickel silver.

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Decided I needed a stand for my sawblades. Cut and forged out of copper sheet, then coated with a rubberized black spray paint. I had the test tubes sitting around from a previous project.

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Test run of a brass vacuum casting, with the gates and button still attached. Direct burnout of thin PLA parts is clean; the details are perfect, right down to all of the 3D print’s defects. As with all 3D print materials, though, I’ll have to see how larger-volume or thicker-walled parts will behave.

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Business card. Laser-anodized titanium.

Still have to work with the Epilog settings a little, but on the upside, the ruler is well-calibrated.

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Hollow spike ring. Sterling silver.

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Pod necklace. Sterling silver.

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Compass pendant. Oxidized sterling silver, tourmalinated quartz.

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Atlas Inside, 2013. Ring and stand. Sterling silver, ebony wood, elephant ivory, black star sapphire, stainless steel shielded bearing.

This ring has a kinetic feature: the central pyramid, inlaid with vintage ivory and ebony (not new stock!), spins. It's on a post that is friction-fit to a bearing set in the hollow ring base.

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Untitled brooch, 2013. Sterling silver, synthetic ruby half-ball lens, titanium bearing balls, black diamond, blackened brass hex bolts.

The bearing balls have a little bit of motion left, as the centerpiece of the mechanism was secured mechanically with a two-part eyelet fitting. In the eyelet's opening, I set a black diamond culet-up, in a kind of hybrid not-quite-flush, not-quite-tube setting.

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Carved ring. Sterling silver.