Chasing and Repousse vs. Engraving and Sculpting

For several years now I have had a vision of where I want my work to go, and I have been really working on developing the skills to be able to bring these ideas to fruition. It’s been frustrating at times, not being able to achieve what I see in my mind.

I love learning new things, and I have really enjoyed learning engraving over the past couple of years. While I thought that this was going to bring me to this vision, I have struggled to find how the engraving fits in with my work. I absolutely love the precision of engraving, but I also love chasing and repoussé, which is far more organic in nature. Both are equally time consuming.

I recently completed two projects, both flowers on a small scale. Both the earrings and the pendant are only about I inch across, with the earrings being slightly smaller.

For one of the projects I chose to do chasing, and one I engraved and sculpted since I wanted to compare the results. Can you tell the difference? While I just love the precision I could get with the engraved piece (I work under a microscope, I am still completely drawn to the piece I chased. After all, flowers are organic and should be represented as such.

So, it's the earrings for the win! At least that is my opinion for today, although that might very likely change at any time. Finding a way to work this small opens the door for so many possibilities. My favorite pieces are small and delicate, so I'm excited about being able to move more in that direction, coming one step closer to my vision.