Bracelet: Refuge. (2013)

Materials: Vintage costume bracelet frame, lens, chandelier glass, chandelier crystal from the estate of Ralph Waldo Emerson, amethysts, raw opals, hummingbird feathers, Royal Vienna plate fragments, 19th-century color lithographs, 1850's Stamford, CT ledger paper, fused glass, glass balls, 1850's steel-point engravings, resin, paper, paint, text, soil.

Taking the idea of 'junk jewelry' at its word, I have deconstructed a mid-20th century piece of costume jewelry and treated it as a canvas on which to lay some very sumptuous 'junk' indeed.

The unknown young woman at the epicenter of the bracelet peers out, tiny cut amethysts rolling in her head, taking refuge in her thoughts.

She is flanked by a man and woman whose images are fractally diffused behind cast glass 'diamonds.'

The outer panels have exquisite hand-painted and gilt porcelain from the 1800's, nestled behind cut crystal from the home of the poet Emerson.

The panels together are 6" (15cm) in length, with the addition of 2" (5cm) for the clasp, totalling 8" in length.

Piece will be fully insured.

Several additional detail views can be seen here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.549985661749060.1073741825.100002128939555&type=1&l=085e0b772b