Frankie Lorraine Yourgulez-Buhrer has been a silversmith jewelry designer for over 30 years. Her contemporary style of design is a mix of southwest techniques and fabrication methods. Each piece is freeform and unique in its own way. In regard to the creative process, she says, “every piece of jewelry I make starts with a vision of the end product, a vision often inspired by the unique features of the natural stones I use or the unique personality of the intended recipient. As the work progresses, however, each piece takes on its own life leading my creativity and imagination along a winding road towards the end product.”
Frankie is a juried member of the Cumberland Valley Craftsmen Guild, and the newly formed Hub City Artisans of Maryland. Courtesy http://www.washingtoncountyarts.com
Frankie will be exhibiting at our Spring 2010 Studio Tour at the Willow Creek Pottery studio.
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- Started in the Spring of 2009, the owl & woman have been challenging pieces thus far. The purple stone is Ametheyst and the brown is Amber. I’m kind of stumped for a design on the woman pendent, u have any ideas? Project in the middle does not know what it wants to be as of yet, it features file work around the bezel part with a rare piece of green Turq. The bottom project will be a child’s bracelet with an opal stone.
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- These stones have bezels formed and soldered and ready to be created into something beautiful!
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- This is what a “prepped” bracelet frame looks like after construction, it is now ready to have a stamping design or what ever creation is to be soldered onto it. The turtle bracelet on the left corner; may have to be tossed into the “silver scrap bucket” for when it was very hot it fell into the pickle solution and crystallized the metal around the bezel. I’ve tried to take out the stone to no avail – I used, “hot stuff glue” (good stuff), and don’t want to damage the turq. stone. Have any ideas to salvage? Turtles are one of my most consuming projects, lots of detailed work involved making all the pieces and lots of tedious file work!
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- This is what sterling bezel wire looks like in the raw. It comes by the foot. I’ve included 3 different formed bezels. As you can see they have not been soldered as of yet.
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- This project was made for a heart shaped stone of “red coral”, this project fell in the pickle solution when the metal was too hot and crystallized the metal, made it brittle and may have to be tossed into the “silver scrap bucket”. L Do u have any ideas as to how to salvage all the work?
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- Stones with shaped bezels ready for soldering
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- Stones with shaped bezels ready for soldering
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- The turquoise stone will be a ring hoping to match it up for a pendent I made for a customer that requested a ring to match. For 3 years I searched for a stone to match, couldn’t find one and so I had this one specially made my Navajo Acoma Pueblo friend. Let’s see what I can do, I usually don’t do special orders but the customer is a beautiful person and so I’m “trying”! J
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- Eleven projects started on April 11, 2010, waiting to be something beautiful!
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- The Green Turquoise stone told me it wants to be a bracelet!
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- Stones with un-soldered bezels from a glance, prepped on Easter Sunday 2010. I usually pick 15 to 50 stones at a time creating the bezels and then solder them all in one day. This is what I call “prep work”. When I’m ready to be creative I usually select from “the prep work” selection which cuts a lot of time!