The Process
A marriage of gold and garbage.
The work at Salvage is hand fabricated in our studio using traditional metal smithing techniques. The essential tool used in jewelry making is the Bench Pin. Because we try to be as aware as possible about the materials we use and their inherent properties, we’ve taken the extra precaution of having a Bench Pin fitted with a vacuum and collection box to capture and store all the plastic filings.
With plastic fabrication, we find it’s best not to use any heat. We also take special care to slow things down to be sure not to friction melt or accidentally cut through the plastic bits, it’s a valuable resource and we try to get as much use out of each piece as possible. We use cold connections between metal and plastic so after all the cutting, sawing, filing and sanding the rivets are set.
The most exciting part of the process for us is trying to make sense of marrying precious metals with garbage. In the end it’s a conversation about value, and about keeping plastic out of our natural environment.