Ronnie Taubenfeld Jewelry

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Q&A with the Artist

Tell us how your work is made.

I have several lines of work, but for my signature line I hand fabricate sterling silver bezels, cut glass tiles, tubes and rods and position the glass with organic silver shapes I’ve made into each bezel until I am pleased with the composition. Then I mix a two-part resin in the desired color and carefully pour it into the bezel until it is almost overflowing. The resin is heated lightly and then cures overnight. The next step involves grinding down the piece on a lap wheel, from coarser to finer grit to expose the design embedded within. (Very exciting!) Then each piece goes through a final finishing process.

What makes you passionate about the medium you work with?

Having the skills to create anything in silver by controlling a flame, forming and fabrication allows me enormous flexibility to create objects of permanence to be treasured. Metal is strong and hard as well as flexible and forgiving and lets me create pieces that are geometric or organic, smooth or textured depending on the desired outcome. The glass that I use has beautiful colors and tiny bubbles and speckles left behind by the glassmaking process. Juxtaposing inherently distinct materials—glass and silver with the more prosaic opacity of resin is endlessly pleasurable for me.

What is something unique about you or your practice?

An exciting discovery I made after extensive research was a type of crystal which has 24K gold fused to the back of it. The effect of the gold-backed glass embedded in the more earthy texture of opaque resin is stunning, and I can see through the clear smalto down into the depth of the bezel where the textured gold rests. It’s quite difficult to photograph this effect but in person it is amazing and inspiring.