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PHILIP CHAMBLESS - Master Jeweler and Inlayer

Philip Chambless was born in Georgia, and has lived for over thirty years at his cabin on Oso Ridge in the Zuni Mountains of New Mexico. He is a self-taught jeweler, with over thirty years of experience. He has been kind enough to share with the rest of us the labor and material-intensive process that goes into making one of his bracelets. Philip has taken photos of the steps -- from rough beginning to the exquisite end result for the sole purpose of sharing and educating you to what he does. When we asked him "aren't you afraid of giving the whole process away?" he answered with a smile, "many I've taught have tried over the years, none have been able to get it the way I do it."

The photos below can't reveal his attention to detail, and the high standard for aesthetics that shows up in his pieces: they are so smooth and comfortable you don't know you have them on and when feeling the top you can't tell where the stones end and the sterling begins. Of note: he only works with Natural stones.

Making an inlay bracelet not only requires much skill and is a laborious process, but it is also material-intensive. The loss of original inlay material (turquoise, lapis, etc.) is up to 90%! Of fascinating note: you can weigh the rough bracelet before it's inlaid and the total weight will be less AFTER it is inlaid, grinded and polished (you lose that much stone and silver in the finish-work)!

While Philip is one of our old bro's from way back and is Anglo, his work is so high-quality and exciting that even his Zuni friends love to wear his work. He owns the mining claims to ten turquoise mines in Nevada and New Mexico and has been writing a book on Turquoise for four years. He also was the one who showed Ricky Laahty and Fred Bowannie travertine deposits in the Zuni Mtns as well as securing the mineral claim to the "Old Zuni Azurite Mine" (as written about and pictured in the Cushing books from 1900) in Ricky and Fred's name to ensure it stays accessible to the Zuni and in Zuni control.

Very few in the business can inlay like Philip, not with the high-domed inlay and soft, gentle corners that distinguish his silverwork. He says his work is "feminine complementary" but that extends to men loving the feel of his bracelets also. Below is a rare glimpse behind the scenes of what goes into creating the finished pieces on the Contemporary Jewelry Page that are a delight to look at and a treasure to call your own.

Very Beginning - Above:

1) Philip starts with his hand-fabricated, hand-forged sterling silver bracelet prototype with rubber mold ready for casting.

2) Finished wax cast with rubber mold.

3) Silver prototype and wax mold with extended "sprue" where the wax was poured into the mold.

4) Finished silver cast bracelet next to wax prototype.

5) Casted ring components before soldering, inlaying and polishing.

6) Rough Castledome Turquoise (Arizona) nuggets, this is how it all starts. Next to the nuggets is Julia's wrist with her two Philip bracelets: her everyday (8-yr old) Castledome and the narrower Lone Mtn Nevada Turquoise bracelet.

Midstage - Above:

1) After the nuggets are chosen, "tiles" are cut for inlay. Here are two containers of turquoise showing a "before and after". The larger (front) container weighed 1000 grams, the second "preformed"down to inlay-size weighed 600 grams: a loss of 40% from the git-go. He's already encountered a 20-25% loss cutting from nuggets down to the first preform tile as shown in the larger container above. 2 & 3) Beginning and mid-stage of inlaying. 4) Mid-stage inlay closeup. 5) getting close to the wheel for the grinding process.

MORE STEPS INVOLVED:

At any stage in this grinding-down, shaping and polishing process, "gaps" in the inlay reveal themselves if any of the stones were not precisely cut and set in perfect symmetry with each other all the way down to the silver. Also, this is when cracks in the stone can appear that weren't seen before. 1 & 2) How it looks at the beginning of the grinding process 3) midstage through the grinding and shaping 4) closeup after finishing the grinding. 6) Bracelet after grinding but before final sanding and polishing. 7) Finished 'wave bracelet' inlaid with natural Castleome Arizona Turquoise. 8) New narrow bracelets inlaid with Lone Mountain Turquoise (Nevada) & Castledome Turquoise.

Philip in Santa Fe in late 2001. The shot on the right was taken this Spring in the Royston Hills of Nevada. It's Philip doing what he was born to do: mining for Turquoise in a drift in a mine he owns called the "Carmelita Mine".