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Parent Category: Technical Articles from Journal Back Copies

Category: Technical Articles 2001

Florentina Nicholls

Harlan Butt is an American artist who uses repeated wire patterns in his cloisonné work.

To facilitate manufacturing the precise and uniformly designed wires necessary for his work, Harlan has devised a handy little jig, which repeatedly duplicates his design.

The jig is a combination of wood and 18 gauge brass sheet. He fixes the brass sheet to the wood (description to follow). He then takes a piece of brass, approximately 2½" x 2¼". This is the design piece. He draws his design in the middle of the brass sheet. Using a jeweller's saw, he cuts the piece in half following the outline of his design. When the piece is separated, the upper part of the design is screwed to the top of the brass plate on the wood and the lower part is fixed into a pusher. A piece of wire is put between the two design halves and the form pressed together. By using the jig with its cut pattern, any number of wires can be precisely duplicated very quickly.

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