“About 25 years ago I was mainly a jeweler, doing all the typical jewelry for a retail store. But on the side I was carving stone in my brother’s studio, doing smooth animal forms with facet lines for the muscle definition. Eventually, I started doing them in bronze and many years later at the urging of my wife I applied that style to a jewelry line and launched the “Of beasts and beauty” store.

Now I barely have time for anything else! With each piece I try to create something that is beautiful from every angle and has movement, every arc leading into another. I have included a few photos of wax carvings before they are cast and a partially carved bracelet. Most of my jewelry and small sculptures are carved from this hard wax. Larger sculptures are made with hard oil clay.

I start a project by looking at photos then I do a profile drawing. I apply the drawing to the wax and transfer a basic line drawing to it, then I start carving, occasionally looking at photos for details. Mostly I just go by feel (which drives my realist artist friends crazy). At some point I realize I have managed to make something that has special movement or expression and I know I’m almost done. I still do a lot of contemporary gold/diamond/colored stone jewelry but the animal jewelry/sculpture is where my heart is.”

Michael Tatom: etsy
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