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Melanie
Diedrich__of
Sycamore, Illinois, earned her bachelor's degree in art,
concentrating on metalsmithing, at the University of Illinois.
She always drew, painted and made crafts as a young girl
and discovered jewelry-making in high school. "I had a
very good art teacher back then," she said. "He was quite
innovative in teaching art effectively and was the one
who introduced me to jewelry. As soon as I was able to
form the wax and cast the metal, I knew this was it."
Commenting on her current work Melanie said, "It's contemporary
and contains a lot of implied motion of the (Alexander)
Calder mobile type. I love the motion when the gemstones
dangle. I employ a large pallete of color and texture."
She dots her pieces with pearls of grays, browns, golden
and pink to accent the gold and silver. "I'm also known
for my faceted gemstones," she said. Using amethysts,
citrine, peridots, blue topaz, opals and tourmaline, she
creates pendants, earrings, broaches and rings. Melanie
casts her pieces, then solders and cuts them if necessary.
"The gemstones usually tell me which way to go," she said.
Her inspirations come primarily from her travels.
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14K
Gold Ring
Garnet, Tourmaline, Diamonds, Ruby
by
Melanie Diedrich
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