Peruvian Wild Flower by JJ Buckar

First Place, Laser Distinction Category
2012 MJSA Vision Awards

By Shannon L. Brown

Julie Buckareff’s design for an 18k red gold brooch wrapped in palladium flowered into a winner, taking first place in the Laser Distinction category of the 2012 MJSA Vision Awards. She and her husband, Jacob, who together make up JJ Buckar in Toronto, began the piece with a quartz flower carved in Idar-Oberstein, Germany.

Julie started with multiple sketches showcasing the quartz, but one stood out. “In my mind, I saw this particular design,” she says. “I wanted to explore some different ideas so I drew a couple of others and still came back to the first.” Instead of moving to CAD as they sometimes do, the Buckareffs hand-carved the red gold section of the stem in wax in multiple parts and cast them. They also cast the top one-third of the palladium wrap, but hand fabricated the rest.

The Buckareffs decided to use red gold in part because of the color contrast with the palladium. But the choice wasn’t simply aesthetic—they enjoy the challenges of using red gold, which must be both heated and worked carefully due to the brittle nature of the alloy. “When the jewelry we make no longer challenges us, we won’t make it,” says Jacob.

After casting and polishing the multiple red gold stem components, they carefully welded them together. They then hand-fabricated the remaining two-thirds of the palladium wrap and pavé-set it with 1.78 carats of ideal cut, hearts and arrows diamonds. It begins with seven rows of diamonds by the flower, which graduate down one-by-one to a single row as the stem gradually narrows. When all the stones were set, the Buckareffs laser welded the wrap around the red gold with a “black line” finish. “The two surfaces meet, with no solder showing,” explains Jacob.

Although the quartz flower carving was originally frosted, the Buckareffs decided that they wanted a glassy finish for the piece. Jacob used his lapidary background to hand polish the flower. “This gave it so much more of a refined look,” says Julie.

Teardrop-shpaed Peruvian opals purchased at an earlier date became the stamen of the flower: They were something unique we came across—something that we had, that were were always looking to do something with,” says Julie. “We though, oh, this is going to be perfect.”

The delicate stones are well protected in the piece in hand-fabricated palladium settings, and they add a splash of color that coordinates well with the pink diamonds they chose for the flower’s pistils. Believing white diamonds would have disappeared against the crystal, they chose pink because the color would be strong enough to be seen but light enough to appear as though the flower grew that way. “We really wanted to keep the natural look of a flower,” says Julie. “The pink diamonds went with the whole natural organic theme we were working with on this piece.”

The diamonds were micro-bead-set on four lengths of hand drawn red gold wire, but after plating with their arrangement among the opals, the Buckareffs chose to use just three of the pink diamond pistils, totaling 0.14 carat.

After the flower was set into the top of the stem, the pistols and stamen were assembled and connected using a laser. They were inserted through a pre-existing hole in the center of the flower and welded to the stem from the back. To make the piece just as beautiful from the back as the front, the Buckareffs covered all of the connections, laser welding 18k red gold over them to hide any seams. They then fabricated a pin for the back that sits just below the flower.

When worn, the piece is more of a corsage than a pin—and it’s just as Julie had pictured, she says, adding that, “It has the feeling that you could have picked this from a garden and put it on your lapel.”