Commissions are undertaken with or without customers materials.
Designs are unique to the piece and are never replicated, working to produce the best design/crafted piece possible.
Contact Nick Grant Barnes for your consultation –
Customers Turquoise beads, cabochon cut beautifully by Matt DeMulder and set in a traditional bezel & plate style. Sterling silver.
Single Line Fold Cuff in sterling silver – brushed interior, mirror finish exterior.
Drinking cup pendant commission with ruby birthstones.
yes you can drink from it!
Mother & Daughter eternity rings with diamond & ruby birthstones
CUSTOMERS BLUE STAR SAPPHIRES & 925 CUFF, SET INTO 925 FORGED/FABRICATED BEZEL/FRAME/THREE TINE RING SHANK.
CUSTOMERS 22KY GOLD & 925 SILVER, FORGED/FABRICATED BEZEL/FRAME & CUFF WITH BRUNEAU JASPER CUT BY HORIZON MINERALS (JOE JELKS)
Photo Credit – Nick Grant Barnes 2020
CUSTOMER’S HAND MADE FLAME WORKED GLASS BEAD, WITH DIAMONDS, FOLDFORMED/FORGED 925.
Photo Credit – Nick Grant Barnes 2020
Customer’s family heirloom diamond along with three existing 14kw rings transformed into a gents pinky signet ring.
Photo Credit – Nick Grant Barnes 2020
A customer brought in an old platinum solitaire diamond ring, along with some old gold & a couple of baguette diamonds and wanted a piece reminiscent of the wrapped rings she had seen on my site, & entries to the Lewton-Brain fold forming competition a few years back.
This was a fun commission, working with many models to achieve the look & flow that the customer wanted.
Fisher Pendent – 2017 Photo credits – David Terao
Photo credit – David Terao.
A new Customer brought in a beautiful smokey Topaz that she had owned for a number of years.
She had seen the folded & wrapped rings on my site, and wanted something with the feel of those, but customised for her own stone.
The Topaz measured 16.5mm x 12.5mm x 9.4mm deep – so was no wall flower.
Working through a variety of design ideas, she decided on the version above, which combines a number of classic features, as well as that wee fold/wrap/twist.
Alms Bowls for Good Shepherd Church, Silver Spring. MD.
Two aluminum & cherrywood alms bowls were recently delivered to the Good Shepherd Church in Silver Spring.
The bowls were hand made by Nick Grant barnes using a number of traditional silversmith techniques including hand raising; spinning; planishing & fabrication.
The cherrywood inlay was hand cut and fashioned into routed spaces cut into the surface of the two bowl rims. The wood was then hand finished & tung oiled & waxed to a smooth finish.
The two part bowls were blind riveted together with hand fabricated aluminum crosses on the front.
The interior was finished with a course matted finish with an Italian glove leather pad insert in the base.
The aluminum rim was finished with a fine matted finish; the exterior of the bowl was hand planished to a high burnished sheen.
Both bowls are marked with the makers mark – NGB
Dimensions – 12″x 12″ x 3.75″
Acknowledgments – Nick would like to thank the following people for their tireless help with this project – Diane Bendahmane; Shaun Hardy; Chris Erickson; Joe Ferritta & Marshall Woodruff.
David Terao for once again taking such wonderful pictures of the pieces.
Commission work is a major feature of day to day benchwork – customers often ask if reproductions of lost pieces can be achieved using saved relics. Here a customer was wanting to replace some family silver that was lost to a home fire – the new glass salt cellars were as close a match to the originals as could be found, but did not have the silver trays to carry them. Working with the customer to visualize the original silverware required some archive research; design drafts and final modeling to achieve the desired look. Reproducing the basket weave patterning on the base was a challenge in itself , but with the help of friend and colleague Paula Coupe, we were able to produce a precious metal clay (PMC) patterned weave that was fired into the sheet fine silver, and molded into the final shape using a hydraulic press & custom made mold. The decorative edging and handles were fabricated at a later date.
The Smithsonian National Museum of American History approached me to design & mount the coin & clasp for a series of five ‘Great Americans’ 24k medals, they were to award to various dignitaries. The medal was mounted in 14ky frame & bail; the fastening is a magnetic clasp also made in 14ky. The silk blue ribbon was hand cut and sewn. 2016
A local artist approached me with a story from his & his wife’s journey together; romance, marriage, children, grandchildren and a place forever in their hearts to anchor the story. Using images, script, names & symbols, the artist & I came up with a narative to celebrate this extraordinary 60 year story.
Materials include – Bronze, copper, brass – approx. size 6″x 12″
Designer/Metalsmith/Educator 