Journey to Metal

Creating my very own metal leaves for Emici Livet is a process that has been underway for many months. I had so badly wanted to incorporate metal components into my designs that are exclusive to the studio. Giving each piece an even deeper level of the Emici Livet signature. The first step was finding the rare antique leaf molds that would be used to form the leaves. There was only one problem. They were missing their other halves. Someone along the way had taken the bronze bases to scrap. A devastating setback. Not one to shy away from the challenge or the opportunity to be able to work with these amazing antique tools, I set out to see if it was possible to cast the other necessary halves of the molds. To restore the original purpose and functionality to these molds who not only make art but are truly art themselves. Trial and error over several months inched me closer and closer to success but I had not yet succeeded at breathing life into these beloved pieces of history that I would cradle in my hands.

My father and I began to work together on this and each time I would pack up my molds and drive across Washington state so we could work on my secret project. Eventually we ended up finding a talented and inventive Seattle man and sought his advice on casting. Future blog post about him later. This broke everything wide open. My personal design world was about to broaden in the most spectacular way.  With his exceedingly generous help, I held the very first newly cast bronze half to one of my precious leaf molds. Pairing the old with the new, bridging the generations, I was able to mold my very first metal leaf. A beautiful moment of highly assisted triumph.

 Each leaf is cut individually from metal and then pressed in an antique mold. The much needed pressure on the mold itself is provided by a large cast iron antique millinery table press that had to be shipped in a long haul truck all the way across the US from New York to my studio in Washington state. The journey to these metal leaves has been a tale of circumstance, luck, love and sheer determination. After molding, the leaves are then plated in a multi step process in finishes like 24kt gold or rhodium. The bouquets pictured above are the first to display these exclusive Emici Livet leaves. You can see these heirloom bouquets at Powder Bride in Toronto. More details to come on the creative process, the obsession grows!