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<h3 id="h-lisa-krikawa">Lisa Krikawa</h3>

Lisa Krikawa Designs, Tucson, Arizona

Start with the building block of all narrative.

In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to call to mind, there lived not long since one of those gentlemen that keep a lance in the lance-rack, an old buckler, a lean hack, and a greyhound for coursing.

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Lisa Krikawa Designs, Tucson, Arizona

When asked to participate in MJSA’s annual Mystery Box Challenge, Lisa Krikawa didn’t even have to give it a second thought.

When asked to participate in MJSA’s annual Mystery Box Challenge, Lisa Krikawa didn’t even have to give it a second thought.

“I like to be challenged,” explains Krikawa, who notes that the challenge really isn’t that different than the custom jewelry she creates for her clients. “I was looking forward to the creative process.”

“I like to be challenged,” explains Krikawa, who notes that the challenge really isn’t that different than the custom jewelry she creates for her clients. “I was looking forward to the creative process.”

<h3><img src="https://mjsa-site-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2019_MJSA_Journal/February2019/MB_Krikawa_Necklace.jpg" alt="Lisa Krikawa Necklace " width="600" height="900"></h3>
However, she admits that some of the materials included in this year’s Mystery Box did give her a moment’s pause.
“My initial thoughts were, ‘Oh, what am I going to do with this?’” she says. “I wasn’t so concerned with the titanium, but the red and green stones really threw me. They are the last two colors I would use together. The other piece that really threw me for a loop was the mesh chain. It was an odd group of materials.”
Normally when she’s designing a piece for a client, immediate ideas will come to mind. Not this time. While debating what to do with the mesh chain, she struck upon the idea of submerging it in resin. The idea stuck, and she started working on sketches of earring hoop designs. Then one Sunday morning she was lying in bed still working on the design when the inspiration she was waiting for finally struck. “I jumped out of bed and rushed to the studio!” she says.
However, while she was fine-tuning the details of the earrings, she realized that she would never get the weight of them down enough to be comfortable. “They would have been passable, but only as evening earrings,” she explains. Instead, she took her mesh hoop idea and transformed it into a mandala-inspired statement necklace.
She began by pulling the mesh through a draw plate to both decrease its diameter and make it rounder. Once she was happy with the size and shape of the chain, she soldered it into a hoop shape and submerged it in resin that she had dyed purple. After it hardened, she cut the chain out of the resin and began filing it down until she reached a pattern that she liked. “I’m so in love with the result,” she says. “I love the way the mesh got broken up into an unrecognizable pattern that’s more like a tire track.”
Because she wanted to break up the red and green color scheme of the Mystery Box gemstones, Krikawa looked for ways to include a rainbow of colors in the pendant. She decided to add a deep blue topaz to the stone lineup, arranging all three according to their chakra color counterpart: The red garnet would be set at the bottom of the pendant, since red is the color of the root chakra. The green chrome diopside, representing the heart chakra, would go in the center of the pendant. And the blue topaz, which represents the throat chakra, would sit atop the pendant.
To create the center of the pendant, Krikawa cut out a round disc of titanium, piercing out a mandala-inspired shape from its center. She used electricity to experiment with the remaining titanium sheet to see what colors she could achieve on the metal. She settled on a bluish purple that would go well with the resin-set chain as well as complement the gemstones.
To secure the titanium disc to the mesh chain hoop, Krikawa cut out four strips of the silver sheet and folded them over the hoop. Since she wanted a full rainbow of color featured in the piece, she decided to use 14k yellow gold rivets to secure the cold connections. She also used 14k yellow gold prongs to hold the three gemstones. “I wanted to pull in from the whole rainbow and distract from the red and green being together,” she says. Plus, the use of the yellow gold “also highlights the fact that it’s hand fabricated.”
After soldering, welding, and riveting the piece together, she secured it to a silver chain that she had in her studio, welding it in place to the top of the pendant. Although she was initially unsure about how she would use all of the materials in the box to create something attractive, she wound up being more than happy with the result.
“I am totally in love with it,” she says. “This is a power piece that evokes the Relic of the Future concept I love to play with. Eat your heart out, Mad Max.”
<a href="/publicationsmedia/article_and_video_library/design_insights/dream_on/">&lt; Return to the Main Feature Page</a>
<a href="/publicationsmedia/article_and_video_library/design_insights/dream_on/the_student_becomes_a_master//">Next Designer: Jason Baide &gt;</a>

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Classic

<h3><img src="https://mjsa-site-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2019_MJSA_Journal/February2019/MB_Krikawa_Necklace.jpg" alt="Lisa Krikawa Necklace " width="600" height="900" /></h3>
However, she admits that some of the materials included in this year’s Mystery Box did give her a moment’s pause.
“My initial thoughts were, ‘Oh, what am I going to do with this?’” she says. “I wasn’t so concerned with the titanium, but the red and green stones really threw me. They are the last two colors I would use together. The other piece that really threw me for a loop was the mesh chain. It was an odd group of materials.”
Normally when she’s designing a piece for a client, immediate ideas will come to mind. Not this time. While debating what to do with the mesh chain, she struck upon the idea of submerging it in resin. The idea stuck, and she started working on sketches of earring hoop designs. Then one Sunday morning she was lying in bed still working on the design when the inspiration she was waiting for finally struck. “I jumped out of bed and rushed to the studio!” she says.
However, while she was fine-tuning the details of the earrings, she realized that she would never get the weight of them down enough to be comfortable. “They would have been passable, but only as evening earrings,” she explains. Instead, she took her mesh hoop idea and transformed it into a mandala-inspired statement necklace.
She began by pulling the mesh through a draw plate to both decrease its diameter and make it rounder. Once she was happy with the size and shape of the chain, she soldered it into a hoop shape and submerged it in resin that she had dyed purple. After it hardened, she cut the chain out of the resin and began filing it down until she reached a pattern that she liked. “I’m so in love with the result,” she says. “I love the way the mesh got broken up into an unrecognizable pattern that’s more like a tire track.”
Because she wanted to break up the red and green color scheme of the Mystery Box gemstones, Krikawa looked for ways to include a rainbow of colors in the pendant. She decided to add a deep blue topaz to the stone lineup, arranging all three according to their chakra color counterpart: The red garnet would be set at the bottom of the pendant, since red is the color of the root chakra. The green chrome diopside, representing the heart chakra, would go in the center of the pendant. And the blue topaz, which represents the throat chakra, would sit atop the pendant.
To create the center of the pendant, Krikawa cut out a round disc of titanium, piercing out a mandala-inspired shape from its center. She used electricity to experiment with the remaining titanium sheet to see what colors she could achieve on the metal. She settled on a bluish purple that would go well with the resin-set chain as well as complement the gemstones.
To secure the titanium disc to the mesh chain hoop, Krikawa cut out four strips of the silver sheet and folded them over the hoop. Since she wanted a full rainbow of color featured in the piece, she decided to use 14k yellow gold rivets to secure the cold connections. She also used 14k yellow gold prongs to hold the three gemstones. “I wanted to pull in from the whole rainbow and distract from the red and green being together,” she says. Plus, the use of the yellow gold “also highlights the fact that it’s hand fabricated.”
After soldering, welding, and riveting the piece together, she secured it to a silver chain that she had in her studio, welding it in place to the top of the pendant. Although she was initially unsure about how she would use all of the materials in the box to create something attractive, she wound up being more than happy with the result.
“I am totally in love with it,” she says. “This is a power piece that evokes the Relic of the Future concept I love to play with. Eat your heart out, Mad Max.”
<a href="/publicationsmedia/article_and_video_library/design_insights/dream_on/">&lt; Return to the Main Feature Page</a>
<a href="/publicationsmedia/article_and_video_library/design_insights/dream_on/the_student_becomes_a_master//">Next Designer: Jason Baide &gt;</a>

A Natural Evolution

Lisa Krikawa

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