Marsha van Rijssen's Gallery

Ginkgo Leaf: About halfway down Wall Street in downtown Asheville, beautiful ginkgo trees turn to golden perfection in late October. Those trees inspired my newest design which I finished just in time for the SHCG jury. I like to think it is the piece that got me in! Using the collected leaves as reference, I sculpt soft wax to mimic their forms and textures. The wax pieces are put in a steel flask and plaster is poured in to fill the negative space. The flask is placed in a kiln where the wax is burned out. Molten sterling silver is vacuumed into the flask filling the void, hence the term lost wax casting. Each piece is soldered together and hand finished creating this flowing organic piece.