Intaglia and Intarsia

At Mammoth Ivory Creations I create jewelry from fossilized mammoth ivory, primarily using Intaglia and Intarsia methods and processes. So, what are Intaglia and Intarsia?

Intarsia

I am going to start with Intarsia; In general Intarsia refers to the joining of many pieces of wood in a puzzle-piece fashion. There is no backing to stabilize the wood, just glue.

In the last couple of decades, with the invention of powerful stone cutting saws and larger stone flattening lap, (a large super-flat diamond covered disk), Intarsia has come into the scene in the lapidary field. However only in geometric form.

Intaglia

Intaglia; The word is not found in the English language. It stems from China somewhere around the 13th century, when the country started it's trade routes.

Ivory, Gold, Jade were used strictly by the upper ruling class in their jewelry design. The original Intaglia was set on a backing of Jade or Gold, as both were worn next to the body for their healing properties. The ivory the Chinese used was Elephant and due to it's age, was much more stable then the Mammoth Ivory I use today.

Solid mammoth Ivory backing with stainless steel pins that hold all pieces in place. One-of-a-kind Puddle Duck.

I don't have the tools to work with Jade or the funds to work with plate Gold, therefore I use Mammoth Ivory to back my pieces of Intaglia work, and thus I am the only carver, other then master carver I learned from, who used this style, world wide.

Intaglia is hard to explain, as it is a 3 dimensional art form.

1. First a solid, very thin, 100% flat backing plate of mammoth ivory is formed into a desired shape IE: A Duck.
2. Then several different colors of mammoth ivory are selected for the varies parts of the bird. IE: the Beak, The Head, The breast, The wing.
3. Each piece must be 100% flat and 100% vertical on all sides. If this is not done correctly then gaps will show and ruin the piece. This is done by hand with no magnification.
4. Each piece is then set onto the backing piece and pinned threw the backing piece,into the Ivory above it, ensuring that no pieces ever move.
5. If a piece such as the beak is to small and close to the edge to be pinned threw the back, then it is pinned threw the piece adjoining it, in a horizontal fashion.
6. When all pieces have been pinned, and are checked to be 100% secure, the piece is them formed into the desired 3 dimensional shape.
7. It is then sanded, and polished to a high shine, and set with only the finest Gold or Sterling Silver findings available.