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Silver Seasons Jewelry by Michael Michaud

Michaud's Silver Seasons jewelry, captures nature in exquisite detail. Silver Seasons jewelry is know as botanical jewelry because it is so sculpturally correct. Michael Michaud studied at the Rochester Institute of Technology's prestigious school for American craftsmen, graduating in 1980. In 1991, while living in the Connecticut countryside and working near New York City's flower district, Michael's love of nature led to his first botanical jewelry designs.

Jewelry That Copies Nature

Each piece of Silver Seasons jewelry starts as a miniature sculpture. Michaud starts by creating a sculpture from a live plant or flower. Using the lost wax casting technique, he next creates a mold. The Silver Seasons jewelry is then ready to be cast in bronze, sterling silver or gold. Then come the handmade details. Metals are patinated, smoothed and natural stones and pearls are set and added.

The Silver Seasons Collection

Michael is quite prolific. If you search through Stowe Craft you may see jewelry inspired by plants and flowers such as: acorn, aspen, azalea , geranium, birch, grapes, carrots, cherries, clover, crabapple, daisy, dandelion, dogwood, echinacea, edamame, eucalyptus, firethorn, jasmine,

( Plants - flowers in Silver Seasons jewelry, continued )
forget me not, gingko, holly, honeysuckle, hosta, hydrangea, irish thorn, japanese maple, juniper, laurel, lily, mistletoe, myrtle, oak, olives, parsley , peapod, peppermint, plums, pussywillow, radish, raspberries, rosemary, sage, scallio , silver dollar, olives, sunflowers, tea rose, thyme, waterlily, white ash, wildflower, wistreria and zebrawood.

Glossary of terms
botanical jewelry: jewelry made to look like plants or flowers as seen in nature. Also, jewelry made from plants and flowers

lost wax casting: A method artists use to create a mold which can be used to make copies of an original piece of work.

patina: is a natural coloring and protecting effect of certain chemicals on metal. Jewelers patinate metals using various chemicals. Chlorides transform to green, while sulfur compounds tend to brown. Ammonium sulfide creates a blue-black surface, cupric nitrate yields blue-green while ferric nitrate has a yellow-brown pallet.