Dylan Clevenger

BACKGROUND

I was born and raised in the small town of Mammoth Lakes, CA, nestled high on the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. At a very young age my parents, Vern and Margaret, exposed me to the extensive Sierra backcountry. I have grown up exploring the Sierra Nevada, backpacking, climbing mountains, and skiing as much as possible. I thoroughly enjoy high alpine lakes, standing on the summits of peaks, skiing steep narrow couloirs, and canyoneering in the southwest.

Tied in with my love for the outdoors is a fascination with cellular biology. I graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a B.S. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. I will often find myself admiring nature wondering how in the world all these cellular processes function to keep living things alive.

Current

I strive to combine my love for the outdoors and jewelry making into a mobile lifestyle. On a typical day I can be found creating jewelry, working as an ER tech at my local hospital, climbing, skiing, or adventuring.

Twisted Equipoise Jewelry

Equipoise
1. (n) balance of forces or interests, a state of equilibrium, counterbalance.
2. (v) balance or counterbalance (something)
 

background

I have always been very creative with my hands. From a young age I would design intricate paper airplanes, and build huge lego creations. Throughout my teen years my artistic side blossomed into more traditional art forms and I enjoyed to paint, draw, knit, and make macramé jewelry. In 2011, I was living in South Lake Tahoe, CA, and beginning my college career. I was sitting in class one day talking to a classmate who said she really liked wire-wrapped jewelry and I thought to myself "I need to give this a shot." Later that day I went out to the local bead store and bought some craft wire and pliers (the same pliers that created all of my pendants through July 2017). That night I distinctly remember staying up till almost 5am completely mesmerized by the potential of creating with wire. I began creating wire-work with all of my spare time and I would spend hours visualizing different ways to set stones and patterns to make. Shortly after I started wire-wrapping I would regularly get asked where someone could buy my work, and thus Twisted Equipoise Jewelry was born. To this day I am entirely self taught in all aspects of my jewelry work, both in wire-wrapping and in fabrication.

Inspiration

My number one inspiration is nature and various forms of this influence can be directly seen in my work. For instance, the bristlecone pine with its smooth, curving, and twisted lines is a perfect example of inspiration for my wire-work. In the bordering alpine elevations of the Sierra Nevada trees that have been struck by lightning will often stand as hardened skeletons with a similar appearance to the bristlecone, these high elevation lighting struck trees were the original inspiration for my smooth twisting wire-work. I also gain an immense amount of inspiration from backpacking in the Sierra Nevada, the aura of the high alpine mountains works wonders on my soul and I usually return from trips bursting with jewelry ideas. Other major inspirations include the "Sierra Wave" cloud formation, slot canyons in the southwest, and whirlpools in streams. I also draw a significant amount of inspiration from music, NASA Hubble images, architecture, other art mediums, and the jewelry community as a whole.

Materials

Metal: I use a combination of many different materials in my work. In my wirework the most common metals are sterling silver, fine silver, and 14k gold fill, however, I also use solid golds and platinum when price point allows. For my fabrication work I mainly use sterling silver and solid golds.

Gems: I source gemstones from all over the world through multiple suppliers. I do not personally mine the material I use in my work, but rather I buy from gem dealers, shows, and wholesalers. Each gem or mineral in my work was selected for its quality, visual appearance, and value.

process

My work begins with a combination of sketching and visualization. The sketch serves as a design template for me to size the gems relative to metal work, while the visualization is where actual designing takes place. I meticulously hand craft each piece of jewelry from scratch using wire and sheet metal and every stone in my work is hand set by me. My wire work is a combination of many gauges of wire ranging from a fine 30 gauge (0.25mm) to a heavy 8 gauge (3.26mm) all twisted, bent, coiled, and woven together. My fabrication work features a combination of sheet metals ranging from 28 gauge to 8 gauge. The sheet metal is cut, filed, drilled, and soldered, and then finished using various stone setting and polishing techniques depending on design. Most of my wire designs are at some level a combination of wire wrapping and fabrication techniques.

styles 

1. 100% wire-work. These pendants are created without any form of soldering or heat. They are entirely cold connection, and are held together simply by twisting and bending the wires together. I rarely will make these pendants, but from time to time they do appear.
2. Mixed wire and sheet metal fabrication. These pendants are created with a combination of sheet metal, tubing, and wire, and are all soldered at some point in their production. They usually will feature more traditional style stone settings (bezels, prongs, and others) and have accenting wirework. This style of mixed pendant comprises the majority of my work.  
3. 100% sheet metal fabrication. These pendants are created using sheet metal, tubing and thick gauges of wire, they are all extensively soldered.