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In the making of my work, I use a mix of metals, wood and stone.
 The different types of wood that I like to use are mostly hard woods, half of which are exotics, Maples, Purple heart, Mahogany ,Ebony, Wenge, Lace wood, Snake wood, Pink Ivory, Olive wood, Orange Osage, Yew, Holly, Lilac, and softer woods Juniper, Poplar. These materials are mostly in solid chunk form that I then carve down with traditional carving chisels and gauges, with some mechanized rotary tool, to finish with scrapers and finer sand paper.
 Gold , Platinum, Silver, Copper and, Bronze are my choice metals. I have also started using stainless/steel where appropriate.
I use old copper and silversmith techniques to forge and hollow form the sheet and rod of different metals. Then these parts are fitted together and silver or gold brazed beginning the fabrication of the work.
For the past 7 years I started alloying my own gold recipes based on some of the old world alloys that I grew up with, with a twist of the new technologies. In jewelry pieces I use a mix of silver and goldsmith techniques of forging and carving, leading to fitting and fabrication.
I do some out of house casting of the works that are almost impossible to fabricate, and with the casting technology today, I trust the quality to be top notch. In some pieces that have stones, the settings are hand fabricated/carved to fit the stones accurately, and then set with the aid of an engravers ball. I do have a professional setter help when pressed for time.
 Stones that I use are a mix of precious and semi precious, like Rubies and different color Sapphires, Emeralds, Diamonds and Tourmalines, Amethysts, Garnets, Carnelian, Fire Opals, Boulder Opals, all kinds of mineralized Quartz etc. Usually I am looking for the unusual (cut & color) even in the mundane.
Some of the other materials that I tend to use are older recycled Ivories, the Vegetable Ivory, Lapis, Coral and Turquoise.
Environment
Over the years that I have been using these materials, some of it has become very volatile to the humane issue, from the Diamond mines in Africa to the rainforest in South America. I was always aware of how long it takes for an Elephant to grow it’s Tusks or how many years it takes to grow a full Mature ebony tree. Thanks to my Father’s travels and the stories he would bring back. Even my favorite Turquoise from Persia has become an issue.
So, any new material that I buy or find I double check the source, and if I don’t like what I am hearing, I will not purchase the material. There is nothing wrong with changing ones notion, and working around it or to by pass it completely — Just use some thing else.
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