Work for a Cause

A long-term goal I have for my work is not simply for it to look nice, but to have it serve a purpose beyond the aesthetic value. I don’t mean to diminish the importance of that aspect, I actually think it’s quite important for people to surround themselves with beautiful and inspiring things, however they choose to define those terms. But for my tastes, simply accumulating and possessing pretty things for the sake of their prettiness doesn’t do a lot for me in any lasting, substantial sense. I’m no purist in this regard, but I think it follows very naturally that making pieces fitting that description is something I’d like to avoid if I can help it.

The pieces you’ll find here are just one way I would like to create work intended to serve that end. I have received the benefit of many factors in this life that, for all intents and purposes, have been tailored to serve me and my weird vision of earning the money I need to pay my way through this world by tinkering away at small pieces of metal for hours on end. Relative levels of success on that front aside, I’ve been inspired more and more lately to create pieces intended to serve others. There’s no shortage of worthy causes out there, and the sheer number of them can certainly be daunting when trying to decide where one directs their aid. I’ve got an incomplete list of my own, and with some help, I hope to expand it more and more as the years go by.

The mostly experimental method I’ve decided on for going about all this is to start with a list - as pieces are made, I’ll update this page with all the relevant information regarding the piece itself, as well as which charity/fund/foundation/organization/etc it is intended to benefit. As the list expands and (hopefully) as more pieces are sold I will likely split this page into currently available and past works. But for now, while things are still fresh and small, the one page should suffice. As of right now I don’t have any specific formula or percentage in mind for the way I’ll split the sale price into donations vs. compensation for my time and materials, but ultimately I want the majority of each sale to go to its intended destination. This depends largely on how successful this whole venture is as well as how successful I am as an independent artist and craftsman in general. If you trust me to direct your dollars responsibly, one way to help me advance this goal is to sign up on my Patreon page. Clicking the text will bring you directly to it, and signing up will offer a clearer window into the processes I use to create these works, as well as a number of ways to own some of them yourself.

I fully encourage anyone who sees the work presented here to seek out their own ways of helping if they feel inspired - you’re under no obligation to buy my work in order to help. I’ll post as many relevant links as I can find for folks who would like to support any particular cause. Thank you for taking the time to read this extremely wordy preamble and looking over the work here.

Viet Dragon Cuff - The inaugural piece. I was introduced to the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation a number of years ago by someone very near and dear to my heart, and the more I read about them and their work, the more I knew that this had to be the start. I’ve planned a number of pieces specifically for them, but none that were as ambitious as this one. I spent quite a bit of time searching for images of Vietnamese dragons, and all the ones I found have this wonderfully sinuous and waving quality to them, almost playful. It seemed like a very fitting quality for a children’s foundation mascot, and I took a few creative liberties with the design, mostly the face. I wanted it to retain a certain amount of seriousness yet also reflect that light feeling I got when looking at the images. I wanted the face to be a bit cute, but I’m not sure how prepared I was for just how cute it ended up being. Unintentional but certainly not unwelcome.

The base material for this is nickel silver, a variety of brass with a significant nickel content and no actual silver. This lends a distinctly less yellow color to the surface, yet doesn’t completely rob it of the warmth usually associated with brasses. In the right light, just enough of a low, golden hue can be seen peeking out from under the rougher silvered color. The nickel also lends it the added benefit of preventing the usual side effect of wearing copper alloys against your skin - you won’t have a green stripe on your wrist underneath this piece. For those with nickel allergies, however, please beware that you will almost certainly react to this material. I don’t know if there is a different level of reactivity with this material versus pure nickel, but if you are aware of an allergy at all then I recommend avoiding it altogether.

The hinges, including the material for the pins and rivets, are all brass, and all handmade by me. I’ve used this method of closure in the past, but never at this scale. The decorative latch pin is quite secure, in fact if pushed in too far it’s actually a bit difficult to remove. Only light pressure is required when pressing it into the loops of the closure.

Measurements: the inside of the cuff is approximately 7cm across and 5cm tall, giving it an interior measurement of approximately 18cm, or about 7”. The distance across the face of the piece is approx. 4.5cm, and the inner band tapers down to 2cm underneath.

Price: $750 plus shipping. Please email me at michaelcoffeymetal@gmail.com with any questions or other purchasing info.