Try Your Hand at Guilloche

When I was studying enamel at the Glassell School of Art in Houston, we had a “Fabergé” semester. We studied the work of Fabergé and were intrigued by the elaborate engraved patterns underneath his enamel work. One of our projects was enameling a piece of guilloche silver — silver that was intricately engraved with a tight, repeating pattern. Our teacher, Jan Harrell, ordered pre-engraved guilloche pieces for the whole class. They were pretty expensive, so I wondered if I could start with plain silver sheet and create a similar intricate pattern myself. Suddenly, I was reminded of a drawing tool I had when I was about 10 years old — the Spirograph. Unfortunately, I got rid of my Spirograph a long time ago, but my husband found me another one online! Now I make my own “guilloche” silver.

By Ingrid I. van der Meer