Award-winning illustrator Yuyi Morales’ homemade silver jewelry

Generously shared with TeachingBooks.net

Every year we ask an illustrator whom we work with to share some images of non-book art as a gift to our customers. Yuyi Morales kindly provided the following images and reflections. Please enjoy.

Dear Friends,

In the heart of downtown Xalapa, my hometown in Mexico, there is a an old neighborhood “patio” (a group of rooms around a courtyard) where a space exists to create art.

Photo courtesy of Yuyi Morales, 2011

From one room, the string music from hand carved Jaranas is played. The sound of the typewriter comes from another room where a reporter writes his articles. Across the courtyard, the banging of the ironsmith’s hammer on horse shoes keeps the beat of the day. It is in this patio, among these many sounds, that I have spent many of my recent days learning to create art from silver.

Photo courtesy of Yuyi Morales, 2011

The silversmith room is filled with constant movement. Artisans come in and out, bringing their silver to melt, flattening it into sheets with a manual metal press, pulling silver rods though tiny holes to make fine wire, cutting shapes, welding pieces together, bending wire, and adding stones.

They do all of this until each silver piece matches what they had imagined.

Photo courtesy of Yuyi Morales, 2011

I am still very new to silversmithing. I am fascinated by both the strength and the malleability of the metal, the transformative power of the fire, the magic of the welding, and the delight of polishing a piece that has taken much care—and even some finger cuts and burns—to put together. I hope you have enjoyed seeing some of my recent silver work!

– Yuyi Morales
Copyright ©2011 Yuyi Morales. For Internet viewing only. Not to be re-distributed.
Used with permission by TeachingBooks.net.

Watch TeachingBooks.net original movies filmed in Yuyi Morales’ home, where she shares her books, artwork, and love of Mexican folktales.

View all resources for illustrator and author Yuyi Morales on TeachingBooks.net.

See non-book art from previous years when other marvelous book creators shared their work with TeachingBooks.net customers:

Cartoons made via copperplate etching by Arthur Geisert

Cats made using tin cans, bottle caps, & rivets by Denise Fleming

Collages made with magazine ads & watercolor by Bryan Collier

Travel sketches created with pens & pastels by David Small

Stained glass windows created with sea glass by Ashley Bryan

Comments

Shelley Ward says

March 11, 2011 at 7:27 am

thank you for sharing your talents with us. I will share this with my students and faculty members.
Bonnie Barnes says

March 15, 2011 at 8:40 am

Thank you for sharing your beautiful artwork with us! As an artist, I appreciate the creativity and work you have put into your designs.

Generously shared with TeachingBooks.net

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