Baroque Lattice Bell Pendant

Sterling silver on a black silk cord
Approximately 50 mm high

Gordon Barnett's wearable silver bells are cast using traditional lost wax methods. All of Gordon's bell pendants ring, each with its own soft, distinctive chime. Cast in solid sterling, they have the weight and feel of a fine heirloom. These magical bell pendants are both elegant and talismanic. 

Artist Statement
I made the first bell believing that I could only sell one design each year, as a limited edition. Time showed me otherwise, as the idea of bells kept ringing true for me. Bells are about celebration in general, not just the winter holidays. They celebrate the hours of everyday, in many private ways.

The music of the bells, as I experience it, is simple magic. That is to say, I have little control over how they sound. I’ve come to appreciate how makers of more musical bells, like those used by hand bell choirs or in Carillons, work their craft to near perfection of tone. The traditionally-shaped larger bells are the result of aeons of study in the musical resonance. But, I’m a miniaturist, a jeweler, and a less mechanical sculptor. While I love the music of bells, and the physics of sound, I am first a visual artist. —Gordon Barnett