Jock Favour

Born and raised in Arizona, Jock Favour is well known for his old-style jewelry that pays tribute to the classic techniques of Native American jewelry-making.  Jock achieves the antique look of his jewelry by combining older stones with ingot silver to create heavy, beautiful pieces.  He describes his technique as follows:

“I carve tufa stone molds and melt sterling silver.  Most of my bracelets are made from square ingot bars, which are then hand-hammered or forged into the desired shape and thickness.  These techniques were used historically during the period of 1868-1930. 

The first ingots were cast from silver U.S. and Mexican coins.  Coin silver is 90% pure, while sterling silver is 92.5% pure.  I have melted coins and find no difference in the ‘look’ from sterling silver.  The mellowness of old coin silver comes from wear and oxidation.  I use ingot bars because it allows me total flexibility of size and shape.  It is a time-consuming technique not unlike a weaver hand-spinning her wool into yarn, but the look and feel of the pieces is worth the effort.”

Jock comes from an artistic family with a love of the outdoors.  He lives in Prescott, Arizona with his wife, Deborah.