Mokume Gane Jewellery designs

Click on the thumbnails above to see a larger image and details about the piece. From there you can navigate the rest of the collection by clicking on the left or right side of the enlarged image or with the arrow keys on your keyboard.

The pieces on this page represent a small part of our mokume gane jewellery collection. Please feel free to contact us if you would like some more information, or to discuss creating an entirely new and unique piece of fusion jewellery just for you.

And remember, Aharoni Jewellery delivers across Australia and around the world.

We are very pleased that Lawrence Miller Jewellery are currently displaying a selection of our mokume gane pieces.

Mokume Gane - the technique

Mokumé Gané, (Japanese for 'woodgrain in metal'), is a technique of fusing and forging precious metals. It was developed in 17th Century Japan and used to create Samurai swords.

This long, complicated process begins when Eytan makes flat plates of various metals using different alloys. For example, 18 carat white, yellow or rose gold, sterling silver, Palladium, 22 carat gold in all colours and also Shakudo - which is made of 96% copper mixed with 4% pure gold. Each of these alloys has a prominant colour, creating the contrast between them in the final piece.

The "pile" of different metals - containing from 12 to many more layers (the more - the merrier) is then put into the kiln, stacked tightly to help it fuse perfectly. The fusion is done only by heat and great pressure - not by the conventional joining method of soldering. The great challenge of this process is to get the perfect fusion result without any of the metals collapsing and melting - and believe me, mistakes do happen and they are very costly.

Eytan then takes the billet out of the kiln, and after hours of cooling it he begins to forge and pattern the metal in various ways to create the intricate patterns in the metal, exposing all the different layers and colours.

It is only then that Eytan actually makes the piece, using the forged billet. The finished piece is definitely worth this difficult and time-consuming process. The results are unique, one off creations with a beautifully organic look and feel to them.

the unique celebration of colour in

mokume gane design

Mokume gane jewellery suits both men and women.The rings  make unusual, earthlike looking bands which can easily be worn as wedding bands by both men and women.

The uniqueness of these is in the fact that each ring is made separately, individually, thus a one-off creation is made, without an identical copy.

It is possible though, to create two rings from the same billet, using the same patterning techniques and thus create a pair of rings which will be close in their look and feel – but still not identical. And this is really the beauty of Mokume Gane. Each piece stands on its own, and is unique as each person’s fingerprint.

Again, mokume gane is all about a celebration of colours and shapes, as is the majority of our designs. This is the reason we leave the fusion unpolished, or matt- finished, so the various colours of the different metals will stand out and the patterns will become more dominant.

COLOUR OPTIONS IN OUR MOKUMe GANE

JEWELLERY DESIGNS

There are many different options of colour combinations in the mokume gane. When ordering your special mokume gane piece from us – you are welcome to choose any colours that your heart desires:

• Grey is created from the 18 carat palladium white gold
• White is created from the sterling silver
• Yellow is created from 18 carat - or for more intense yellow colour – 22 carat yellow gold
• Red is created from the 18 carat rose gold (which has Copper in it )
• Brown-black is created from the Shakudo, which is a combination of 4% pure gold (24 carat) and 96% Copper,which gives it the dark colour. The Shakudo creates a strong contrast in colour with any of the other metals mentioned.

Two types of mokume gane jewellery

There are two different types of mokume gane pieces of jewellery.

The first is Solid fusion, where the patterns in the metal go right through and can be seen on the inside of the ring, as in the photo.

The second type is the sleeve fusion where the mokume gane patterns are only a thin layer of the piece and can be seen just on the surface of  it rather than right through.The inside of the piece will consist of an additional piece of metal of one type, such as yellow gold, white gold or rose gold.

Of course the real value is in the solid mokume gane. The difference between solid mokume gane and the sleeve mokume gane is like the difference between a solid Opal (where the whole stone is a natural piece of Opal) and a triplet Opal (where a thin layer of the Opal is glued onto a plastic backing to support it).

The solid fusion pieces are significantly harder to make because the billet itself is much thicker – and therefore harder to manipulate – in order to make the actual piece. Moreover, if the fusion of the layers in the billet is not absolutely perfect, and there are some weak points in the joining areas of the layers, those will definitely open up and dismantle the billet while the piece is being made.

The thicker and wider the solid mokume gane billet is, the harder it is to bend and work the metal in order to make the piece. That is why rings like those displayed here of 10 mm width x 2 mm thickness are very rare, and only a handful of jewellers worldwide make them.

Another significant advantage that the solid fusion has over the sleeve fusion, is the fact that its durability is much higher. This means that when it gets scratched or worn, you do not have to worry about damaging the patterns of the jewellery piece (if you decide to remove the scratches) since they go right through, so under each layer there are many more. This is definitely not the case with the sleeve fusion, where cleaning means there is a great chance that the patterns, which are only a very thin layer in the piece, will be damaged. The thickness of the layers in a sleeve fusion piece is usually between 0.75 to 1 mm (and therefore not recommended.)

In a solid fusion the thickness of the layers in the piece is 2mm – 3mm, which is significantly  thicker. This means that there is a much higher gold content in the solid fusion pieces than in the sleeve fusion pieces and therefore a price difference too. One solid fusion piece can make three to four sleeve fusion pieces!

Eytan obviously recommends the solid fusion, which he uses in most of his mokume gane pieces, but will also make the sleeve fusion if the customer so wishes.

I honestly believe that the beauty of solid fusion jewellery is in its organic and simple look, and I try to leave them as natural, woodlike, flowing, silky and simple as I possibly can.

TAKING CARE OF YOUR MOKUME GANE

JEWELLERY PIECES

Any piece of jewellery that gets worn often will get knocked and scratched in time, regardless of which metal it is made from. This is even more true with heavy, solid pieces of jewellery, which are hand made and usually much heavier than cast jewellery. Especially in the case of rings, which are on our hands doing all that we do during our busy lives…

Some people quite like their jewellery’s knocks and dents as they tell the story of who we are and what we do. Other people prefer to to have their pieces smoothed and cleaned.

At Aharoni jewellery, we recommend you have this done every six to seven months. The reason is that with every clean, the piece of jewellery will lose a certain amount of the metal and in the long run would wear out. There is no need to fear risking the patterns of the fusion piece because as we explained - our fusion jewellery is solid in most cases, and will not wear out.

Sizing

Sizing of mokume gane rings is possible only if it is not a drastic size change – up to three sizes up or down is possible for Eytan to do without damaging the patterns on the ring.

More from Eytan on Mokume Gane

In recent years I have become fascinated by the technique of Mokume Gane. This is not my first encounter with Japanese art and culture. In Israel when I was sixteen years old, I learnt Shotokan Karate with Sensei Bob Batwin, and in 1989 passed my examination for san-dan (third black belt) with Sensei Ichikawa in Tokyo. Later, again in Israel, I was an instructor and had over a hundred students.

The combination of Mokume Gane and Shotokan Karate creates an unusual fusion: both more than just a job, together forming a way of life. They have a lot in common: the process of making Mokume Gane involves a dialogue between the maker and the metals he is working with. And it's only if the metals are handled in a certain gentle way that suits their properties, will the final result become a whole fused piece. The same can be said of Karate—the practise of which sets up a dialogue with the soul, an inner journey. The fusion here is between the inner and outer person.

I thoroughly enjoy the challenge of creating pieces using this technique, and dedicate a large amount of my time to this engrossing subject.