Helena Fox Fine Artrepresents my handcrafted silver designs and regularly carries a curated selection of my silver hollowware, flatware, home objects, and jewelry in their stunning historic, downtown Charleston art gallery.
They are hosting a special Valentine’s Day event featuring my artwork on Saturday, February 12 from 12pm-4pm.
This Valentine’s Day mini trunk show will feature my original jewelry designs and silver home objects, so you are certain to find something sweet for the love in your life.
Old Exchange Building in historic downtown Charleston, South Carolina
This show is part of the inaugural Exchange District shopping event, which includes Meeting Street to East Bay Street and Tradd Street to Queen Street in historic downtown Charleston. The Old Exchange Building and Provost Dungeon sits at the end of Broad Street and is the focal point of the Exchange District. There are many locally owned retail shops, galleries, and restaurants within these boundaries, so this new district and event will highlight these fabulous businesses.
A fun Valentine’s Bingo game will be part of the event and enhance the shopping experience (see below for details). I hope to see you there!
https://www.kaminerhaislip.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/logo-silver-jewelry-kaminer-haislip-340x156-VERDANA-1.jpg00adminhttps://www.kaminerhaislip.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/logo-silver-jewelry-kaminer-haislip-340x156-VERDANA-1.jpgadmin2022-01-24 15:18:482022-02-07 19:44:14Helena Fox Fine Art Show – February 12, 2022
A native of South Carolina, Kaminer Haislip grew up in her family’s hardware and appliance business in Aiken. From there she followed her dream of working with fire and metal. After graduating with a MFA from Winthrop University, Ms. Haislip made her way to Charleston, in her words ‘my process is directly tied to the city’s immense craft traditions. As a silversmith working in Charleston, I am carrying on the legacy of the city’s rich history by employing techniques that have been used for centuries.’ And she is the only female silversmith practicing in Charleston today.
This year has been a bit different for all of us, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome you all back to the gallery for an event! We will be featuring Kaminer’s new Christmas ornaments and table ware along with her much loved oyster series of jewelry. Early enough to be thinking about gift giving as well as time to get your gifts engraved if you are interested.
We will be offering a few private appointments before and after our regular gallery hours for anyone interested. If you have a group of friends that may want to come in together, we recommend this option.
Join us for what we think will be a great start to the shopping season!
https://www.kaminerhaislip.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/logo-silver-jewelry-kaminer-haislip-340x156-VERDANA-1.jpg00adminhttps://www.kaminerhaislip.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/logo-silver-jewelry-kaminer-haislip-340x156-VERDANA-1.jpgadmin2020-10-15 22:44:592020-10-16 14:09:58Helena Fox Fine Art Open House – November 13 & 14, 2020
Despite so many weddings being postponed or held in a much smaller gathering than originally planned due to coronavirus, giving a gift to the happy couple is still a must to show your support and celebrate their marriage! Silver is a classic heirloom wedding gift and my functional silver objects are extremely popular to commemorate the joyous occasion. My designs are inspired by traditional silver forms, but are interpreted in my original, contemporary style. A unique, handcrafted silver gift will be cherished for generations to come and is such a memorable, lasting gift to receive.
My website Shop has a wide variety of options available and many can be personalized with hand engraving for a special finishing touch. Detailed below are some of the most favored of my classic silver wedding gifts.
Coronavirus is keeping more people at home these days, so stock the newlywed’s bar with fun silver accessories they will use while enjoying evenings at home together or for stylish entertaining (while being conscientious of social distancing of course!). Silver bar spoons, personalized decanter tags with their favorite libations engraved on the front, tumblers and cups, wine goblets, and wine coasters are all useful and beautiful gifts.
The silver tumbler pictured above and the silver wine goblets and wine coasters below all can be hand engraved with the couple’s initials and wedding date for a personal touch.
Let’s not forget the very important hors d’oeuvres for snacking during cocktail hour! Silver appetizer accessories shine and make serving the tasty bites even more enjoyable.
The silver and glass cheese tray shown above is the same silver and glass cake tray pictured at the top of this post. My Ziggurat Tray creates a stunning tablescape and is very versatile for many uses, including serving hors d’oeuvres, cheese, anti-pasta, cakes and desserts, or for a table centerpiece displaying fruit or flowers.
The silver cheese knife, spreader, condiment spoon, and appetizer fork were all forged and have a hammered handle. Due to the hammering process, they are very sturdy and functional. Plus they bring contemporary refinement to the setting.
A popular wedding gift is my Nest Bowl, comprised of hammered and woven sterling silver wire. The nest acts as a metaphor for building a new life and home together. Nest Bowl comes in three sizes, 4″, 6″, and 8″ in diameter, but can also be created in custom sizes. It functions beautifully for serving bread or crackers or on a vanity or dresser for holding items.
For serving up the main course, my silver salad servers and serving spoon make excellent silver wedding gifts that will be used frequently and not just on holidays. My husband and I use our silver serving spoons regularly and get a lot of enjoyment out of them!
A pair of silver napkin rings with the couple’s initials hand engraved on them is a lovely gift that can be built upon over the years. Starting them on any collection creates a gift you as well as others can give to help them complete the set.
Silver bowls, dishes, and boxes are also thoughtful silver wedding gifts, not only for their useful function on a coffee table, dresser, or vanity, but also for their beauty and enhancement of a new abode. Most of my silver bowls, dishes, and boxes come in a variety of sizes and too can be completed as a set in the future.
There are many more gorgeous heirloom silver wedding gift options in my website Shop Home category, so visit it for the complete selection. Elegant gift wrapping is free and it can be shipped directly to them.
If you do not see specifically what you are looking for on my website Shop, contact me directly at kaminer@kaminerhaislip.com to design a custom commission gift. For details on commissioning bespoke pieces, visit the Commission Work page on this website.
Cheers to the happy couple!
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The Venning House – 40 Charlotte Street – Charleston, SC
During this special holiday pop up market, Kaminer Haislip’s handcrafted, silver functional home objects and a selection of jewelry will be on display for sale. A Preview Party will take place Thursday, December 5 from 5pm-8pm. This festive shopping event will continue on Friday, December 6 and Saturday, December 7 from 10am-5pm.
40 Charlotte Street – Charleston, SC
To view images and get more information on the stunning, fully restored historic downtown Charleston home, visit http://40charlottestreet.com/
https://www.kaminerhaislip.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/logo-silver-jewelry-kaminer-haislip-340x156-VERDANA-1.jpg00adminhttps://www.kaminerhaislip.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/logo-silver-jewelry-kaminer-haislip-340x156-VERDANA-1.jpgadmin2019-11-17 22:29:492019-11-22 16:44:53Holiday Pop Up – December 2019
I am constantly asked how I make my silver pieces, so I am highlighting some of my processes on my website Blog to give insight into my handcrafted techniques. All of my designs are created with sterling silver sheet and wire through skilled fabrication techniques. Each object is made individually by my hands and I do not use casting or other mass manufacturing processes. For this blog post, my forged silver cheese knife illustrates one way I use forging in my silversmithing work.
Forging is a traditional metalsmithing technique that moves the metal by hammering the surface, and I mainly use this on flatware and utensils, because it gives the silver immense strength. Using a heavy hammer, forging stretches the metal and creates tension and toughness at the molecular level. Durability is of the upmost importance for functional objects and silver gains enough strength to hold its form precisely when work-hardened. Additionally, silver’s natural antiseptic properties make it the ideal medium for flatware and serving utensils.
I begin my cheese knife by forging the shape from thick, solid sterling silver sheet. The blank begins smaller than the final form because it enlarges and expands during the hammering process on the dense steel block.
Next, I work the blade with a large planishing hammer to smooth the deep forging marks out of it and further refine the shape.
The hammer marks are then removed and the blade edge is honed razor sharp so that it will slice easily and work effectively. Finally, the entire knife is brought to a high shine on the polishing machine.
Polishing is another highly skilled process I will discuss in a future Blog post, so stay tuned.
My silver spreader is made the same way, so check out that piece in my website Shop as well!
For more information on how I handcraft my designs, visit the Handcrafted Process page on my website. Thank you for your interest in my silversmithing work!
