BLJuly17.ToWeb

Florida Art
By John Leach
Satellite High School graduate Barbara Alcock
Gurlek has always maintained a great love of
the beach. Even though she moved around a lot as
a child, her father, a Martin Marietta employee, kept
bringing her back to Brevard County. The ocean,
it’s animals and themes remained a constant in her
young life. In later years, her husband owned a research
vessel that took them living and diving in
the Florida Keys before returning yet again to the
Brevard County coast to continue their underwater
research. Inspired by the sea, she calls her work
Fishbone Silver.
The Recycled Beauty Of
BARBARA
ALCOCK GURLEK’S
Fishbone Silver
Though relatively new to the arts, “I never really did much
beside some Indian beaded jewelry in High School, it was
the hippie days you know…” she saw a pair of earrings
online that made her think, “I wonder if I could do that?”.
Turns out - she can. She does it quite well.
Gurlek works primarily with a material called metal
clay:
“It started back in 2009 when I ran across an article
about metal clay, I was instantly intrigued. So after a lot
of online tutorials I slowly learned how to use it. I finally
took a certification class which helped also. My jewelry is
perfectly imperfect. It’s not manufactured, it’s all done by
hand. I mostly work with recycled precious metal clay and
sterling. PMC, or Precious Metal Clay, consists of microscopic
particles of a precious metal in an organic binder
(silver or gold and it now comes in base metals, copper and
bronze). When fired at a high heat with a torch or in a kiln,
the organic binder burns away and the metal particles fuse
together leaving a solid metal piece, in the case of silver it
is pure silver (.999). So you are then wearing recycled pure
silver!”
The silver is recycled from photographic equipment
then mixed with an organic binding ingredient. Similar to
conventional clay, Gurlek then mixes the material with water
to sculpt or stamp her designs. “I have to work quickly
before it hardens up. When it’s leather hard I sand it, put it in
a kiln at 1650 degrees for a few hours, and it becomes pure
silver.”
Since the firing burns away all impurities, people allergic
to base metals can wear her creations in comfort.
Now living in West Melbourne “I didn’t want to live on
the beach anymore because everything rusts out - air conditioners/washer
and dryer/cars etc.”, Gurlek also draws inspiration
from her new countrified environment. To that end,
Gurlek is an animal lover and works with animal themes.
44 - Brevard Live July 2017