CHRIS JONES ARTIST
Chris Jones was born in Winnipeg and now lives in Invermere to be close to his grandchildren. He has worked in the arts his entire life operating independent movie theatres in Winnipeg and Saskatoon. He also worked for the Saskatchewan Craft Council for many years helping craft artists market their work. He is currently involved with the Toby Creek Nordic Ski Club and the Columbia Valley Arts Council where he recently took over as coordinator of Cinefest. "smallsculptures" has become a rewarding way to maintain his love for working with his hands and meeting artists and retailers throughout BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.Small Sculptures Pewter – Chris Jones
I start with original artwork from a variety of sources. These include commissioning local artists\' work, wildlife and scenic photography and works used under license. The original artwork is laser imaged and an electronic template is made to the size of the eventual pewter casting. (Normally about 1.5" to 2" square).When the laser image and template have been approved, decisions are made as to how much relief there will be when the image is produced in pewter. This relief refers to the depth of the image when cast in pewter and varies from about 1/8" to 3/8" deep depending on the scene.
Pewter is a fairly soft metal with a rich lustre and colour and it takes detail in the casting process very well. The softness of the material and the detail in our work would render these pieces quite fragile if used in an everyday manner, but our presentation makes the difference. Each piece is matted using only the highest quality acid-free archival rag matte boards then framed using the best Nielsen Florentine finish metal mouldings.
Pewter, as defined by Standard Specification for Modern Pewter Alloys, states that today pewter is made of the following:
- 90 - 98% tin
- 1 - 8% antimony
- .25 - 3% copper
