Bill Fretz’s Guide to Hammer Textures

The three main areas of jewelry design are shape, color and texture.

Shape is the foundation and sets the backdrop for color and texture to add their magic. Hammer texture can be bold or subtle and is often the element that completes a piece of handmade jewelry.

Hammered or hand-wrought jewelry is appealing for its decorative quality and for revealing how the piece was made. Hammer texture is a primitive way of forming metal and also vital to the contemporary jeweler, as it conveys the process of the craftsman at work.  Working a piece by hand is an aesthetic statement in contrast to work that is produced by machine or computer.