THE GEM CARVINGS OF Harold Van Pelt

摘要

At first, there was no thought of cutting. It was the beauty of the material itself that drew them. However, the Van Pelts had spent many hours in the gem workshops of Idar-Oberstein, quietly observing master carvers at work. "I was inspiredbythe carvers at Idar," says Van Pelt. "They have a history of carving larger objects that goes back hundreds of years." Intrigued by the process and by the examples of carving he saw at Idar's two museums, the Deutsches Edelstein Museum and The Heimat Museum, Van Pelt began to think of trying his hand at carving. " I didn't even think of making cabochons or faceting," says Van Pelt. "We wanted to do something different."