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Shelly
Culea

Experienced Jewelry Designer and Metalsmith

Mequon, Wisconsin

A jewelry designer and silver- and goldsmith with more than four decades of experience in her field, Shelly Culea owns and operates Shelly Culea Jewelry & Silversmithing in Mequon, Wisconsin. Commanding a long and impressive professional background, Shelly Culea began to lay the foundations for her career while an undergraduate at The University of Kansas. For four years, she studied all aspects of jewelry design, enameling, silversmithing, and other related subjects at The University of Kansas, building a well-rounded skill set for her future profession. After she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts, Shelly Culea embarked on a highly diversified career in jewelry making and design, beginning with a stint at Kirchner Corporation in Golden Valley, Minnesota. As the first female journeyman in the Minnesota Jewelry Union, Shelly Culea learned the finer points of manufacturing and repair at Kirchner Corporation, sizing engagement and wedding rings, fixing broken jewelry, and restoring damaged jewelry. At the end of this formative period, she founded Shelly Culea Jewelry & Silversmithing, through which she continues to make custom jewelry and hollowware on a commission basis. In addition, Shelly Culea spent four years as a freelance designer for Jewelmont Corporation in Minneapolis, where she cultivated a specialization in rings and pendants made from silver, gold, diamonds, and other precious metals and gemstones. During this time, Shelly Culea’s work was featured in the Dayton’s Christmas catalog and sold through various department stores and jewelry shops, art fairs, and galleries, including the Walker Art Center, the Minneapolis Aquatennial, Lowell Lundeen Jewelry, and Scheherazade Jewelers.

Since then, Shelly Culea has enjoyed continued success in jewelry design, appearing recently at the Museum of Wisconsin Art to show her work and speak on her career. A longtime member of the Wisconsin Designer Crafts Council, Shelly Culea lives and works in the greater Milwaukee metropolitan area.


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  • A History and Overview of Jewelry Granulation By Shelly Culea
    , Shelly Culea's Blog on Bigsight
    January, 2012
    Granulation, an ancient decorative metalworking technique that originated in the Middle East, involves affixing many tiny spheres of precious metal to a piece of jewelry. High-karat gold and concentrated silver alloys are the best-suited materials for granulation. Made from the same metal as the surface intended to support them, the granules must remain under 1 millimeter in diameter.

    One method of creating granules uses a thin sheet of metal trimmed into tiny squares that warp into spheres under high heat. Another technique involves making minute, evenly sized rings by trimming a coil of thin wire. After firing, the artisan sorts and sifts the granules to ensure a uniform size. The three primary processes for securing the granules to the jewelry include fusing, colloidal soldering, and hard soldering.

    Ancient Greek and Etruscan artifacts surfaced near Rome during archaeological excavations in the first half of the 19th century. However, the practice of granulation dates back to the Sumerians in the third millennium BC. The Etruscans used the technique many centuries later, earning fame and admiration for their mysterious granulation methods, which appeared not to require hard solder. Although the Etruscan jewelry attracted a great deal of attention with its extremely fine granulation, their fusing solder process was not deciphered until the early 20th century. Less popular today than in previous eras, modern jewelers still pursue and practice granulation.

    About Shelly Culea:
    Ms. Culea has spent many years working with granulation in jewelry design. She currently accepts commissions for custom jewelry, kitchenware, and bust portraits through her studio, Shelly Culea, in Mequon, Wisconsin.