When I began this piece, I knew I didn’t want to simply recreate the clenched fist of the historical original. What fascinated me about an EVA glove are the fingers, the articulation, the complexity, the way the glove invites an open, splayed gesture. Capturing that expression in raised silver was an unknown. Forming a hand from a flat sheet of metal is very different from sculpting a model in wax and casting it. Raising transforms a thin disc of metal into a volumetric form, and the skill lies in controlling where the walls thicken, thin, stretch, and compress. Achieving the right gesture isn’t always straightforward, so I begin with copper prototypes.

Prototyping allows me to test different approaches and study the results. Each trial helps answer specific questions structural, technical, or aesthetic, and with each answer, my expectations shift. The design evolves in conversation with the material. For this piece, I also had to track down or fabricate custom hammers and raising stakes to achieve the shapes I envisioned. The prototypes become a rehearsal: an exploration of hammering patterns, the order of operations, and the specific tools that best serve each step of the process.