Michelle HOTING
Medium: Mitsuro Hikime Jewelry

My work is shaped by a lifelong connection to nature. Inspired by flowing water, curling waves and wind carved slot canyons, I design and hand fabricate jewelry that captures a sense of motion, balance, and dimensionality. Through wax and metal, sculptural forms emerge, translating fleeting moments of the environment into pieces that feel personal, tactile, and timeless.

Jewelry making has always felt like a calling. My grandfather founded the Gulf Coast Gem and Mineral Society, and family stories of rockhounding on the King Ranch sparked an early fascination with stones and the land that I still carry with me. In my work, I often cut and incorporate agates and other gemstones passed down, honoring both their inherent character and the history they hold.

While working toward my degree in Fine Arts and Geology at The University of Texas at Austin, a recommendation from my gemology professor led to a part-time position in a jewelry store, where watching master bench jewelers at work proved transformative. Whenever possible, I apprenticed at the bench, deepening my technical skills and strengthening my commitment to the craft.

Over the years, my career has spanned many facets of the jewelry world, from managing repair departments at prominent antique jewelry stores to studying diamond grading, colored stones, and pearls through the Gemological Institute of America. I’ve worked as a jeweler and salesperson for Cartier and managed a Bulgari boutique – experiences that refined my eye for craftsmanship, precision, and timeless design.

In 2012, I moved to santa Rosa, California, where I now work independently, creating jewelry that reflects a lifetime shaped by art, geology, and nature.  Each piece is an expression of that journey – thoughtful, sculptural, and rooted in the enduring elegance of the natural world.

Mitsuro Hikime

Mitsuro Hikime is a rare Japanese wax modeling technique that dates back centuries. Traditionally used in small sculptural objects, the process involves mixing pine resin and bees wax, heating and repeatedly stretching the wax until it develops a unique fibrous structure. When pulled and formed by hand, the wax reveals organic striations and flowing surface movement unlike any carving method.

Very few contemporary artists practice Mitsuro Hikime today due to the patience and sensitivity required to control the material. The wax must be warmed, stretched, and shaped at precise temperatures. It resists force and rewards intuition.  Because the wax responds differently each time it is stretched, no two forms can ever be identical. Every piece is truly one of a kind.

I use Mitsuro Hikime as the foundation of my sculptural jewelry practice. Each form begins in wax, where I pull and shape it into fluid structures inspired by water, erosion, and wind-carved stone. The wax model is then cast in sterling silver or gold using the lost-wax casting process. After casting, every surface is refined and finished by hand and then the work of creating a piece of jewelry begins.

My work contributes to the contemporary resurgence of Mitsuro Hikime, exploring how this ancient Japanese technique can be translated into modern wearable sculpture.