Scott Hardy

This six to seven oz. heavy sterling silver palm flask — which Hardy created to give generations of pleasure — took roughly 200 hours to complete. The dramatic flowers with 14K gold centers, layered scrolls and sculpted 14K gold vintage-style bucking horse all contribute depth and movement that truly encapsulate the spirit.

Faith played a large part in settling the North American West, Hardy notes, and still plays a major role in the West today. Thus was his inspiration for creating this eight-inch-tall sterling silver cross.

An overlaid filigree cross on one side and floral bright cut cross on the other denote constant change, he said, while a bucking horse and a Longhorn on the base of the cross represent cowboy culture.

Featuring a hand-sculpted 14K yellow gold horse and rider surrounded by a wellspring of intertwining scrolls and flowers with 14K gold centers, this oval buckle — measuring 3 1/8-inch by 3 3/4-inch — is bordered with a heavy sterling silver twist rope edge and a 14K yellow gold smooth wire interior edge. According to Hardy, all these elements combined creates a perfect storm of depth, movement and flow.

Hardy crafted this vibrant yet graceful pendant with a sterling silver base encompassed by a 14K gold border that transitions into a large 14K gold feather. Within the border lies a sterling silver flower featuring a turquoise center secured in place by a 14K green gold bezel. From beneath the flower flow 14K green gold scrolls. The 2 1/2-inch by 1 1/2-inch pendant is suspended from an antiqued sterling silver and turquoise necklace, making it an heirloom quality piece.

According to Hardy, the challenge of this project — a collaboration between Hardy and TCAA emeritus saddlemaker Cary Schwarz — was to design and craft a piece that exudes the feminine West. This resulting clutch purse, featuring Hardy’s sterling silver filigree flowers and scrolls across the front, contrasting with Schwarz’s leather carved flowers and scrolls plus delicate waxed linen thread stitching and highly polished edges, has interior dimensions of 7 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches and brings the beauty of cowgirl culture to black tie banquets and Broadway opening nights.

This sterling silver three-piece buckle set — which Hardy sculpted, hand engraved and fully filigreed — boasts flower centers in three different colors of 14K gold: yellow, green and red. The quiet elegance of this buckle set, he said, enables it to be a staple on the ranch or in the city. It fits a 3/4-inch belt.

One of his greatest pleasures as a TCAA artist, Hardy says, is collaborating with fellow craftspeople of various disciplines. As an example, he points to this bracelet, which Hardy produced in partnership with TCAA rawhide braider Pablo Lozano. Lozano’s Trenza Patria rawhide braiding technique provides the ideal setting for Hardy’s silverwork, which consists of a heavy sterling silver center featuring a sculpted flower with a turquoise center and intertwining scrollwork. The bracelet is finished with sterling silver ends sculpted with scrollwork and the TCAA logo, and a latch closure. “Rawhide, sterling silver and turquoise — is there anything that says ‘The West’ better?” he asked.