Beach Glass- Custom Pendant #2

Remember this post? Well I'm making good on my promise, here are some photos of my process along the way for the second pendant I'm making for Bryan. First, the beach glass pieces, I wanted to show these beauties...I'm jealous I don't get them for myself.

First step, make the base for each glass piece, cut, file and solder to proper shape...

Step two, make a lot of prongs by melting silver wire at one end into balls, file and attach each to the base, add loops to the corner peices...

I was not quite in the clear after adding the prongs. It is a little tricky to estimate exactly how long to make the prongs because each piece varies in thickness. I admit I had to remake a few. To hold the pieces securly a few more prongs were added as well.

Step three, attaching the individual bases to make one uniform base (not cleaned up yet)...

This was by far the most difficult step. Primarily because keeping the solder points of the prongs in tact while joining the pieces is a bit tricky (even when using different temperature solder). You can actually use white out to prevent solder from flowing, but the fumes are pretty rank. So until I get air filtration system in place I avoid using it at home. 

Final outcome...

Beach Glass- Custom Pieces for Bryan

Recently a friend Bryan asked me to make some custom jewelry. As a pastime, he and his wife collect beach glass along Lake Huron. I haven't worked with beach glass but have always wanted to beacuse it's beautiful colors and rough natural appearance.

I really enjoy custom work because with the right client I can use my artistic digression. It can also be an opportunity to work with new materials.

Bryan wanted a necklace and earrings set. I knew my biggest challenge would be 'flow' since no two pieces of beach glass are alike.

Bryan really liked two pendants I sketched so he asked me to make two! Both necklaces feature multiple glass pieces. In case I could not complete them BOTH before Christmas he choose one necklace to start (thanks to Laura who reeled me in on that one).

Since the glass would be roughly shaped I decided to use prong settings. You may remember this piece with prongs, but I had another 'method' in mind. It was also important to allow light to come through the jewelry.

Making prong settings in this fashion was WAY easier than with the coral and larimar piece. This was because I did not have to hold the prong perpendicular to metal sheet while soldering. I thoroughly enjoyed making these pieces, I was really in the zone during construction. Some other shots...

Stay tuned, I plan to post about the other pendant with photos that show my process...

Patty Pendant

When my brother and his girlfriend Patty visited in September, Patty was sweet enough to bring gifts. Thoughtful gifts too, B Nummy got fudge -the real deal- from Mackinak and she couldn't decide which of two necklaces to get for me so she bought both!

I was bummed when one of the stones came loose in it's wire wrap setting. The stone had slightly chipped. I removed the stone and decided I would take it upon myself to transform the piece.

I wanted to set the stone because it would be more secure and protected. So I started sketches. Here they are so you get a preview of how my brain works...at least sometimes.

The stone was rather soft, I filed the chipped part (at the point) and the ridges that used to hold the write wrap. Good as new!

I didn't want to set it with the point at the top, avoiding an 'expected' setting. My first two drawings felt a little too bulky, so I traced the stone in two directions (3rd drawing, left) to create a mirror image. This brought balance and a lighter feel.

That transitioned into a circle rather than the exact shape of the stone...the wheels were turning! I stared my construction modeling after the 2nd sketch on the right. I had a lot of trouble with this construction, getting solder to flow completely for the bezel was one issue.

I actually meant to do a cut out on the back (3rd drawing, right).  But I got excited when all the soldering was completed successfully. I set the stone before even thinking about the cut out. I think perhaps it wasn't meant to be...even if a cool idea.

Final piece includes some custom chain and has a brushed finish:

Brian said it reminded him of alien crop circles, not sure how I feel about that!? What do you think? Feel free to comment below!

Opal Earrings

Lately I have been busy with all things NOT jewelry...building a fence (pics to come at some point) knitting holiday projects...

...and hosting Thanksgiving among other things...

But I have found some time to work on a custom project for a pair of earrings.

Earlier this year a friend (Andrea) bought an opal necklace from me for her daughter's birthday in October. Andrea also wanted me to make some earrings to match as a Christmas gift...so I went shopping! I wanted to find something that was similar in shape and color and was lucky enough to find a pair of opals that matched at the Bead Gallery.
In keeping with the 'flowy' design of the pendant, I decided to make a loop at the top of each opal (similar to the pendant), and then to have the ear-wire come through the loop. This would make the earrings dangle with a bit of movement. The outcome...

Stay tuned, I have another custom project for an earrings and pendant set.

Project Dominican- Custom Pendant for Dan

 Ok, so I'm guilty...I haven't made a post in a while. But it's because I have been working hard on a 'secret' project. Here is the big 'reaveal' with a detailed juicy post.

My brother sent me a sketch for a piece he wanted me to construct as a gift for his girlfriend Patty. It was an AWESOME sketch! In mid-June he mailed the materials from which I would construct the pendant; a piece of coral they found snorkeling and some raw larimar both from their trip to the Dominican Republic.

I had to take both to a lapidary, since I have neither know-how nor equipment up to the task. The organic look of the coral was important to maintain, so I asked the ladies at The Bead Gallery to simply slice the coral in half. The larimar was made into two small circular cabs as well.

Because the rough organic nature of the stone, I felt prongs were best to hold it into place. Part of the design also included a bass clef (made of mixed metals and larimar). Since Dan wanted the bass clef set on top of the coral, this was an especially challenging design. It is also challenging to work with very small cabochons in general (I burned the bezel on one cab initially and had to start over...oh well).

One of the structural challenges I ran into was how to set the larimar cab's and the bass clef so that the coral could be set into place. In the sketch, the larimar cabs are on one cut out piece of sliver and the rest (the curvy part of the bass clef) was a separate piece of silver. Both are shown bending over the stone. In order to get the coral in place we modified the bass clef to be one piece (so the larimar is attached to the curved part). This allowed me to 'slide' the coral into place from right to left.

Based on past experience, cutting sheet metal and bending it over a stone can be quite tricky to get the right angles and lines to match a sketch. So I needed to do a fair amount of testing to see what would happen. Some pics along the way....

I continued by putting on a third prong (upper right), attaching the bass clef to the copper base, then made and attached the bail (the part the chain will go through)...

Setting the coral and larimar stones were the last steps before the finishing...and boy did the finishing take F O R E V E R!
Here is the final product with a brushed finish on both the copper and silver:

This project was full of downs (burnt bezels and bass clefs, prongs getting detached during solder of multiple steps, and even breaking off the tip of the bass clef when attaching it to the copper base) but it was also full of ups (getting more experience at prong settings, applying tricks of the trade, having success bending copper over the stone). It was not an easy construction! But in the end I am completely delighted to have finished it, and to have been able to do such a crazy complicated project without going completely insane.

You may be wondering, what ever happened to that other half of the coral...well you will find out in due time!

Tiger Eye for Sarah

Sarah contacted me through ETSY with an alchemy request. She wondered if I could make her a pendant using tiger eye, which has sentimental value to her as it reminds her of her late father. I was all about it! She liked the design of this pendant I made, so I sketched out a few designs changing it up quite a bit. She was still drawn to the flowy whimsical design of the opal pendant the most. Sarah was confident in my artistic discretion, so she gave me a lot of flexibility.

Remember that vacation I took? Well, I brought my coping saw and supplies with me so I could start prepping for this construction. While away I was able to cut, file, and shape the bezel, as well as cut out the silver sheet.

Because this Tiger Eye cab is quite a bit larger than the opal and since I didn't want to use the exact design again, I surprised her with a few embellishments and twists on the original design. I also wanted to set the stone so that it's 'stripes' were horizontal, it just looked better to me. In the end I think the adjusted design fit the size of this stone well, and the embellishments produced a feminine feel.
Here is the final product...

What do you think? Does it meet your idea of flowy and whimsical?

One down

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend, mine went a little something like this...

I mentioned some custom work I was doing....one down, two to go!