Tuesday, November 11, 2008
I've been working on a necklace for the past 2 weeks. It's made of varying sizes of large intertwined hoops made of handforged and oxidized copper and has been driving me crazy!
I had hoped to have it ready to show you by now, but it's been a slow process. I keep modifying it but I also keep getting interrupted. Plus I was away from home all last week and couldn't work on it.
Monday, I had a chance to do a little catch up. I had jewelry orders I had to fill - but I also had to feed my creative hunger.
As I was going through my stores of sterling, thinking about what I need to order for future projects (since the price of silver has plumetted), I suddenly had an urge to make some hoop earrings.I've been meaning to make some hoops for a while but just haven't gotten round to it. What I've had in mind was to use larger gauge wire for the hoops. I'd have to solder posts so that they're easy for everyone to wear.
I started out by making some really simple post hoops. But they just didn't look right - too simple, I guess.
I kept staring at them and staring at them.
What if I swirled the ends a bit? (Hmm. A bit tricky with this thick silver. It's so hard to bend.)And then, what if I filed them down on one end so that the swirl is more graceful? Also , if I annealed the metal it would be softer and easier to bend.
All these thoughts were jumbling around in my head as I stared at the cirles of wire in my hand. And all of a sudden, in an incredibly short period of time, the design for these earring came about. (Isn't the creative process amazing!)Simple, but with a little added detail to make them special. (You can see the photos here.)
Now here's a few more details for my fellow jewelry designers who read this blog:
The hoops were made with 14 gauge sterling which I shaped and hammered. As you can see, I filed the ends to a point, then sanded them. Using a torch, I annealed the metal to soften it and, in the process, it was fire polished. Using round nose pliers, I made a loop on the end, then I soldered on a post. The earrings were pickled and tumbled, then I used a buffer and rough to bring out a high shine.
All in the course of a Monday's evening!
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Either way, I'm hoping to post about it tomorrow