I've set myself something of a goal so that I can carry on making and have something vaguely coherent at the end of it - inspired by the work of Patricia McCleery and Allison Bellows I'm going to make pendants and rings/beads that can either be worn alone or threaded onto a sturdy necklace and orn together as a statement piece.
This week I've made a pendant using a piece of rough quartz that I've had for about 20 years and I want to prong set it on a large piece of silver. Early in the week I sorted out the shape and texture on a piece of silver and then hit a wall, I wasn't inspired to carry on. Yesterday I had an idea and used the end of a wooden curtain rail and a big wooden spoon as dapping tools to give it a bit of movement.
Once I was finished I still wasn't happy but it was approaching something that I liked the look of, but I went to bed thinking that the dangling quartz was a bit twee. Plus I know there's going to be some firestain creeping through because getting the prongs attached took longer than I wanted.
I played around with liver of sulphur last night but didn't like how that looked so got rid of that and slept on it (not literally obviously!)
This morning I swapped the quartz for a piece of kyanite I've had for ages (it doesn't quite fit the bezel but hey ho, that's what glue is for), and added a faux patina using alcohol inks. Much happier with this now. I know it's not to everyone's taste but it's exactly my cup of tea at the moment.
Thanks for looking.
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