Sunday, August 30, 2009

Cherry Blossom Earrings with Pink Tourmalines

Here's another variation of my cherry blossom earrings. These have pink tourmaline briolette drops!
These are a gift for a friend. I'm planning on doing another casting soon-- so I can make a pair for myself:)
My aunt in Japan recently saw the Renee Lalique exhibit in Tokyo and she was kind enough to send me the exhibit catalog! I will be posting some of my new ideas soon!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Almost Finished!

Just about finished with the earrings! All the little granules are fused into place. Here's a picture of the backs. you can see how I repoussed the backs to give the leaves more detail.

Now all that is left is to shape the ear wires! Only have to take a few more pictures and then these will be posted on Etsy for sale!

Sunday, August 9, 2009

In the Works--Repousse Leaves

Above is a pair of repousse leaf earrings. I made a pair of these last summer and I love them! They're total show stoppers and I can't part with them so I would like to make another pair to sell!


As with most of my pieces, it starts with a drawing. Then sheet metal and wire are formed and eventually I have the basic features done. All the work here is done by fusing-- no solder. That means you have to be careful-- you want the metal to melt enough that it will fuse with the surfaces, but not melt!
Then I have to make many little granulation pieces! These are slightly bigger than grains of sand!

I almost finished them today-- but fusing granulation can be finicky! right when you think everything is fused on-- a little piece pops off! Hopefully these will be done next weekend!