Monday, May 20, 2013

Handmade Sterling Silver Wire Wrapped Ponderosa Pine Pendants


I enjoy nature and wanted to make a series of pendants featuring some mighty pine trees.  As Neil Young once referenced in a song, these in a way, are a "monument to nature."  I roller milled to add texture to the back pieces of these pendants.  I used oak leaves and used a stamp to add some of the curved detail.  I did some free hand engraving to add the frame line around the larger pendant.  I engraved and added various detail to the pines.  I sawed the pines out and sweat soldered those to the pendants.  I drilled holes around the pendants and that would give me places to thread my wire through and anchor my wire wrapped segments around.  I have added ball chain to the piece in the middle.  You can use beads like I did with the cross pendant, but the small ball chain is so delicate and adds one more visual layer of texture.  Always interesting to figure out a way to wrap and finish your wire at the top and I did anchor some of that down with some more wire wrapped around the back.  I used a natural patina process of hard boiled eggs smashed in a covered container and my pieces sat right on top of the eggs.  The sulfur then works it's magic.  One thing I find with the egg vs. liver of sulfur is that the most beautiful peacock colors sometimes come up.  This will happen with copper as well with this process.  It's almost so pretty, I didn't want to remove it!  I left most of the various color patina on the pendant to the right.  It was my intention to have these pieces look like they are very old.  These are all sterling silver and are stamped on the back.  Thanks for looking!

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About Me

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I enjoy silversmithing, making jewelry, beads and working with paracord. I sculpt in polymer clay and desert themes are my favorite. I'm always looking for ways to incorporate the beauty of nature into my work. My work has been published in a large book called "1000 Beads," Lark Jewelry and Beading, 2014. I have sold beads through the Glendale Bead Museum Shop, a gallery in Tucson and www.wearartbyjulie.etsy.com. I'm an artist currently showing my jewelry at the Shemer Art Center in Phoenix, AZ.