Silhouettes in Metal

A good friend's birthday is today, and I really wanted to make her something special!  She is one of the kindest and most generous people I know - and she loves Disney's Lilo and Stitch, and Ohana, so I came up with these:

Sterling silver pendant and copper keychain featuring Disney's Stitch and duckling.

My original plan was a pendant in a different configuration, but this one looked the best as a silhouette, and it's when Stitch realizes that Lilo is his family.  He runs away and reads "The Ugly Duckling".....

....which is why there is as duckling with him in the heart!  I practiced first in copper, and loved the way it turned out.  Instead of tossing it into the scrap box, I turned it into a key chain!  I really like the hammered detail on the edge.  It helps work harden the metal, but also just looks fancy, don't you think?

Practice copper piece turned into a keychain!

Next I cut out the sterling silver pendant.  I wanted it to look a little more tropical (the movie is set in Hawaii), so I added a couple glass flower dangles and kept the hammered edge.  I really hope she loves it - she'll get it later tonight.....

Sterling silver pendant with glass heart accents.

I have to say, after cutting huge sheets of copper by hand, making these cutouts was a breeze!  I had to take my time to get the "perfect" silhouette, but I now wonder why I ever thought sawing was difficult!  These were a lot of fun to design and make - but I won't be making more.  One, this was a special gift and two, it's copyright infringement to sell items with characters that belong to someone else....I would, however, happily make pendants of non-copyright character silhouettes or portraits!

Happy Creating,
PZ

Remaking a Design

Today I'm showing some designs I restrung for my sister.  What I should have done was take before and after photos, but I didn't....

The first one features a dragon pendant, and another little dragon charm at the end of the chain!  It was on waxed cotton cord with a few red and green wooden beads.  My sister wanted something more sophisticated to wear, but still fun!  I chose to string it with gemstone nuggets, crystals, and seed bead spacers.

Dragon Pendant - redesigned and restrung with gemstones and crystals.

The next piece is a multi-strand necklace.  Originally it was all teal and green, about 10-12 strands of seed beads and chunky glass beads strung randomly and all twisted together.  There wasn't really anything wrong with the design, but some of the beads were loosing color (cheaply painted beads) and it was too bulky for my sister's taste. 

Multi-strand Necklace - redesigned and restrung with a removable pendant.

So I remade it with only 5 strands, and a couple of those are very light.  I reused the salvageable seed beads and some of the smaller glass beads, and added bugle beads and gold beads.  My sister also had a pin she wanted me to do something with, and I thought it would work perfectly with the necklace as a removable pendant! 

She loves both designs, so my work here is done!  Until she give me more jewelry to remake - or until I redo some of my old designs!  Don't be afraid to remake a piece - practice brings you closer to perfection!


Happy Creating,
PZ

Wire Wrapped Bezel Setting - Tiffany Stone

I'm on a roll!

Tiffany Stone Pendant - set in sterling silver wire.

Here is another pendant featuring Tiffany Stone from Utah!  Tiffany Stone is also called Bertrandite or beryllium opal fluorite and it is very rare.  It's only mined in Utah, and most of it is crushed for the beryllium it contains.

Tiffany Stone Pendant - I love the range of purples in this rare stone!

I picked up a couple pieces from a local rock hound.  He had a slab of Tiffany Stone and made several cabochons for me - I'm amazed at the great variety of colors and patterns in this stone!  His slab had shades of purple from pale lavender all the way to deep mauve; some stones have deep blueish purples too!

Available in my Etsy Shop - or you can request a custom piece!

Happy Creating,
PZ