Friday, May 8, 2009

Jewelry Fabrication -- Mixed Metal Necklace

This necklace was completely fabricated by me.  I started with copper wire and aluminum, copper, and brass sheet metal.  It isn't my design, however, I got it  from "Jewelry Artist" magazine, the August 2008 edition.  "Jewelry Artist" is a great magazine for learning how to fabricate jewelry, every edition has projects for beginners, and advanced jewelry makers.
There was ample opportunity to practice with the jeweler's saw while making this necklace.  I drilled a hole in the center of each flower, and threaded the coiled and hammered wire 'tendrils' through.  I also handmade the copper clasp.
The individual flowers were also textured, using various hammers and surfaces to impress a relief into the metal surface.  And I also patinated the metal, using a variety of techniques.  
It turned out pretty well for a first effort with sawing metal and fabrication.  The patinas on the copper flowers turned them a lovely shade of blue.  To protect the patina, I used a light coating of carnuba wax.

3 comments:

Teddy Started It said...

That's really cool -- to have made the whole thing on your own. It's beautiful. You should be very proud.

Amanda Ergenbright said...

That really is beautiful!

DalkullanJewelry said...

Teddy and Amanda, thank you so much! I am pretty pleased with it, it's the first thing I fabricated from just pieces of metal, and I'm amazed at how it turned out. It was a lot of fun to do, too!