Ginkgo choker and earring

I cast the components to this many, many...many years ago. As is so often the case, necessity forced me to finish it when I needed a piece to wear to a semi formal wedding. Sadly, after the event, I lost one of the earrings somewhere between here and Seattle.

I made the leaves out of modeler's wax, each one is individually carved. I folded back the stem of each leaf to form bails. After casting the leaves in sterling, I attached jump rings to the bails to link the leaves together.

I used 22 gage wire on the earrings for the ear wire (special thanks to my advanced students for their help in the design of the ear wire.

I then raised the fine silver (depletion gilded) and used a plannishing brush to create a satin finish.

Pewter Casting

I went to a one day pewter casting workshop over the weekend.  It was a fun day out with my friend Pam.  We drove to Mineral Point, Wisconsin (which is a great little destination that deserves a posting all of its own).  The workshop was put on by Shake Rag Alley (again deserves a post of its own) and instructed by Eric Donaldson.  After a slow start (waiting for the plaster molds to cure) we finally did some casting in the afternoon.  Here are the two things I made, a little tulip charm and a salt spoon.  Any of you who know my wax carving will notice these are rather crude for my work.  But, I had fun and learned the basic process which was the idea.  I will definitely be doing more experimentation with this process.

Ring-a-ding-ding

I love the Gieko ring tone; ring-a-ding-ding. This week I worked on an article that I am writing about lost wax casting. I carved two ring blanks and took lots of pictures along the way. I also pitched the article to a magazine. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will accept it. I am suppose to find out by the middle of April.