Custom Made Jewellery - Second Part

As I said in the first part of custom made jewellery I made a silver pendant for someone's mum's birthday, I made two pendants so she could choose between them. Making these pendants was so much fun but also it was tense, because I wanted these to look as beautiful as I could. I made a little lilly type of pendant with an amethyst dangling in the middle of the pendant. The second was a simple square pendant with a little swirl design in the middle for decoration, it also has a small amethyst drop gemstone.

Lilly style necklace

 When I went to make these I made sure the mat and my tools where clean. When making the lilly shaped pendant I used a drinking straw to make the tubular part of the lilly so I could put a head pin through it so I could then put the amethyst in the middle. When making the tubular part I made sure that the straw had badger balm on it so the clay didn't stick to the straw, (which if you don't do it could stick and the silver could crack when removing it) I added some slip to the clay that I was going to join together, I then pinched the silver clay around the straw then fanned out the bottom of the lilly, then shaped it so that it came in to a soft point. After the silver clay dried I then carefully sanded the clay so that the shape was smoother and also to stop it from catching on cloths or scratching the skin. The little rectangle shaped pendant is the most simple design when working with silver clay,

Rectangle pendant

 I cut the metal into a small rectangle shape, then waited for it to dry. After it had dried I applied some slip, which is just silver clay in a single cream consistency, I then used the silver clay syringe to add the fine swirl detail (I also did this with the lilly).  The slip is just so the syringe clay can stick to the silver clay without the slip your more likely to make a mistake and the metal may move around and smudge. After filing, sanding, adding syringe detail then waiting for it to dry I then got it kiln fired. The best part of making silver jewellery is when it comes out of the kiln!. The metal is an off white colour when removed from the kiln, when removed I put it into the a jug of cold water, to cool it obviously. (I will say that I did not put the amethysts in the kiln they where put on to the silver later). The silver cools instantly after being in the cold water, I then dried the silver with a soft cloth. The best bit! using a brass brush I then began brushing off the white layer to reveal the beautiful silver. Even better part! I then used a burnisher to shine up the silver, I just love seeing the shine of the silver after it has been burnished. After all that fun I added the amethysts and put them on a silver snake chain. I'm hoping that the person really likes them, because I have just loved making them.

Keep it spooky children of the night!!.