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My wonderful sister in law celebrated a big birthday in May - and in the time leading up to that event, I decided I wanted to make her a really special gift. The thing was...I couldn't write about it in advance (it would have spoiled the surprise)...and then I had so much to write about my two most recent classes in fabrication and argentium, it's taken until now to fit it into the schedule.
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May's traditional birthstone is an emerald, and as special as she is, a precious stone was beyond both my financial limits and jewelry making skills. So, I opted for chrysoprase, a gemstone variety of chalcedony with a beautiful apple green color, which is an alternate birthstone for May.
I had already decided I wanted to create a pendant, and put a book cut out on the reverse, because she is a middle school librarian. I searched the internet for book icons that I could use for the design, and practiced by cutting them out of construction paper, to make sure the end result would make me happy.
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Learning to create a bezel for a stone with corners in my Fabrication 201 class turned out to be really helpful in making a heart shape. Even though I had not yet taken Ronda Coryell's classes, I had begun working with argentium silver - and used it for this piece. I fused down the bezel and twisted wire before sawing the design out of the backplate.
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The result was a beautiful pendant that I am pleased to report came as a complete surprise to my sister in law - and she loved it! She even found the perfect outfit to go with it!
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For me, being able to create something special and personal has turned out to be one of the most satisfying aspects of my metalsmithing adventure.
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I've got some more special projects on the bench - and I look forward to sharing more stories with you.
Until next time.
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