Sunday, July 12, 2009

Lapis Pendant

This is one of the pendants I finished, with Lexi's help, on Thursday evening of last week. My homework for this lesson was to design two pendants, do all the preliminary work necessary to set a bezel in class that evening. This is the first of my two designs. The three leaf outlines on the bottom right are variations from the crystal pattern I mentioned in my last post.

The beautiful blue lapis stone is one of the ones I purchased during my weekend workshop in Fairplay last month. I liked the shape of this stone and wanted to have it offset with a small design element, the leaves.

Another part of this assignment was to create a textured surface and then I would learn how to set a bezel on that. Our back patio provided the texture for this one.

Here is the original design template that evolved after a number of drawings.

And this shows how the sterling blank looked prior to setting the stone in a bezel. I also wanted the bail to fold over and carry that leaf look.

The setting and bezel are Sterling Silver. Once I had the bezel soldered in place, I set the stone. After that, I curved the bail around and down toward the top of the pendant. I wanted that delicate leaf for the bail and carrying that theme through the piece.

Lexi showed me so many neat little ways to demonstrate craftsmanship. She is an amazing teacher!

I have another pendant to post, that was part of this assignment. Stay tuned for tomorrow's episode. :D

9 comments:

SCJ Jewelry Design said...

Kathleen, this is fabulous!! Congrats!

Holly said...

I loved working in sterling silver and I think I showed promise, but it was expensive for me and I didn't continue with the classes. This is lovely and was good for me to see and remember...especially the shot of the silver prior to being polished off! Very nice, K!

Sophie said...

Beautiful! I love that blue stone

MartaCoimbra said...

Wonderful Your work!!!!!!

Kathleen Krucoff said...

Thank you all! I appreciate your kind compliments. :)

Elizabeth Seaver said...

Kathleen, these are lovely! I'm enjoying your pleasure in this new direction. Keep it up!

Kathleen Krucoff said...

Thanks Elizabeth! It's turning into a real passion.

Hi CathyAnn! Thanks for your thoughts on my process and I'm glad you like my new avatar! :) I do too. Kinda fun.

Shay Stone said...

Kathleen I'm so excited for you! You are doing some wonderful new work:)

Kathleen Krucoff said...

Wow, thanks Shay, I really appreciate your feedback... A LOT!!!