Sculpting with Fire
Posted by Leah on Jul 3, 2008
One of my favorite techniques, which I hadn’t played with in a while, is using a torch to sculpt fine silver into interesting, organic sculptures. I used the torch a little bit making my Random Knot earrings recently, and it gave me the idea to make some fire-sculpted earrings.
The result is this pair. The earwires are argentium silver, and the dangles are fine silver. I started with wire, loosely sculpted it by hand, then used the torch to melt and drip the metal. I love this effect - it is unpredictable, so it’s always kind of a rush to try making something, knowing that if I keep the torch on it for a second too long I could end up with a silver puddle instead of an interesting sculpted piece.
New Earrings - two perspectives
Posted by Leah on Jun 23, 2008
I’m having fun with photography lately. I made some new earrings, and I think at this point I’ve spent more time photographing them than I did making them! That’s probably because I’m better at making jewelry than I am at photography, but still - I’ve taken a lot of shots of these, with various props, different angles and lighting, etc. These two are my favorites.
I’m calling the earrings “Random Knots” because the fine silver dangles were made by knotting wire in a very freeform way. They dangle from argentium silver circles that I fused and hammered. The circles and the earwires feel very precise and structured to me, while the knots are much more random. I like the contrast between those two elements - I think I’ll be playing with that contrast some more in my metalwork.
New earrings on etsy
Posted by Leah on Jun 5, 2008
I just listed these two pairs of earrings in my etsy shop. They are made from some sterling silver findings I had in my stash, handmade fine silver head pins, and Swarovski crystal beads. I think they are fun, pretty colors, and they are very lightweight and comfortable to wear.
