Thursday, December 1, 2011

A Silver Crescent Moon

This is one of my silver pendants, and maybe one of the first 
pieces I'd created after learning how to do the silver clay in 
 2009.   The moon surface texture was carved in plaster during the course of a couple hours.  Once completed, I made a silicone rubber mold of it, so the silver could be impressed into it.   The face was made from a mold I'd already carved before in a little block of plaster, then blended with the silver crescent moon I'd domed and carved out.   It was harder than I make it sound!   Waiting for the kiln to peak at the temperature that sinters the silver particles into a solid was only an hour, but felt like an eternity.  I opened the volcanic interior and removed the orange, glowing silver piece and plunged it into cold water.   "CHEEEEEWWW!", it steamed, and scared the cat.   Very dramatic, and very rewarding.   After the scrubbing, patination, and polishing, I had the most exciting piece of jewelry I'd ever seen!  I wonder what it would look like with a dangling star sapphire in place of the silver star?

4 comments:

  1. As with almost all of my photos, my darling husband, Jim, was the photographer! This piece was on my neck, which is not for sale (the neck, I mean). And as with many of the works posted in this blog, this pendant IS for sale. You can contact me with questions about any of these sculptures or jewelry pieces at elsbeth@sequimbay.net. Thanks for reading my posts, and it's always good to hear input from others! Those who are reading this in Russia, Germany or Venezuela, I'd love to hear from you! That kind reader in Latvia, also.

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  2. This is a really nice piece of jewelry- great design and execution.

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  3. Or a dangling pearl? That serene moon has experienced so much, as evidenced by all the impact craters, and yet it appears content.

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  4. A beautiful perspective, both of you. Thank you. Yes, maybe a pearl... a satellite for Earth's satellite. This also seems a little like an Eclipse. I wonder what the Lunar Eclipse on December 10th will look like!

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