Saturday, September 17, 2011

New Glass & Silver Pendant Finally Finished

Why do simple ideas sometimes get more involved? I thought I was going to whip out a few simple Garden Window Pendants, but then the muse took over. The simple oval I've used so many times looked flat and boring, so I cut a new shape. Then I had to carve out the corners to make that triangular shape more reminiscent of birdhouses. I decided to fix the flatness issue by adding a couple of bezel set sapphires and a bunch of vine decorations.

Vickie Hallmark hand-painted enamel bird on glass fine silver pendant

Then the back looked neglected, so I added more leaves and berries there as well. After firing, I tried a plain heavy jumpring bail, intending to texture it with pliers, but that just didn't seem substantial enough. So I cut out a selection of bails. Only to have them be too small after firing. Remember that shrinkage thing, Vic? So I finally got smarter and cut a bail from an index card to match to my original index card template for the pendant. Fool me only once! That simple bail called out for some decorations of its own.

Vickie Hallmark hand-painted enamel bird on glass fine silver pendant back

You can see the next issue coming, can't you? The simple ball chain just won't do. Now I have these visions of a necklace to suit the pendant.

When, oh when, will I get to those other glass paintings?