After four weeks of class and my initial ring test, of course I have a zillion ideas for projects combining Argentium with fine silver clay. At the end of the the earring course, I started work on making an adaptation of my Meadowlark earrings in Argentium.
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©2012 Vickie Hallmark
Goldberry earrings
Argentium sterling silver, fine silver, 18K gold, peridots
fused, no solder |
I shaped wired into the inverted shield shape I favor and laid it out on sheet with some jump rings at the top and bottom for ear wires and dangles. Then I shaped some simple branches in the same wire and fused it all down. After hammering the perimeter wire all around, I added two small birds, tiny leaves and 18K gold berries, along with silver granules to reinforce the jump rings. After those were fused down, I cut the shapes out and cleaned up the edges.
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©2010 Vickie Hallmark
Meadowlark earrings
fine silver with Argentium wires
metal clay |
This weekend at home, I finally have my jeweler's bench whipped into shape, with the addition of the same torch I use at school. So I broke it in by quickly fusing down two fine silver bezel cups along with jump rings, silver granules and gold dots at the bottom. Once I drilled out all the holes and added the wire work, I set two nice peridots from my cabochon collection. The flavor of the original earrings is still there, but the gold and stones definitely up level the new version, compared to the old.
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