dance
i love the sound and sight of flowers and trees gently dancing in the breeze—my dance collection celebrates this by focusing on a single dancing leaf or petal.
the leaves and petals begin as flat copper or fine silver—i use very thin
metal for earrings to keep them light while pendants get a heavier metal. i
cut, texture, shape, and finish the metal to create the underlying piece,
slowly turning the flat metal into a leaf or petal.
once i’ve made my leaf or petal, i fuse a couple of layers of enamel onto the front—one or two layers for earrings and two to four layers for pendants, and do the same on the back. i finish the piece by sanding and polishing the edges, and adding findings.
my pendant hooks and earring wires are all hand-shaped—the hooks are
either copper or sterling silver, and the earring wires are all sterling silver.
some pieces have a shaped and hammered sterling wire dangling in front,
to give even more movement—and a little bit of sound.
my process
hammer: shut
i start by with a flat copper rectangle, the rough size of the earrings i
want to make. after annealing the metal to soften it, i fold it in half and
hammer the edge.
hammer: open
i anneal again, then open the fold and hammer it to create the center
vein. i pickle it in an acid bath to clean the metal.
cut & drill
i trace a leaf from a paper template i’ve made, then i hammer in the
background veins. i file a bit and drill the hole.
anneal, pickle, hammer
i anneal, pickle, and sand the leaves, then I hammer in the larger
veins and file the edges.
shape
i form the leaf with pliers to make it dimensional and clean it so it's ready to take enamel.
front: fuse
i apply a light adhesive and sift the first layer of enamel, then fuse in a kiln at 1450 degrees for a minute or two. then i apply and fuse a second and third layer.
back: fuse
i apply and fuse two layers of enamel on the back.
finish: findings
i finish by grinding and sanding all of the edges and putting the leaf
onto handmade sterling silver earring hooks.
finish: strings
on some pieces, i add a dangling
stem or stamen i made from sterling silver wire.