Day 148: 5/29/11- Make Modern Molten Metal Medallion! (a.k.a- Make a really great necklace)

Day 148: 5/29/11
New Thing: Make Modern Molten Metal Medallion! (a.k.a- Make a really great necklace)
Inspiration: Emily (support your local artiest here)
Cost: $0 (Thank you, Em!)
Time: About two hours                
Bottom Line: This was so awesome! (And not just because I got to play with fire;)

Homemade Bling!

Reflection: Today's new thing was making an amber/cross necklace with my friend Emily K. Before I describe the process and the final product, I would like to take a minuet to describe Emily and what made today such a perfect example of what makes this experiment great. Emily is the older sister of one of my favorite people Sarah B. (side note- 3 of my favorite people are named "Sarah." I will have to think about that as a name for my next child--that we are not planning, but just in case.) In college, Sarah and I would walk down to Emily's house and she would take pity on us by feeding us some of the best food that I have ever had. We bonded right away, since the key to my heart is free food. I am like a stray cat outside your back door who always comes back is you leave out a saucer of milk--whether you want me to or not. Not very dignified, I know, but it is not my fault that free food taste that much better. Anyway, Emily was not just generous with her food, she was also incredibly talented in preparing it. I was soon to learn that culinary feats in the kitchen were just a few of her many creative arts.

Among her natural abilities is an aptitude for metal work. She makes really cool jewelery out of found objects and different types of metal.  In her own words: 

I use mainly sterling silver and copper. The majority of the jewelry I make are one-of-a-kind items. I like to question what is considered to be "precious." I'm always on the lookout for found items that can be used in my jewelry (broken plate pieces found while digging a garden, stones found on the beach, a baby bird's discarded shell). I love making custom pieces out of other peoples' precious items that they've found at home and in their travels.

That kind of spirit is exactly what this blog is all about--question every day moments that others might not define as "precious" but instead seeing the holiness in them. She embodied this attitude though the whole jewelry making process--teaching me about the craft, having me try things that I would normally would not have though I could do, and helping create something precious to me out of an ordinary afternoon.  Also, who doesn't love someone who has a blow torch in their living room and lets you play with it?!

Here was the process (I have forgotten a lot of the technical names--sorry about that!)

Shaping the silver to fit around the amber. 

Sawing sliver to make the backing and base. 

Heating up the metal with a blowtorch!

Welding the base and the bracket together before placing the amber stone. 

After the welding (which was my favorite part) we placed the amber stone into the setting, filed it down and then fitted it with a hook. The final step was putting it on a chain with the pieces that were precious to me that I brought as "found objects." They were five little crosses from different parts of my life--two were baptismal gifts, one was a confirmation gift, one made with Irish green marble which was one I bought during a trip to Ireland and never left my neck for about two years, and the final one has a piece of petrified dyed Irish heather in the center which I also wore for three year. Thank you Emily, for helping me to make something truly precious to me which I will always treasure and for embodying the spirit of creativity and generosity. It was a blast!