Saturday, April 12, 2014




The diamond sandwich


This pendant represents the growth of myself as a jewelry artist.  It is the culmination of 14 years of study, practice and style development.  It is the first work of jewelry I have ever spent over 100 hours on; 110.  Sterling silver comprises most of this piece along with accents of 14k, 18k, and 24k gold.  Gemcutter David Brackna is one who has created this beautiful center stone. Brackna calls this his turkish star cut and he is currently the only one executing it in the world. Light green in color this gem is given the name "merlani" mint green garnet. Through a Japanese process called keum-boo 24k gold has been fused to the sterling silver setting that houses the garnet. Accenting this center stone are 21faceted Maine tourmalines of 3 mm in size.  There are 12 on the front face, 6 on the back face, and 3 on the bale. All three on the bale have been tube set in 18k gold.   Dark lines seen around the edge as well as within are the result of hand engraving and chemical coloring.







 




Pictured above is the reverse side of the pendant. My intention was for the backside to be just as wearable as the front.  6 green Maine tourmaline 3mm in size surround the opening in the center.  A complete ring of file carving has been executed on the rim.  Triangle tubing has been cut to create the petals for the flower like patterns on the bale. Each portion of the bale has 9 triangles on it sticking with multiples of 3.














With this view the 11 diamonds totaling over one carat can be seen. Each one has been tube set and soldered the third layer of the pendant.  The bale assembly has also been attached to this layer via soldering. More file carving has been employed on the edges of the bale and on all edges of the "flowers"  













About a third of the work in this piece lies in the bale assembly.  Here the top flower is shown in detail.  This flower has 14 components to it including the stone. Altogether in the bale there are 41 pieces. In total this pendant is made up of 135 pieces including 33 stones. Both multiples of three!














One more shot of the bale shows where the chain goes.  This pendant was custom made for a client.  (So it is not available.)  Complete artistic freedom was granted after the stones had been selected.  I am very grateful to have been able to spend such an amount of time on a piece and work with such great materials. Thank you Dave and David!
#9

  
This pendant is the first I have ever done focusing on a nine point geometry.  While there are 6  points to the outer design, the engraving and stone layout is divided into nine sections.  These sections have then been bisected creating the 18 equal "slices." The center stone is a Petrified Amazon fernwood cabochon.  It has a very high dome to it.  The accent stones are all tourmalines from the Himilaya mine in California.  































Shown above is the backside of the pendant. There are 19 more tourmaline flush set on this side.  The tubing use for the rivets is 14k gold. Round stock tubing has been hand drawn down to this rounded triangle shape to accent the center behind the fernwood.  This pendant is meant to be worn with either side forward.



























 6 tourmalines have been tube set on the back layer using 18k gold tubing.  They are only visible from the front. 2 different sizes of gold tubing have been used in the assembly.  Gold spacers have been used as well in between the layers.  All of the dark line work in the piece is hand engraved and then darkened with a sulfur patina.



 


 



 The bale on this pendant is attached to it own separate center layer of silver.  It is hand forged from sheet silver and hand engraved.  The bale will accommodate up to a 5mm chain. Deep inside design work can be seen around the fernwood.  This has all been carved into the setting with needle files and then refined with sand paper.  This pendant is one of the first pieces I made in 2014 and it is up for sale.  I am asking $5200. This price reflects roughly 70 working hours and materials.  Please feel free to contact me for further details or purchasing arrangements.   Thank you for your interest in my art and taking the time to read my blog.  Please subscribe if you would like to get notifications directly through your email.