Gold & Red Pendant Commission
As previously mentioned, one of my friends gave me a commission for a gold & red pendant, a gift for her sister-in-law in celebration of the birth of her nephew. Here are some photos (not great ones I'm afraid) of the end result. The pendant is 28mm long, 20mm wide and about 5mm thick, and threaded on a gold-plated chain with red Swarovski crystals on either side of the catch. The first one is a better picture, but the one below has a better colour value. My friend was very happy with the commission and hopefully her sister-in-law will like it also.
I formed the pendant from PMC silver, then kiln-fired it down to fine silver with the dichroic glass cabochon inset. The cabochon was a deep dark transparent red, with a streak of rainbow-coloured opalescence across the middle, that shifted colours and brightness in the light. Putting the pendant and glass in whilst the kiln was ramping up (as well as letting it cool overnight to anneal the glass) resulted in a much more regular shape I was happy to observe, as in the past I've found glass cabochons to be unpredictable in how they respond to being fired.
I then painted on Accent Gold for Silver in several layers and refired it. I didn't plate the whole pendant as I felt it needed a variation in colouring as well as texture, otherwise it would 'bland out' when looked at. I burnished the gold and wow! was it shiny! And a lovely rich yellow colour. I decided it needed a little more lift and variation, so I used liver of sulphur (which smells disgusting) on the silver left bare, giving it an 'antiqued' look. This worked out well I thought, adding a bit more dimension to the design.
I formed the pendant from PMC silver, then kiln-fired it down to fine silver with the dichroic glass cabochon inset. The cabochon was a deep dark transparent red, with a streak of rainbow-coloured opalescence across the middle, that shifted colours and brightness in the light. Putting the pendant and glass in whilst the kiln was ramping up (as well as letting it cool overnight to anneal the glass) resulted in a much more regular shape I was happy to observe, as in the past I've found glass cabochons to be unpredictable in how they respond to being fired.
I then painted on Accent Gold for Silver in several layers and refired it. I didn't plate the whole pendant as I felt it needed a variation in colouring as well as texture, otherwise it would 'bland out' when looked at. I burnished the gold and wow! was it shiny! And a lovely rich yellow colour. I decided it needed a little more lift and variation, so I used liver of sulphur (which smells disgusting) on the silver left bare, giving it an 'antiqued' look. This worked out well I thought, adding a bit more dimension to the design.