Sunday, February 3, 2008

YOJ Week 5: Mardi Gras

I"m soooo jazzed by this piece!! I"m taking a metal smithing class, and this is the first piece of jewelry I've made by using sheet metal. I wanted to make this a broach actually, but didn't have time in class to solder a pin back.. I made 2 masks so the other one will be a pin at some point, but to get this done on time I turned this one into a necklace and earring set. I"m very pleased how it's turned out!! I started out with copper sheet in 24 ga, I used tin snips to cut out the mask shape and a jeweler's saw to cut out the eye holes. I used a metal hole punch to make the holes. I hammered and shaped the metal into the mask shape, cleaned it up and tumbled it. (it's not as polished as I hope to do in the future, but overall for my first metal piece I"m estatic! )



I Used a variety of pearls, crystals, and seed beads to create the necklace and fringe. Best of all except for the nose being 2 roundish, it's looks exactly like I imaged it in my head!! I used a purchased s clasp, but made the spiral for the loop.





Matching earrings which hopefully capture the flavor of the necklace.

2 comments:

The bad Liz said...

What a great piece for a first attempt. I like the little round nose, kinda looks like mine.

Kat - you should be really happy with this. The progression over the year has been stunning with your work!

You have indeed been an inspiration for me - I have actually gotten out wire a couple of times in the last months! Thanks for pushing me beyond my comfort zone.....Liz

Elizabeth said...

I love the colors you used on this piece,and how you spiraled the wire around the beads in the earrings. This looks like it was very fun to make!