How Did I Make These?

I am sometimes asked about what goes into making a bespoke piece of jewellery, one that is crafted from first principles rather than being a caste reproduction of a wax carving or of an earlier piece. It is certainly time consuming and truly is a construction effort. To demonstrate this, I have outlined below the basic steps that I followed in producing the Athena Earrings:

 ·   milled 1mm silver plate to a suitable thickness for the desired design and weight of the earrings

·   milled the resulting silver plate with lace to produce the background pattern on it

·   used a hand saw to cut out the basic shape

·   used a small file to neaten up the edges and for finer shaping

·   pulled silver wire through a draw plate to get it to the desired thickness

·   pulled gold wire through a draw plate to get it to the desired thickness

·   milled a piece of gold to the desired thickness for the stone’s bezel

·   shaped the bezel to fit the stone

·   soldered the bezel and gold wire onto the front and the silver wire onto the back of the earrings

·   cleaned up the bezel and made sure it was the appropriate height for the stone (needs to secure the stone but not hide it)

·   set the stone in the bezel

·   shaped and beat silver wire for the dangly details

·   twisted silver wire and shaped the hook

·   first rough clean-up with sanding paper

·   buffed the earrings with mop and tripoli on a modified bench grinder

·   polished the earrings with mop and rouge on a modified bench grinder.

In other words, many many hours of work!