Step By Step Earring Project

 This is a pair of earrings I spent most of today and some of yesterday making- thought I'd share the step-by-step just so you can see all the steps that go into making an 'artisan' pair of earrings.

I had a general idea yesterday what stones I wanted to use, and generally what I wanted the earrings to look like. I wanted to use the combination of 4 little Australian opals, about 6mm each, with 2 hand-cut Montana agates. I love the combination of those 2 stones. The earthy and  the ethereal. So yesterday I made all the bezels out of serrated fine silver bezel from Rio Grande. For earrings, I don't always like to use thick-walled bezels because it adds weight, and earrings should be kept light. I love the serrated bezels because of the nice edge detail they provide.

I wasn't happy with my first idea, so I sketched out an abstract leaf idea I had- with each opal contained in a leaf, which I thought would turn out really nice, and it also encorporated some leaf design wire I'd been meaning to use for a while... Happy with the sketch, I started creating some paper templates...

I traced out the Montana agate and created a larger-than-needed pattern- I planned to trim the sheet after I had done some granulation. The leaf or teardrop shape took some trial and error to get a size/shape I liked. Then everything was traced onto 22 ga. argentium silver.

I used a Sharpie to trace and then cut out the pieces with my jeweler's saw. I often will use 24 ga. for earrings to cut down on weight, but 22 ga. is visually a nicer weight, especially for pieces that have exposed edges.

Next I used diluted (50/50) flux to attach my pre-made bezels and granulation pattern onto the elements. When designing a piece of jewelry, it's really important to visually think through each step, so the piece comes together as expected. I waited for the flux to dry completely then applied heat until the granules and bezels fused to the sheet below.

Here are the pieces granulated- only took one time and everything stuck! Yay! Next I cut out holes behind each of the opals and also the agates. Transparent stones look best with an open back, so I leave enough lip for the stones to sit on. Plus, it reduces the weight of the earrings by removing as much material as possible. I also trimmed around the bottom elements and filed and sanded the edges.

At this stage I am using solder to attach the leaf design wire to the middle stem, as well as the 2 leaf shapes to each side. Here it is fluxed and ready to heat up. I used spare pieces of silver to lift up the ends of the leaf elements so they'd lay flat when soldered.

I then soldered earwires to the back of each, and used a satin wheel to clean them up a bit. 

I usually prefer my pieces that have any texture to them oxidized. Compare this photo to the one above it- and you can see the pattern better when the piece is blackened, and then the high points buffed off and shined up. It also takes on an antique or aged appearance which I like.

As luck would have it, a couple of balls did fall off from the bottom triangle of granulation while I was doing some buffing/polishing. Dang! I usually use a low-temperature solder (called Tix) to re-attach any wayward granules. I can even use it with stones nearby, because it melts at only 400 some degrees. Nice. Way better than 1600 degrees, which would have destroyed my solder bonds. And the color is a decent match to the silver. AND it's way better than epoxy and more durable too.

And here are the finished pair. The last step was folding over the earwire and hammering the bend slightly to harden it in order to keep it's shape. I also cut and filed the end of the wire. I was happy with them. Might be tempted to keep them for myself, too....

Dopping Stones

 Polishing rocks could be a daunting task if it weren't for the ability to mount the small rock onto a larger handle. This helps enormously to prevent grinding down your fingers as you attempt to turn and sculpt your stone into a masterpiece. Once I noticed my grinding wheel with red on it and quickly realized that my thumb had been ground down and that was MY blood, not the stone's. Ouch. It also provides a more secure hold on that little bugger, preventing the polishing wheel from grabbing the stone out of your hand and flinging it across the room. (Not that that's ever happened to me..... today, anyway) Lastly, it allows you the freedom to turn and sculpt the stone more effectively.

There are many different ways to dop a stone- some use shellac, some use superglue. Some, such as I, use green dopping wax. I got the above dopping station from Kingsley North. They provide me with much of my equipment and tools (http://www.kingsleynorth.com) and their customer service is top notch. This dopping station simply plugs in and the copper pot heats up the wax. In addition, there's room on top to place rocks- more on that in a minute....

The above pic shows my dopping sticks- these are wood dowels that I've cut into approximately 6" lengths to house the wax. Some use metal dops, and there are other materials available, but these are cheap and easy for my purposes. The smallest stones can be dopped on a strong piece of steel wire, but honestly, I don't work that small!

My dop sticks range from about 3/16" to 5/8" in diameter, but really I have a good range of sizes just in case I need them. The important thing to remember is that the diameter needs to support the size of the stone. I like my dops to be about half the diameter of the stone being set.

Before I even dop the stones, I do a lot of work preparing them: first, I grind down the bottom to flat and grind the sides into whatever shape I need/want. I make sure I have enough vertical stone surface on the sides- minimum of 1/8"- and then I make sure the sides all meet up nicely. Next, I use 2 more wheels to grind, refine and polish to a matte sheen the bottom and sides of the stone. I also always put a slight bevel on the bottom of the stone for ease in setting. Now I'm ready to plug in the dopping station!

Above is the dopping station heated up most of the way, with 3 sticks 'soaking' and 3 stones heating up. It's really important to heat the stones up, or the dopping wax will not stick to them. I've heated up all kind of rocks and never had a problem- even opals and turquoise. Soaking the sticks helps to melt the dopping wax that was melted on there before.

I also like to mix up the wax in order to evenly distribute the heat. Plus, it's fun.

Once it's nice and melty, put a thick coating of wax on the stick, with enough so that the wax has the ability to sink down to the bottom of the stick and flow a bit to cover the stone. This will come with experience. Don't wait too long to stick it to the stone, or it will cool too much and not stick. 

Your goal is to keep your fingers wet, but not too wet- so that you can form the hot wax to the base of the stone. I tend to use my tongue juice (aka spit) but you can also dip your fingers into a cup of water. If your fingers are too dry, the wax will stick to your skin and you will say ouch, or words that express that. You don't want your fingers dripping with water, though, so be conservative.

Once cooled a bit, the wax will cease to flow and will keep its shape. Your goal is to match the outline of the stone with wax; in a sense, you are creating a buttressed structure of wax that gradually tapers down from the stone to the wood dowel. This helps to reduce stress on the stone as you push, grind and polish it. You want it to be fully supported or the stone may crack or come off the dop while you are working.

Here are the 3 stones dopped and hanging out, cooling. I cool them upside down, and if in forming the wax, some drips down the sides a bit, it's okay as long as it's not more than about 1/8" down, which is where my bezel wall will meet the curved part of the stone. If it covers up any more of the side of the stone, it will make forming the top of the stone difficult until it is removed. With hot flowing wax, it can be a challenge to control it when all that is between you and a burn is spit. Flow happens!

So now you are ready to rock and roll!

IF, by chance (of course), your rock should go flying off the dop, don't despair. Of course you have your safety goggles on and you are protected! Yesterday I polished 8 rocks and one popped off the dop at the last polishing step. It happens with all that pushing, forcing and grinding. 

What you will be left with is a nice flat surface on your dop that closely matches the outer shape of your stone. Dry off the dop and the stone completely. 

What I've found to be successful is to cover the flat dop surface with 2 layers of red double-sided tape. I simply fold down the areas of tape that run off the edge of the dop surface. This provides a nice cushiony surface, and your stone will very much enjoy sitting on it's new perch. Pushing down and completing your polishing will reinforce the bond. Of course, the use of water when grinding/polishing will serve to weaken the bond eventually, but hopefully you'll be pretty much done before the stone starts slipping around on the tape. It's a pretty decent fix for losing a stone off the dopping wax.

I like the red liner tape because it's got some thickness to it; some sponginess is good and creates a better bond.

Getting the stones off the sticky tape is just a matter of firm pulling up- make sure you don't stress a thin area of stone while you're pulling up on it, or it may crack.

To remove the stones from the wax dops, put them in the freezer for 5 minutes. The wax by then will contract and the stones will pull right off. The freezer won't damage the stones. I once forgot about some dops in the freezer for about 3 months, and the stones came out unscathed!

Viking Knit Chain

To look at a Viking Knit chain is to see something seemingly complicated, but really, it is a series of easy peasy steps. The hardest, unfortunately, is starting. Many give up on Viking Knit because they can't get a good start, but trust me, if you can live with chaos at the start of your creation, it can easily become your favorite TV-watching activity, maybe even more than knitting. This is not a thorough tutorial; rather, it is for the student who has tried it before and failed. I implore you- try it again!! Buy some cheapo wire to start with, then once you get the hang of it, switch to fine silver, 24 or 26 gauge. You'll surprise yourself.

Look at the above Viking Knit chains. You'll probably see some variety. There are lots of variables to making one- many choices to be made:

a) gauge of wire

b) number of loops around mandrel

c) number of rows to weave wire through

You can see in the above pic, the chain running North-South on the left side- that is a knit chain that hasn't yet been pulled through a drawplate. The drawplate has a series of holes, ever increasing diameter, in which the chain is pulled and the diameter reduced, thereby eliminating the horizontal lines visible in the chain. It's easy to make one with a bit of spare wood, drilled with holes 1/8" to 3/8" in diameter. Chamfering the sides of the holes at the entry point will help, too.  When the 'splines' of the chain meet, with no horizontals visible- then you've done it. You can see from the other chains above that you see no horizontal spans of wire- just v-shaped splines. Some are more dense than others- this has to do with the b) and c) variables- the more, the denser. 

I would stick with 24 or 26 ga. of wire. Want to do a quick chain- choose the larger-diameter 24 gauge. Want a finer and possibly denser chain? Choose 26 gauge. Anything thinner will drive you crazy. Any thicker- hard to work with. Number of loops around mandrel? To start, at least 4 but more than 6 is difficult.  4 will look more boxy or square, 5 and 6 more of a rounded chain. Number of rows to weave wire through? Well,  your choices are 1, 2 or 3. If you look at the above pic, the shortest piece of wire- in the center- u-shaped and copper colored- starts from the right side open and lacy- that's 1 row. Then it increases to 2 and finally a short segment of 3. This really is about density. To achieve this, you thread your wire through the crossing of wires not directly above, but the 2nd or 3rd row above, depending on desired density. Try it a few times and you'll start to see increased density in your chain.

This above diagram is one I created when I was teaching Viking Knit. I also have a left-handed diagram- email me at danaevans68@verizon.net if you'd like one! 

There are many options for mandrels- when I learned my teacher created L-shaped mandrels out of steel bar stock. I also tried wood. What I found works best, are knitting needles. I cut them (with my jeweler's saw, but a separating disk or hacksaw may work too) about 6" long, then cut a notch about 1" down from the top. The beauty of knitting needles is they are inexpensive, come in lots of diameters, and are lightweight. The notch just needs to be a gap in the surface- about 1/8" to 1/4" wide- this is necessary in order to weave your wire end through the existing chain- always work over the notch! It will give you room to work. So, as you find, you'll always be turning your work in order to always be threading wire over the notch. A rule of thumb is- pick a diameter mandrel that you want your end chain's diameter to match. The chain will always be larger than the mandrel until it is drawn through the drawplate- then it's diameter is reduced.

There are lots of ways to start a chain- the above wrapping, creating a loop down, wrapping to secure, and repeating until the desired loops are created, has worked for me. You can google other techniques. I also start with a cheap, junk wire before switching to silver, because I usually cut off the front 'messy' end anyway. 

Another difficult thing to do is to splice a new piece of wire into the existing length- I usually use 3' sections of wire, and I sort of twist the 2 ends of wire together, about 1/4" long each, continue to do a few loops, then trim once the new wire section is established. This splicing can occur a number of ways- you may find a way that works better for you.

Finally, trim the ends, use a heavier gauge wire and create a 1/4" long bend or 'hook' at the end of the wire (say, 6" long) and grab the end of the chain a few rows down and thread the other end of the wire through an end cap with a hole on the end. Make sure the end cap covers the hook completely. Make a loop to attach to your lobster clasp or toggle, and repeat on the other side with the appropriate finding.

The lesson is: don't be scared to experiment, fail, and make a mess- eventually you'll get it!! Once you do some, you'll notice that the chain will look messy, but pulling it through the drawplate will 'clean it up' quite a bit. Also, you'll start to notice intricacies in keeping the spacing equidistant between loops and will figure out how to achieve that. You'll also have to keep the force you're using to pull the wire into a loop tight, but not too tight. I find I use broad strokes of my arm when I'm threading and pulling wire. It's almost calligraphic-looking and helps to avoid kinking or overly-bending/stressing the wire.

Good luck!!

Gem Grades

Recently a friend showed me some stones that were in nice little gem jars and had an official-looking 'Certificate of Authenticity' accompanying them. They happened to be rubies, about 7-9 carats each, and they were appraised on the 'certificate' for over $1000. They had been given to her from a family member, passed down, and were certainly NOT worth anywhere close to that amount. 

It got me thinking, that just because a gem is called a 'ruby', or 'emerald', 'sapphire' or even diamond for that matter, doesn't mean it has unlimited value. Most of you out there who are jewelry-makers already know this stuff, but the average person probably doesn't, and it's up to us to let them know the truth before they get swindled. (Or at least, before they think they're sitting on a gold mine of precious gems....)

So for you average person out there, who loves gems but doesn't know much beyond that, let me tell you, there are various factors used in the industry to 'grade' gemstones. Most of us know all about the diamond rating system, but colored gemstones also have categories of grading.

You may have a ruby, but you may not have a gem-quality ruby.

So let's go through some of the factors, using the pics below of my current ruby stock (question: what is the most valuable stone below and how much is it worth? answer at end of post)

Also, take a look at the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) website for more information about stones:

http://www.gia.edu/

Here's a collection of rubies- the small faceted ones on the right are 4mm round and the faceted ones on the left about 7mm round. That should give you some idea of size. That leads us into our first category- size. Obviously, a larger gem is more valuable and rare than a smaller one. That said, not everyone wants a 25-carat ruby on their finger. Each person has individual tastes and for some, bigger is not better. Still, generally a larger sized stone will be worth more than a smaller stone per carat. So, does this mean the large rectangular stone is worth the most?

The next category is color. This includes hue (red, green, blue, etc...), saturation and tone (light to dark). In general, rich bright colors rate a higher price. So, for some, a deep dark amethyst is the cat's meow. But for others, they don't like the darker purples; they like the lighter purple. Again, some allowance for personal preference here. But if you look at the above stones, do you see some that are brighter and more color-saturated than the rest?

The next category is clarity. This is basically the same as inclusions. The clearer a stone is, with the least visible inclusions in the stone, the more valuable it is. In the above pic, which stone(s) fits that definition? Did you know that emeralds are almost never free of inclusions? They and tourmalines fit the category of stones nearly never inclusion-free. There are, of course, some stones that are almost always inclusion-free: aquamarine and smoky quartz to name a couple. Then there are a bunch of stones in the middle- often having inclusions, like peridot, garnet and iolite. So, if you see an emerald that looks 'too perfect' with amazing bright color  but no visible inclusions, it's either got to be priced astronomically high, or it's not real (read: lab-created). Good to know!

The final category is cut. Cabochons (the bottom stones in the above pic) are usually worth less than faceted stones, simply because they don't take as long and require less skill to cut. Opals may be the exception to this rule. That said, there are many stones that are poorly cut- not symmetrical, with scratches, poor polish, and facet junctions not meeting up. This is a hard category to judge for the average person. It takes looking at a lot of stones to judge this one.

So, giving what you now know about stones now, take a stab at which of the above stones are worth the most??

answer: the pair at the left

Why? Well, the rectangular stone is the largest, that's true, but it's so full of inclusions that it's opaque. There's no transparency. It's a nice color, but not as rich and color-saturated as the pair on the left. They're also faceted, which adds to the value. And the cut is good- they're nice and deep, while the faceted stones to the right are quite flat in comparison, and the color is not as rich.

So, for these 7mm round faceted rubies, what's the cost? Well, they cost me $28 for the pair. Not as much as you thought, eh? Well, that's because there's a whole lot more quality available than this in a ruby. Sorry I don't have a really expensive one to show you :( Maybe someday.... The prettiest rubies I've ever seen are a lot more transparent and bright red than these.

If you want to see more stones and prices, simply do a search on Ebay and you can see a multitude of gem grades and prices. Of course, the best place to buy gems is from a reputable gem dealer. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Many gems today are artificially colored or treated. Or not even real. But that's a whole different post....

Metal Clay Class with Wanaree Tanner

This weekend I was lucky enough to take a class given by Wanaree Tanner, who does AMAZING things with metal clay! Check out her website:

http://www.jade-orchid.com/www.jade-orchid.com/Home.html

And here's her blog:

http://artwarebywanaree.blogspot.com/

Wanaree is a full-time artist, super-nice, funny and down-to-earth lovely young woman. And best of all, it was located only minutes away from my home in Springfield, VA at La Ruche Davis Studio!  What's better than to spend the weekend chatting, creating, and eating snacks with a group of like-minded creative women artists? Here's the link if you ever want to take classes there (host Ann Davis is awesome!):

http://www.laruchedavis.com/

Wanaree has perfected the use of using a cutting machine, in this case the Silhouette Cameo, to cut metal clay bezels and more. In this class we learned how to do this by constructing a stone pendant with a bezel she custom cut for us made from COPPRClay.  Can't wait to try more of it on my own!  Here is the machine below:

 In addition, she uses a great technique utilizing Scratchfoam, which is a very thin styrofoam. We used a small ball burnisher to create designs in the foam, and pressed the wet clay into it, creating a texture to the back of our pendants.

Here is a picture of the Silhouette Cameo cutting my bezel:

She rolls out a sheet of COPPRclay to one more than the lowest setting on a pasta machine (she rolls it within a heavy plastic bag lined with Cool Slip or olive oil to prevent sticking). Then she lets it dry and runs it through the machine dry (but not too dry- keep it in a baggy when it's initially dried or it'll get too brittle). You can see below my piece of bezel removed from the Press n' Seal wrap that it was stuck on to prevent it moving on the cutting mat. I also cut out some circles with a piece of brass tubing to use on my bail:

I chose a thick lapis stone and we enlarged it on the copier because the COPPRclay shrinks when fired. We then used this copy to create a polymer clay 'stone' to use to measure and form the bezel at the enlarged size.

We used PasteMaker solution to create a paste with the clay in order to join and attach the bezel to the backplate. We also made the bail and connecting u-shaped pieces. Everything was dried in order to connect using PasteMaker. Moisture Mist may also be used on the bezel to increase flexibility around the stone.

Above is an example of one of Wanaree's stacked bezels, fired and stone set.

Here are my pieces before being joined. I created a dangle using the pieces cut out from the bezel wire, too.

Here are the 3 pieces all connected with u-shaped pieces of dried clay and paste. It needs to totally dry before firing. A dehydrator was used to speed up drying.

 And here are pics of the finished piece:

No major failures during firing. Some cracking appeared in which we used another copper clay product, with a faster firing time, to correct. Some distortion and uneven shrinking occured, but nothing too major. Some students in the class had more problems after firing than others- it seemed pretty random! Wanaree didn't think my dangle would work, but we were both happy to see it fired well and stayed put!

And here is a pic of the back of my piece (still needs some clean-up!!) with my Scratchfoam design:

 I still have some clean-up to do on the piece, but I think it turned out pretty well. Can't wait to try out my very own Silhouette Cameo for etching glass with vinyl stick-ons, fun with paper, rolling mill experiments, and maybe cutting keum-boo pieces too! Stay tuned!

Granulated Earrings, Part 2: Completion

A few weeks ago I posted about some earrings I was starting that were to have granulation. Well today I finally had a chance to finish them! (Check back on the earlier post to bring yourself up to date:

http://stoneaddictblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/granulation-project-in-progress.html

After a bit of trial & error. I decided on my layout for the Argentium silver granules. I fluxed them and allowed them to completely dry.

Ronda Coryell has recommended that one use half flux/half water to flux the piece- if you use 'straight' flux, it bubbles and foams too much and will displace the granules.

You can see at this point that the silver has started to liquefy on the surface- it's shiny and the flux residue (small droplets) is starting to 'dance' around- and this is at the point of fusion. Argentium silver has the advantage of having a larger window of time/opportunity for items to fuse before meltdown occurs. It almost turns to gel. You also have to wait until it's no longer red-hot before quenching, or the silver will be overly shocked and will crack. 

Here are the pieces after fusing. I went over them with my pink (pumice) 3M disc and they are ready for the next step.

I decided to use solder to attach the balls to the 3 corners- I was afraid that there wouldn't be enough surface area of fused material to hold them on for the long haul. A little messier, but it's a tough thing to attach such a small granule to essentially a point in the silver. Now they are ready for the bezels to be soldered on- you can see the tiny snippet of solder inside each bezel. When heated, they will melt and flow underneath the ring of bezel wire. I am careful to position them at the far end of the bezel from the granules, for I don't want any solder to enter the granulated area.

Here they are after soldering and pickling. I cut out a hole for the back of the opals, but since the rubies are being set upside down, they can be set as-is in the bezel. Next I go over them with the pink pumice wheel (which is a pre-polishing disc).

Here they are - I drilled holes for the earwires, and oxidized them in Griffith's Silver Black, then rubbed them with a polishing cloth to bring out the shine in the granules and create contrast. I also created the earwires, which will be attached, and bent over to form the portion that goes through the ear.

And here's the finished product! To me, a piece isn't done until it's photographed and listed in my Etsy shop. Then the work is done and I can move on to my next project....

Sketching for Myself & for a Client

Recently the subject came up about sketching; another jewelry artist asked in a forum whether any jewelry artists out there value drawing. It's a great subject. Some of us can draw, some of us can't. I have a background in the applied arts, having an architecture background -but before that studio art and art history were my subjects of study. So I can't help but draw. Drawing helps me think and work out problems. I can't imagine being able to design without the tool of a pen or pencil. But some artists have a general idea and then plan as they go. I work better if I have a specific plan.

Although I do sketch for myself first, if I'm doing custom work, I work more detail into my sketches- primarily color.

Below are some sketches for a client who sent me 3 pairs of stones and wanted me to make earrings for her. I did many designs, but then settled on the below ideas (2 ideas for the 3rd pair). I had many sketches of each, but once I pared them down to what 'felt right' to me, I drew a nicer version of my sketches for her, added color (colored pencil) and notes, and sent them off for her approval.

The above sketches were cut out from my sketches and grouped together for my client. She decided on the bottom right pair of earrings (but with the yellow stone) for the 3rd set. And below you can see how they turned out:

What's important to show to a client is a good representation of the stone(s) showing color, design, proportion, and some sense of depth and character. I want the final piece to look very similar to the sketch. I want the client to be surprised- but in a good way!! 

Even though I have sketches that I closely follow, I also allow some changes based on the natural flow of creating a piece. I showed the bottom pieces star-shaped in the sketch, but when it came to fabrication, I had some different ideas, and I think it still kept with the character of the sketch.

These were originally planned as post earrings but my client decided she preferred the hanging lever backs, so luckily it was easy to encorporate into the design.

When I'm sketching for myself, I'm a lot messier!! It may look like these sketches repeat themselves unnecessarily, but in actuality I was working out the details by creating lots of options. This was a design for a piece utilizing nail stamp etching, a technique I wrote about in the May 2012 issue of Art Jewelry Magazine. It actually became a pendant:

You can see how the final product differed than the sketch a bit- the accent ball locations. Sometimes it's nice to go step by step, and then try some different options out as you go. 

These sketches were for a piece I wanted to try some keum-boo on- which is a thin layer of gold fused to the surface. I started with some elements I knew I wanted to use- some small opals and open space for the gold patterning- and kept going until I found some design that resonated with me. I am a very intuitive designer, even though I have a design background. It's gotta feel right! You can see the finished earrings below based on the sketches above on the bottom right:

Once I had the final idea for the earrings, I actually used my ellipse template to cut out my shapes from the silver sheet. That way I just had to trace the sized-ellipse I wanted (that worked well in proportion to the small opals I had) and the 2 could be cut exactly the same. I usually use my plastic templates for shape-making, or I use my sketch to make a paper pattern, or I actually draw up the piece on the computer (Adobe Illustrator) to print out a template.

This was a sketch I did for a client who wanted to have a pendant made with red coral beads she supplied to me. She chose a couple of opals from my stash and gave me a rough sketch of a triangle with a foldover bail. I turned the triangle upside down, because I felt it would work better with the bead strand, and added the details.

Showing the sketch with the stones pictured on top is also a great way to show the client the character of the finished piece. This is the pic I sent for her approval. 

After the sketch was approved, I went ahead and carefully measured and drew the stones and then the design on the computer. This gave me a chance to play with the curvature of the triangle to achieve a more workable shape.

If I don't use a computer-generated template, then I will hold onto any paper template I make- because you never know when you may want to use them again!! Having them on the computer means I can print them anytime I want. I may even scan my paper templates sometime so I don't have to hold onto on these pieces.

And this was the final pendant for my client, who was very happy with it. The best feeling and compliment is when a client is happier with the picture of the finished piece than the sketch, and even happier with the piece in person!

This was another pair of earrings designed for a client based on multiple sketches.  Sometimes the smallest changes in shape or proportion can make a big difference.

This was a second sheet of sketches- she decided she liked the central pair the best out of all the sketches. You can see how coloring and shading the sketches really makes the pieces come to life.

And here are the final pair. I did do a measured drawing on the computer first, printed it out onto sticker paper from the office supply store, then placed that on my silver sheet to cut out pieces that were exact and exactly alike. I can also make small changes in proportion while on the computer which saves me time when I'm fine-tuning a design. When using a paper template, I simply trace it with a Sharpie pen.