New Custom Order for Client

I made this Necklace and Earrings set as a custom order for one of my clients.  This necklace is made with a large, red Tigereye Cabochon and 14k gold-filled wire work.  The filigree design gives the overall feel of ancient, old world, Roman or Grecian Jewelry with a touch of Victorian.  I also handmade the chain links with a thick 20 gauge 14k gold-filled wire and finished it off with a sturdy clasp.  I really enjoyed making this design and I will put together a few more of these to add to my store as part of my new spring collection. 

This particular design would also be awesome for a wedding (by exchanging the red Tigereye for a whitish or even a Rainbow Moonstone would be awesome)!

Progress on my Sheryl Crow Earrings

A client walked in my store about a month ago with a magazine in her hand and asked me if I could custom make a pair of earrings that would be similar to those worn by Sheryl Crow on the front cover of Red Book (issue of August, 2010).  Of course, I will not copy the design exactly, because that's just not right, but I will make them in a slightly different size and in .925 sterling silver. 

This is a whole new venture for me.  I usually do wire work, a bit of silver clay and some soldering, but I've never actually worked with silver sheet.  This should be interesting.

I finally got the template of my main earring design transferred onto my .925 sterling silver sheet and I traced out the design and very slowly cut it out with my jeweler's saw. 

This jeweler's saw can be a pain.  The blades are about the size of a couple of strands of hair and they break very easily if you're not careful.  The heat caused by constant friction against the sterling silver sheet causes the blade to get brittle and break.  In order to prevent this I need to constantly lubricate the blade with beeswax. 

Now, I'm getting ready to cutout the center part.  I'll need to transfer my design and drill a small hole in order to enable me to pass my jeweler's blade through it (the jeweler's blade easily comes off  enabling the metalworker to pass the blade through the hole and then attach to your saw).  This is a necessary tool to make cutouts from the center of a piece.

See picture below of my first and second step - It doesn't look too pretty at this point...