Keepsake Necklace with White Oak Cab

The last of the three White Oak Leaf, Keepsake Necklaces:

Sterling Silver Leaf which is sweat soldered to a copper base.  I made a cab out of a piece of salvaged white oak from an old tree and added it to the pendant.  

Because the pendant is so rustic, I decided to compliment the pendant with a mutli-leather, brown necklace with rustic copper hook and eye.  

*Order A Keepsake Necklace for yourself or someone you love; They make the best gift!

Bayside Wire Designs

Finished White Oak Leaf Pendant with Acorn

Sometimes, you come up with an idea in your head, transfer it to paper and the actual piece doesn’t always come out exactly as you first imagined it.  But this piece is pretty much what I designed it to be.  

I purposely added the dark, vein-like lines in the leaf by dragging a piece of metal through the molten enamel. Because the copper was slightly exposed, it created oxidization which led to the lines turning black.  It really gives the piece a more rustic look!  I just love playing with oxidization!!  

The Oak Acorn I made from a piece of white oak piece which I carved into a ball which I drilled like a bead.  I made the cap part out of sheet copper, formed, textured and soldered.  I covered the wood with epoxy.

The Acorn lays flat so that it can sit properly when worn.

Get your Custom Made Jewelry Here-

Finished, White Oak Leaf Pendant with Cab

Here is the final result of the White Oak Leaf Pendant I was working on.  I made a cab from a piece of White Oak which I formed and covered in epoxy to protect it from water.  

I made the leaf out of copper sheet and sweat soldered it to a plate of sterling silver.  

The pendant measures 1-1/2″ x 1/2″.

Order your custom jewelry design here.

Acorn Pendant With Oak Tree Remnant

I designed this little acorn to dangle along with an Oak Leaf Pendant I made.  

I made it so that it sits flat.  The whole thing is made of copper sheet which

was cut, formed, textured and soldered together.  

The best way to form a ball shape is with a dapping punch, a block and a hammer.

The wooden bead I made from a piece of an Old Oak Tree.  

I drilled a whole through the wood and through the copper cap (this step is not in the photographs).

Progress Oak Leaf Pendant

Custom Pendant With Piece of an Old Oak Tree-

I made the bezel with a strip of pure silver bezel wire, shaped it and sized it to my wood cab, soldered the ends together and then soldered it to the pendant plate.  I was so happy that I didn’t run into any problems!  I prepared the wood cab by forming, sanding and sealing it with epoxy (because the cab is made of old dead tree pieces, I thought it would be best to seal it in order to protect it from water.  

Bayside Wire Designs

Oak Leaf Pendant Almost Finished

I am almost done this pendant.  I'm working on the wood cab you see

on the pendant.  it will be a bit smaller than you see.  

Here is what I'll be doing next:

- Covering the cab with epoxy (the reason for this is because this piece of 

oak comes from old wood pieces salvaged from a dead oak tree and they're

quite fragile.  By completely covering them with epoxy, I figured they 

would be protected from wear and tear).  

2.  Adding a bezel (a strip of silver soldered to the plate to hold the wood cab 

into place).

3.  Finish the bail (to hang to the chain).

4.  Polish it up and add a bit of darkening solution to make the leaf pop out.

5.  Package it and send it on its way to my customer!

Enameled Oak Leaf Pendant Progress

Here is an update of the Oak Leaf that I am working on.  I finally finished prepping the leaf itself and  after rounding out the tips a bit, I finally was able to do the exciting part of this project:  enameling!

I used my jewelry torch to enamel glass powder over the top; so basically you end up with a lovely glass layer fused to the metal.  This is something I just love to do!  

The green I used is Jungle green;  it's a vibrant green which I find looks great for leaves! 

 I am very  pleased with how it turned out.  

I am now working on the acorn part of the pendant which will dangle freely on 

the necklace along the leaf. 

Hipster Ring with Robin Egg Enamel Experiment

Little experiment!  

Do you like the result?  I kinda like the overall rustic look of this earthy ring.  The robin egg enamel color combined with copper is just gorgeous!

http://www.baysidewiredesigns.etsy.com

Comparing Pebeo Vitrail Greens

I’m running another test (you will notice I do this a lot):

I wanted to compare the differences between these green  Pebeo Vitrail paints and how they would look on metal.  I was looking for a beautiful leaf color.  The local art store only had these greens available in the opaque series and although the finishes are beautiful, it’s not going in the direction I want so I won’t be using these paints in my particular project.  

More money invested, but never wasted!!  I love these paints and although I will not be using them in my present project, I will be storing them for a future use; I have something in mind for using these little gem-like paints!

Enamel Leaf Pendant Test

Enameled Leaf Pendant Test: 

I’m working on a leaf pendant and wanted to run a test before enameling the actual leaf, so I made this little copper leaf and applied the enamel and it turned out pretty good! 

I'm loving the way the black formed all around the perimeter of the leaf, the center and the smaller crackles near the tip.  To some this might seem like a non-successful test because of the black.  But I’m the type of artist who most of the time prefers my results to be different!  If you’re like me and you would like to a achieve this look add less of the enameling powder before you fire it so that the copper will oxidize and will show up as black in any portion where there is less enamel (you gotta love copper!)

In order to make the center vein running through the leaf, I used a fine, stainless steel rod and dragged it through the molten enamel while holding my torch in the other hand… 

I loved this project!  So much fun!

Bayside Wire Designs