Claire: Fun Earrings!

I went into my stash of stones and selected a pair of faceted labradorite cabochons. They are not an exact pair as one has a blue cast, the other a green cast. I had some crazy ideas, and sketched up a couple. Below is a snapshot of the sketch I liked showing both a front view and a side view. Because the stones are faceted, I needed to know how much the stone would stick out the back. My first teacher stressed that jewelry should not hurt the wearer, and my concern was the point not sticking into the ear.

As is my habit, I first made the bezels for the stones. I have in mind that there will be square wire around the stones and within the design so that there will be two spaces that I will then fill with epoxy resin. This is hard to envision, but bear with me. Below is a picture of the front view of one earring with a completed bezel with square wire around it, and the other components making up the stone holding design element.

Once the bezels are completed, I then fashion the square wire into the shapes as indicated by the sketch. Unfortunately, I was working so quickly that I neglected to photograph this step. Once, however, the square wire was fashioned into the shapes I wanted, I moved on to creating the bottom of the earrings. I xeroxed two copies of the front view and then cut out the front views (thereby eliminating the excess paper).. I then selected an appropriate piece of sterling silver sheet and glued the xeroxed paper to the metal. Below is a picture of work-in-progress that will illuminate this step.

After removing the excess glue (I use rubber cement) and using a jeweler’s saw, I cut around the edge of the earrings. I then drill a hole in the middle of the round part where the stone will sit. I leave extra material around the entire earring because I will true up the outside edges once the bezel and the shaped wires are soldered to the bottoms. Below is a picture of an earring that has been soldered (and I am soldering it where the first soldering did not take, so to speak). The yellow on the piece is potter’s yellow ochre which I use to prevent previously soldered joints from opening up.

Just in case you are wondering, the piece in the picture is sitting on two cotter pins. The reason for this is: I need the flame of my soldering torch to get underneath the piece so that solder will flow properly. Once the soldering step is completed, I clean the oxidation from the piece by pickling it (immersing it in a weak acid bath). Out of the pickle, I then can cut around the edge and then file it smooth. Below is a picture of the work-in-progress whereby one earring is completely fabricated, the other needing work.

Jewelry-making can be fraught, and mistakes happen. Once I completed the assembling of the two earrings, filed the edges smooth and began to “clean” them up so I could move to the next steps of polishing, stone setting and epoxying, I inspect the pieces to ensure complete soldering. In this case, one of the earrings did not solder completely. Below is a picture of the mistake, and you will see that the two pieces of silver did not solder completely.

I know from experience that nothing I can do will bring the pieces of this earring together and eliminate the joint line. So I started the second earring from scratch. It’s amazing how much quickly a piece takes after you’ve made a couple. After cleaning up the third earring (the second went into my scrap jar), I do an initial polish. After I am satisfied with this stage, I set the stones. I made an executive decision: I would not set the stones with the point in the back, but rather set the stones point up. I liked how the light appeared through the stones this way. Now I’m ready to inlay the spaces. The picture below shows the set-up for this step.

I need Claire to be well situated so she won’t move while I inlay the epoxy resin. I won’t share the coloring materials I use (my secret sauce), but you can see from the picture that I’ve done the first side. I have about 10 minutes to work with the resin before it gets too difficult to move. Then it takes 24 hours to set. I do one side at a time as I am very cautious because I cannot correct a mistake made at this time.

Once I’ve finished inlaying the epoxy and it’s fully cured, I can final polish the earrings and then shape the ear wires to suit. Remember that there is a small wire in the back of the earring to catch the long ear wire, hence the need to set the earring in a block of wood to protect that little wire.

I think the photographer I’m working with now has done a good job capturing these earrings although soon he will have a picture of one earring on an ear so you can see how long it is (they are about 2 1/2 inches long). Because the stones are not exactly the same, one has a blue cast, the other a green cast, the inlays are different. I hope you can see that from the picture.