A Twenty First Birthday Gift

I was lucky enough this week to be contacted by a previous customer, who purchased from me last year. She was looking for a birthday gift for her daughters' 21st and decided that I was the girl for the job! How lovely! We organised a meet up for the three of us, where we discussed her requirements and I managed to get a feel for the young lady's style. 

I discovered that she liked some of my granulation jewellery and so we went about sketching out a design that we felt would work.

I have to say at this point, that this technique and I think it will make a way into a lot of what I do over the coming months. Did you know that granulation jewellery is thought to date back to about 5000 years ago......? 

So, with the design sorted, I set about making  a disc with the centre cut out - a bit like a polo shaped disc. This is the bit that took the time - applying the tiny little balls! Oh my word! How much patience does one need? The silver balls were firstly made by heating pieces of silver in a variety of sizes. I then had to pickle them followed by a bit of a tumble in my polishing machine as some were covered in firescale!

I painstakingly picked out the tiny balls from the polisher tryng not to lose any down the sink! I then added them to my disc using slithers of hard solder at the base and then sprinkling teeny pieces of solder over the top. Heat was applied until the solder melted, more pickling and then a polish. If only it were that simple......after the first polish, a load of granulation fell off! - that was not meant to happen !!  - Needless to say, these were re-soldered with more pickling and more polishing......finally, attempt number three and it was all done. Lastly I applied the bail.

Here is the end result and I am happy to say that I am really pleased with it - more importantly - so is my client. So I would like to wish Annabel a very happy 21st birthday and I hope she enjoys wearing her pendant for many years to come!