10 September 2009

Black Sphere Earrings

Off the bench: Earrings for Odette.
I thought you might be interested in the process...
Black Earrings with Gold fittngs; what to make them from?
Ebony or Horn were the choices, (both recycled... of course)

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I tested the ebony, turning up a ball on a 'rudimentary lathe'... (Ive waited a long to time to say that in context) just putting a dowell into the chuck of a drill press and tooling with a file.
Deciding that the horn was denser and blacker, I went with that, but also ended up with a little ebony doming punch. Perfect for doming-up the cups that will hold the black spheres.
I rarely do any doming, so dont actually own a set of punches... for a soft material like 22k Gold, wooden punches work very well.


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Being a simple design, I thought it best to hand-build every part, so as to give it that certain quality... So I made the 'butterfly' clips too, which I have never bothered to do before. A moderate level of asperity in shape and finish seemed desirable too; a little wabi-sabi, refined roughnessTo this end, I simply cut out the flat shape with little scissors, (chamfered the sharp edges...) I pierced a hole with a pin, then bent up the the 'wings' of the clip, which are essentially springs that need to curl around and grip the post, holding it securely in the ear.

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Cups soldered to posts... at this stage they need a little cleaning up.
Next, fit the black horn spheres.










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                                                             Fin. Quietly good, I reckon.