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Metal Clay Category
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Dancing Peridot
Artist: Lorrene Davis (Placerville, CA)
Honorable Mention, Metal Clay
"This design just popped out of my sketchbook. I wanted to be able to create a piece with a slight rise in the center---somewhat like a mountain range. The texture was to be kept simple because the bail and stone details were more important to me. The pearl is set on fine silver wire with a bent end fired into the metal clay. The bail was created with a Makin’s™ extruding tool, shaped, sanded and then attached in place on the pendant with clay slip. The diamond was preset into the bezel. I carved out the round shape on the side of the pendant, then used the syringe to set the element in place. The peridot was fired in place. ...
"Then I fine sanded the work to remove hard edges and smoothed the bezel. It was fired at 1100 degrees for 1 hour. I used a lower temperature for firing because I didn’t want to burn the diamond. Lastly I scrubbed the whole piece with a brass brush, tumbled in stainless steel shot and burnished the bail with an agate tool. For fun, I used a line engraver all around the top of the trillion bezel. I did this to tie in with the pendant's texture design. This project took approximately two days from start to finish. The biggest challenge was to figure out how to place the diamond bezel securely into place and to PRAY that the diamond didn't burn up in the kiln." -- Lorrene Davis
For more tips on setting stones in metal clay, check out Lorrene's book Setting Gemstones in Metal Clay.
View more 2009 Honorable Mention winners. Or, check for details about our most recent contest!
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