Black Heart

The black heart pendant has arrived.

Allow me to walk you through the process from wax to finished item.

I've been wanting to combine jewellery and images with colour for a while.

I drew the designs repeatedly over the years but just did not know where to start.

Finally, after a day of looking through my black books (where I sketch and make notes of orders etc), I realised it was time to stop drawing and start carving.

The first attempt at a floral design was a band shaped ring with roses and leaves carved into it.

Here's how it went:

I must say I considered it unsuccessful. I did not make a mould of it.

However, what I learnt was important. Why did I not like it? Well the vibe was off.

It was giving whimsy, when I wanted high contrast and graphical.

This design only used oxidisation for contrast. The effect I wanted to create needed black resin. So I moved on from a full circumference pattern, switching to a flat surface for experimenting with an image w/colour.

The Black Heart Pendant

Whilst carving green wax, imagining what the resin and silver would look like was tricky.

I couldn't decide between creating a silver outline of the flower (with resin centre) or a black outlined flower with a silver centre.

I had to tell myself to make a decision & committed to the black outline.

Here's how the wax carving process went:

Once I had the silver cast of the wax back, I was excited to finally test out the resins.

Will it turn out like I hoped?

The video below shows adding a bale, polishing & burning out the resin again.

Casting in silver and resin test:

This time I was super happy with the look of the pendant. I want to reproduce it and add it to my website. So first things first, a mold was made and multiple castings ordered. When those were ready, they needed polishing, & hallmarking.

Production & Completion:

The last task before selling this item was to photograph and edit the pictures for the shop listing. Adding dimensions and a description. Of course, people need to know it's made so I documented the process and put together these videos. You wear a lot of different hats as a freelancer, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thank you for looking and if you'd like to check out the black heart pendant head HERE

And for those who like this pendant, I have a ring version on it's way; this time trying out the silver outline with a resin flower (ie Red Rose). The wax is on my bench as we speak.

I look forward to seeing it completed and showing you when it's ready.

Sincerely

Isabel

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