I was given a rather large stash of Silverware..and today was the first time I had a few moments to decide what to do with it. My dear friend Kris made some spoon earrings a few months ago and they were stunning on her- I’ve taken great liberty with her original design to come up with a few more of my own.
I’ve learned a lot in the past 24 hours. There is a HUGE difference between working with Silver Plate and Sterling ware. My stash is silver plate so any heat melts off the silver layer which means no soldering, or annealing-a process that makes the metal softer and more malleable. Not only is it brutal on the hands from trying to bend and shape the stuff, it’s killer on my drilling tools. Just drilling the holes took everything my instruments could handle and then some.
This is the set I started with- thank you Win Dinn!
I started with the really tiny spoons, it’s amazing how large they become when flattened. I’m always cognizant of the weight of my ear creations-especially with added beads etc. I tried lots of ways of flattening, texturing and shaping. With no outcome in mind, was wonderful to just play.
The beads I used in these pieces were Black glass Czech glass beads, hand crafted silver beads and fossil coral-love them all!
The book I used for the photos is very special to me- it was given to my grandmother (Penelope Waddy) in 1902 when she was finishing her Teaching degree in Liverpool, England . I knew her as Granny Huscroft, one of the Pioneer’s of this beautiful Creston Valley. I hope she would be pleased to see it has survived the past 117 years and is still very much appreciated ♥
