Thursday, January 26, 2017

New Pendant

Planning out projects at my workbench, 
I thought about a pendant that I made last year.
After practicing a texture on several copper discs, 
I soldered some on to a back plate of etched nickel, 
creating a pendant.
Considering the ongoing, internal conversation that I have 
about establishing a recognizable identity, 
I thought maybe this texture is something that I should revisit and expand.

The initial pendant was made with discs that I cut at 7/8" diameter.
My new project began with a 2" diameter disc.

With a workbench that sadly does not include a hydraulic press,
I began the process of shaping the 2" flat disc into a dome 
with repeated annealings and a succession of dapping punches. 

The domed disc was then textured, filed and sanded.
As with the initial pendant,
I planned to have a back plate for the dome.
Wanting to keep the back plate flat for the eventual soldering,
I chose to etch some 2" diameter discs.

In spite of working hard to make sure that I had two flat surfaces for flush contact,
it took four visits to the soldering bench to get the job done.
ugh!

Finally...
with the soldering completed,
the excess of the back plate was cut off
and the edge was filed and sanded.
A simple bail was soldered on to the back,
and...
the pendant is completed.

Time to make complementary earrings.