golden bunnies and crosses... (birthday gifts and boredom)

so.... the end of year dawned upon me... it brings the end of my acedemic year and my birthday, which incidentally is also my younger brothers birthday (2nd birthday, thanx mom, can we get a refund?) So before I lost acces to a mayor big workshop, only until mid January though...

I did the following:

For those who have seen my portfolio from 3rd year might remebr my bunnie rings...

anyway I made a master of it and made a large amound of them (as seen above)

cast these into silver and treated them.....

The one above I gold plated, some I polished and the others I sandblasted or oxidised....

They don't look half bad, gonna sell them soon...

So coming back to my brother (and my birthday) I decided to make him a rosary (I never give him a present btw, and vice versa). the rosarie is the same as Ive made before, which he liked and just made it with black tourmaline... think of it as a belated 21st present....

renderings... for clients...

So these are renderings I did for clients... It's a pair of rosaries... Made for a couple for their aniversary The trick with this is the guy is a Pagan, so his has pentacle as the main piece and the first prayer bead is replaced with a cross. His girlfriend is Christian, hers has a cross and the bead is replaced with a pentacle... The actual pieces are in sterling silver with black tourmaline beads.... they came out stunning.... and it's a beautifully symbolic piece...

so I was bored....

So I was a bit bored... and as I haven't modeled something up in ages...
I went and did a rendering on Rhino of my rosarie...
(See earlier posts on it)
But basically it's a rosarie with a 2ct Sapphire in..
And I just felt like rendering it up...
Looks pretty decent I think...

so I do this for fun...

So yes... this is what I do for fun... I make rosaries... and experiment with metals...

these are a set of four for me, and 3 friends...

each of the crosses has a different flaw, metallurgically speaking...

such as bubbled metal, pitmarks, porosity and discolouration...

yes, they were all on purpose.... experiments...

they are set with cabachon garnets and strung with garnet beads...

Madonna Locket

This Locket was another of my 3rd year pieces. It has a twin, where the cameo is of a praying cherub. The cameo's I found while I was shopping at the Cape Town holistic fair and they were originally keyrings. The cameo's are housed in a fine silver setting and the lockets themselves are two oval domes. The inner dome has been stamped with the latin version of the "our Father":

Pater noster, qui es in caelis:
sanctificetur Nomen Tuum;
adveniat Regnum Tuum;
fiat voluntas Tua,
sicut in caelo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie;
et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
Sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris;
et ne nos inducas in tentationem;
sed libera nos a Malo

while the twin is the english translation. The backplate for the cameo was pieced with a small heart and then scratched. The locket is held in place with a hinge and has a bail in the shape of a small heart. The locket was polished adn set after the inside of the piece was oxidised... The oxidisation of the prayer, came out in hues of blue and red and I desided to keep it, it was sealed with clear glass paint and is ready to see the world. The lockets way over 50 grams each and are wonderfully chunky.

After this project though, I found many mistakes and problems during the manufacturing. There are a few things I'd change and design idea's I would like to try and I have to admit, they look simple, but they are the two hardest pieces I have ever made, including my miniature violin (pics to follow but see the previous rhino rendering post) .