‘Seaweed’ Silver and Ribbon beaded necklace. – Nature’s Way
I admit that at this stage in the game there is little sign of any beauty or purpose. Will it be a necklace? Will it be a brooch? Or will I walk away?n
Now I can see a shape I want emerging! I need to secure it and firm up the form. This involves using silver solder and a blow torch to fuse together some of the edges. Just enough to stop any movement.
Now the clean up begins, using small needle files I shape and smooth all of the edges, internal and external. There can be no snagging surfaces. Next the whole piece has to be sanded with emery paper and silicone burrs to remove all of the surface scratches.
As I mentioned before I used the beautiful colours of the seaweed as an inspiration for my choice of seed beads. In order to attach them however I still need to hand roll sections of felting wool that fit into the crevasses. Once in place I use a very fine needle and extra strong beading thread to sew the beads in place, allowing the colours and textures to build up like an artist with a paint palette. This decoration wraps around the front and back of the silver, there must not be any ugly, unfinished vistas, just as in nature. I also chose to embed a small seed pearl, a product of the sea itself.
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