Tuesday, February 28, 2017

How It's Made: The Seaside Collection


The Seaside Collection is inspired by long summer days spent at the beach. I'm happy to share a bit of my process from design to finished piece. 


Much of my work begins with the stone. In this case sea fossils, beach pottery, sea glass, shells, and accent cabochons in colors that mimic cool waters, warm sand, and vibrant sunsets. 


The stones are then grouped and I begin to layout a sketch around them adding additional elements and textures. 



The designs of any additional sterling silver elements are then transferred to sheet metal, hand cut, filed, textured, and sanded. 


A final layout is done atop the sterling silver back plate to make sure I'm happy with the design. At this point elements may be moved around or swapped out until I'm happy with the layout. 


After all the elements are soldered together another round of sawing, filing, sanding, and texturing takes place and then any connecting elements, bails, ring bands, and signature plates are soldered to the piece. 


Chains are soldered onto the pendants and everybody takes a dip in the patina. 






After the patina is removed from any raised surfaces the pieces really begin to come to life. Finally, the stones are set and each piece is waxed to preserve the patina. 



You can take a look at all of the finished pieces here or check out the available Seaside pieces in my Etsy shop

Thanks for reading! 

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