After last week’s visit to the shops in Winthrop and Twisp that sell my jewelry, I had to hustle to start building up stock. So I started with some items I already had partially made: my “fold-over” bail pendants.
Kingman Turquoise with bronze on sterling silver.
Kingman Turquoise and Orange Spiny Oyster Shell with bronze on sterling silver.
Labradorite on sterling silver.
Lapis Lazuli on sterling silver.
Rose Quartz on sterling silver.
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I make these in batches, completing one step on all pieces before moving on to the next step. For those who are curious, the steps are as follows:
- Cut sterling silver sheet in two different sizes of the same elongated teardrop shape. These are all hand cut. I’ll normally cut more than I need for the pendants I plan to make so I have some already done for next time I make them. That’s why the ones I made this weekend were already partially made.
- Sand the edges of each cut piece to smooth them.
- Choose the stones for each piece. I have a dwindling inventory of small gemstones that are perfectly sized for these. I try to pick a variety.
- Make the bezels for each stone. None of these are “standard” sizes so I need to make a bezel from scratch for each one. I start with fine or sterling silver strip and then size, cut, solder, pickle, and shape it.
- Solder the bezels onto the teardrop back plates for each pendant, then pickle, wash, and dry them.
- Stamp the backplates with a variety of designs. I have no set design so these are all different every time I make them.
- Apply a darkening agent to blacken the silver.
- Use a variety of techniques to polish the pieces so the silver is bright while the cuts made by the stamps remain darker. This involves manually polishing and putting each piece through a series of tumbling processes that take four to six hours.
- Wash and dry each piece.
- Set the stones. I need to remember which stone goes into which piece since they’re not interchangeable!
- Roll the bail around bail-making pliers to create the bail.
Because of the assembly line process I use to make these in batches, if I start early enough, I can usually make 4 to 8 of them in a day — that’s how I can keep them affordably priced. The trick is to get them into the tumblers at roughly the same time as early in the day as possible. While they’re tumbling, I can usually get started on a new piece that isn’t part of a batch.
All of my fold-over bail pendants are made of sterling silver (and stamped as such on back) or copper with good quality gemstone cabochons set in them. They come with an 18″ sterling silver chain. They retail for $69 and can be found in my online shop or at many of the shops and galleries where my work is sold.