I started working on this pendant a year and a half ago.I was taking a lapidary class at Texas Institute of Jewelry Technology.We were given our choice of stones to cut and polish. There were a fewsmall pieces of a rock that had small fossilized snail looking designs in it.The stone is called Turritella. I cut the stone and polished it not sure whatI was going to do with it. The stone was extremely hard to polish but once I finished, I was very delighted with how it turned out.When Josh came to visit last year, he was looking through my collection of
cut stones and really commented how awesome the the Turritella stone was.
My instructor helped to carve the wax for lost wax casting. I had never done
anything free handed like that. I was quite nervous because I wanted it to be
perfect for Josh. I wanted to make something for him that he would like and
hopefully wear. I didn't want it looking girly as my fellas call it. I wanted
it to have a mature look to it since he was in college and no longer in
high school. One thing that I have struggle with is the imperfections in the
metal work. My instructors have reassured me that imperfection is part of hand crafting a piece.
I think that we captured that nicely in this simple design. The stone was chased into the setting. What do you think?
Today I did my final emory, tripoli and polish on it. I crafted a black leather
cord to hang it on. I love the simplicity of this also.
I hope Josh likes it. I have not given him anything but life and pictures. This is the first true gift I have ever given him. I hope that he like. I don't think that if he didn't like it that he would ever tell me. I really don't think I would want to know.
It is the first piece of jewelry that I ever made that was not intended for school use.
