Once I was invited to my colleague’s birthday party. As a person who takes gifts seriously I was running around in panic trying to figure out what present to buy.
And one day at work out of the blue she noticed my T-shirt with camera print and made a comment on how much she loves photography and everything related to it. It was a revelation – “This is it!” suddenly popped out in my head. Since that moment I knew what to do.
The journey starts with stone selection. I figured that I’d need one round semi-spherical and a rectangular stone. Striped agate would make a nice back of the camera, while the onyx cabochon will turn into a camera lens.
However, the agate I had was not actually a rectangular but rather a trapezoid shape, which is not perfect for this project. Due to lack of other options I had to reshape this stone a bit with a sandpaper and a lot of patience.
There is no great magic behind this lenses frame – this is just four jump rings soldered together with a smaller one on top to hold the cabochon in place. In addition I added a piece of wire to lower part of the frame and a doubled wire for a future chain loop.
I have all frames prepared for holding the stones and assembling. Main frame is just three agate-shaped wire loops soldered together. Trial stone fitting went well so let’s get straight to soldering.
All silver elements are positioned in place and fixed by some steel wire to prevent misplacement during the heat treatment.
Once all the soldering is done I had this feeling that something is missing. So I decided to add a tiny wire loop in the top left corner – kinda like a lightmeter I remember from a film “Fed” camera my parents used to have.
After all parts are soldered the whole piece went to the pickle solution for half an hour and then through the polishing process. The final and the most satisfying step was definitely the stone setting, where the onyx were first in the lens frame and then the agate sat tightly in the back frame holding the onyx in its place.
Check this article about another camera project I made within these series.
Unfortunately, this item is not available for purchase. If you dream about something similar, please check my Etsy store or contact me through the form or on Instagram and let’s see what I can do 🙂
I am that lucky person who owns this unique piece of art. I will never forget this moment when I saw it, I was crying with happiness. It’s realy beautiful and made with great precision. Thank you Slavic once again and I really recommend his jewellery.