The name Dziki Motyl literaly means a “wild butterfly”, which gave me a strong push towards the whole concept of the piece of jewelry to craft. The very first idea was to make a book locket with a butterfly on its front, but it appeared I needed some extra preparation. Armed with experience of simlar projects (Amber Book Silver Locket and The Book of Unelma) I realised that I need more firepower. Quite literally. Vast majority of my projects are small delicate things and I use my favourite Dremel VersaTip torch most of the times. Book locket usually requires a lot more thermal power for soldering due its increased heat dissipation and my precise torch just ain’t gonna cut it.

Hence, the concept quickly pivoted to a smaller 2D structure representing a butterfly captured in a frame. Couple of sketches done and I am ready to go with the building proces. It all starts with the double frame with the 4×3 ratio made with a 1mm and 0.8mm thick sterling silver wires soldered together. Doubling the wires gives the piece its mechanical strength and also an aesthetics of a beuatiful paiting framing.

I used a piece of doube sided sticky tape to attach the frame to a piece of wood on my bench. This way it is easier to keep all the elements from lying all ofver the place. Next I bend a butterfly shape out of 1mm wire and fit it tightly inside the frame.

The centerpiece of the frame will take a marquise amber cabochone. I used some 0.5mm thick silver sheet to make a bezel for it that look like a cute tiny boat. After the butterfly wires are soldered to the frame I cut the openning to fit the bezel right in the middle of this piece.

As I stil believe that everything is prettier with filigree it was an easy choice on what to fill the butterfly wings with. The twisted and flattened silver wire creates a magical look when coiled within a wire shape. On top of the bezel I also soldered 2 pieces of wire with blops on one side to imitate the butterfly eyes (or perhaps these are antennas?).

The tip I learned from the Inspiring Metalsmiths Facebook community is when you try your gem in a closed bezel always use a piece of dental floss. There were too many times I just wanted to try if the stone fits in the bezel only to realise that it fits too nice to get out on its own without some demolition activities.

Almost forgot a crucial element of the project. Since this is supposed to be a pendant it needs a bail to be hanging on the necklace. To ensure its stability I used my Dremel burr to grind a little groove of the top of the frame so the tine jump ring would fit right in. This way the soldering is easier and I don’t loose any sleep worrying it will come off at some point. Then another jump ring soldered shut and the piece is ready for prettyfication – a bath in my new magnetic tumbler wiht steel pins and after that a round of polishing in the traditional tumbler with tine steel balls.

Once all sodering and heavy polishing is done it is time to set the amber. If it was a harder stone like garnet or citrine I would give the piece another round of polishing routine in the tumblers. But the amber is scary soft and you got to be extra careful not to ruin it while pushing the bezel. Another fun fact about genuine amber – it glows like crazy under the UV light!

The stone setting procedure often leaves some marks and scratches here and there, so it is a good idea to inspect the entire piece closely and buff out the imperfections as much as possible. After that I can proudly clain that the butterfly is in the frame!

If you like this kind of things go ahead and check other articles on this blog and also have a look at my Etsy store.

The post Butterfly in a frame appeared first on Slavik LTD.

The Amber Story

It was a totally regular weekday. I came back from work, relaxed a bit and decided to check my personal correspondence. Little did I know there is an email waiting to get me on an exciting jewellery adventure!

The email started with a phrase: “Hey! A friend of mine showed me a camera pendant you made for her. I think it’s awesome!”. I connected the dots instantly because I am insanely proud of this particular piece he was referring to. It was a Silver camera pendant I created as a birthday gift for a very special person I used to work with. Sadly, our paths took different turns and we don’t see each other as often as I’d like to.

“I have an idea in mind and I need your creative help with it”, he continued. “Let’s meet up and discuss it over a cup of coffee”. It got me really intrigued as I love an interesting challenge. Especially when this is not for a totally random person, but my friend’s friend. We met few days later and he handed me a handful of tiny raw amber gems. They certainly looked like they have a huge sentimental value for his wife and him. “Could you turn them into something I can present to my wife as a gift?”, he asked me. “She likes books and nordic culture if it helps you in any way”. Like in the movies I replied: “Let me see what I can do and just like that my adventure began.

It was obvious that had to be some storage device to hold these ambers, which can be qualified as a jewellery and looks like a gift. I considered lots of designs from bird cages to ships and viking helmets. It took me a while to get to a book-shaped locket. This was one of those incredible “Aha!” moments I love jewellery crafting for.

Carving an Amber heart

Since this is a future anniversary gift a heart should definitely be there somewhere. One of the raw amber pieces in that bunch was large enough to turn it into a cute little heart. And luckily for me amber is very soft and easy to work with using standard home tools. I would probably resign from this idea if the gems were citrines or garnets.

Design torment

Once the tiny amber heart was ready the overall design needs to be agreed. After few dozens of sketches it became obvious that the celtic triquetra would do perfectly.

Locket crafting

I started first trials with a square frames and realised it looks nothing like a book. Besides, single wired frame would probably be too wabbly for a good locket. Hence, the reinforced double wired rectangular frames are the way to go.

I considered to make different pattern on front and back of the locket. But after the front triquetra shaped out it was clear that it would look great on both sides. I had to tweak the sacral celtic symbol a little to make sure it fits into the frame. This is where the idea of braids on top and bottom came from.

I am passionate about filigree. Intricate triquetra was a perfect ocassion to play around and place some twisted wire in the openings.

It was a little worrying that some of these raw ambers were so small they could slip through the openings in the patterns. Thus I made the filigree on the back frame more dense. and added few elements on the front one as well.

The side panel, or the book spine, is made of the same wire. I made a rectangle of the same hight as the main frames, but much narrower. There was no way to fit another triquetra into that element so I just put some spiral wirework and filled it with filigree.

The side panned got firmly soldered to the back frame of the locket. Its design allowed me to add hinges for the front frame on a later stage.

“Every book has pages, so should my locket”, I figured. in order to make an immitation of pages I just cut a bunch of 0.8mm wires, straightened them as much as I could and soldered them together. Then it only a matter of precise bending the pages and soldering them to the back frame and a book spine.

The final assembly phase was by far the most tedious one. To make the front frame moveable I soldered 3 piece of flattened wire to its left side. These flat wires grabbed onto the openineg in the book spine and formed hinges. Later on it turned out to be a bad desicion as the cover opened not more than 75 degrees.

For the locking mechanism I used a standard bracelet clasp. A blop is soldered firmly onto the cover frame and a clasp itself hangs on a tine hinge attached to the back frame. It is important to make sure they are vertically aligned.

And the final most exciting part was to set an amber heart I carved in the very beginning of the journey. In order to keep it looking lightweight and airy I just added 3 prongs right in the triquetra intersection points. The amber heart fit there perfectly making a gorgeous centerpiece.

Presentation

I am extremely proud of myself looking at the locket I created. But nevertheless, I was still a little anxious if the receiver of this artwork will like it. I gave it to the husband a little less than a week before their anniversary and we both were cautious to not spoil the surprise.

Finally after a few days of intense waiting (that felt like aeons), I received an incredibly emotional note from the happy couple saying how much they both love their locket! They even said that it will definitely become their family hairloom that will be passed through generations along with a romantic story about collecting amber gems on a beach somewhere in the north of Poland.

If you like to see more of my artwork check my social media and my SlavikLTD Etsy shop.

In case you want to posses something like this – do not hesitate to contact me for a special order.

The post Amber Book Silver Locket appeared first on Slavik LTD.