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.

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