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.

As an admirer of the fantasy worlds like LOTR, Witcher and Skyrim I aimed to create a pendant that would feel out of this world. After few pages of sketches I selected the one I feel connected with the most.

The overall idea is to make this pendant in 2 parts: a main upper frame and a detachable lower frame with a USB drive.

Preparing the USB Drive

The core of the pendant will be a USB drive. I chose a GoodRam UPI2 because of its rigid design. After removing the plastic parts you got a clean full metal USB stick with little grip bumps on the sides.

The USB Basket

First of all the USB drive needs some casing to be a part of the pendant. It is just a small box which will hold the YSB drive firmly by its grip bumps and some glue.

To build this basket I use 1.0mm wire. I cut 4 for pieces 36mm length and marked 4 bending points with sharpie. To simplify the process a bit a hold all 4 wires together and carve grooves using a square file. These grooves will make it much easier to bend the wires into rectagular rings.

Once the rings are bent into the rectangular rings it is time for the first soldering. I place the rings on the soldering blocks and apply flux on the joints as well as on the corner points. At this step I use medium solder to close the rings and reinforce the corners.

The next step is to attach these 4 rings on top of each other to form a hollow basket. Since they are made out of a round wire it is a good idea to grind them a bit in order to have more flat surface to make the connection stronger. I lay a sheet of 800 emery paper on my desk and grind all the rings a little to get some flat surface.

I stack 4 rings together and use some steel wire to hold them in place. Heated up with the torch I user solder pick to apply some medium solder to the joints between the rings.

The last piece of the basket is the lid. I just cut 6 pieces of the same 1mm wire to match the lenght of the hollow basket. Then I soldered them together to form a somewhat flat cap. You might as well saw the rectangular lid out of silver sheet.

In the end of this step the lid is soldered to the hollow basket. Remember to flatten the lid and file the basket endges for a stronger joint. Once the soldering is done we have a nice silver basket where the USB drive should fit. I recommend trying it with side without the bumps, otherwise you would have a hard time taking it apart. Don’t worry if the basket is too tight or too loosen – it will be fixed later on when installing the USB drive into the basket.

The Lower Frame

The lower frame of the pendat is the decorative part which will be detacheable form the main upper frame. The decorative structure consists of one central piece made of 1.2mm wire and two identical outer pieces made with 1.0mm wire. All three pieces will have a common pointy joint at the very bottom and six connection points to the USB basket on the opposite side.

I mainly use pliers and cutters to cut and bend wires into the shape following the design sketch. Once all 3 decoration pieces are ready I solder them together by their pointy parts. It is important to join these pieces only at the pointy part so that it is possible to spread them wide enough to attach to the USB basket. In order to not solder the piece where they shouldn’t be I used a piece of scrap silver as a separator.

The USB Frame

It is time to complete the lower part of the pendant. The lower frame will be soldered to USB basket in 6 connection points: 4 corner points and 2 on the center of the basket lid.

First I mark where the connection points will be on the basket lid as they must be slightly grinded to ensure a strong joinery. I use my engraver with a round burr to carve two small dimples 4 mm from each side at the center line. I also file a bit from each corner of the USB basket to make soldering easier.

The central decorative piece is getting soldered first as it will serve as a stem for the whole frame. I use tweezers to hold the decoration frame on top of the USB basket. It takes a while to bend wires to make them fit tightly to the dimples I made earlier. I still use medium solder for the central peice connection.

Once the central piece is soldered to the basket it is easier to maneuver the outer decoration pieces to fit the corners of the USB basket. I use steel wire to hold them in place while soldering. Since these are made with thinner wire I use easy solder to ensure the wires and the exisitng joints do not melt.

The last step for the lower part is to add clasp bumps on each side of the USB basket. These bumps (lack of a better word) are just silver spheres where the “figure 8 calsps” will click on to hold the lower frame. So I use 2 simlar piece of 1mm wire about 12 mm each and melt them with my torch. The surface tension force dose the magic and turn them into an almost perfect silver balls.

I mark the middle of the basket on each side and carve out dimples to place the balls. Then I use tweezers to hold the entire frame on the side and place a silver ball into the dimple. It is a good idea to put some extra flux and use a larger chunk of easy solder before applying the heat. This way solder will distribute itself evenly and the joint will be strong.

The same operation is done on the other side of the USB basket attaching a second silver ball. Once all the soldering is done the lower frame takes a hot citric acid bath to remove the firescale.

The Upper Frame Triangles

The upper frame basically consists of two identical elements on the back and front sides. A side itself is just a fusion of 2 triangles – a larger and a smaller one. Hence, in total there are 4 triangles to be crafted separately and then joined together.

I start with a larger triangle. I cut a piece of 1.2mm wire for a single side of a large triangle as per the sketch. Then I use this piece as a template to cut another 5 pieces of the same length to get 6 in total, 3 for each large triangle.

It is very important to grind off a tip of each wire to simplify soldering. The point here is to maximise the surface two pieces of wire will connect to each other. So I preapred all 6 piece of wire and soldered them in pairs to form 2 large triangles.

The process is similar for the smaller triangles. The difference is that the lower side of the triangle is smaller and I use 1mm wire this time. Again, make sure to grind the tips either with engraver or a flat file, otherwise the joint won’t be as good.

Once there are four triangles it is time to merge them into two. I place smaller triangle on top of the larger one and mark the points of where they interlay. Then I use a fine burr to cut grooves in the larger triangles so the smaller one could sink in them. When the triangles are lined up it is time to reinforce the interlaying points with medium solder.

The result of this step is two star-ish flat wireframes.

Assembling the Upper Frame

Until now the main frame is just a couple of flat wireframes. It is time to go 3D to make room for a USB drive to penetrate into. The idea is to have back and front sides of the upper frame on top of each other with some space in between.

The trick here is to connect the central tips of the wireframes with a 1mm piece of wire about 30mm long. Bending this wire will make it possible to align wireframes on top of each other ensuring enough space for USB drive in between.

To make sure the USB drive can sit comfortable inside the upper frame I decided to add a cage. This cage is made with 4 rectangular rings identical to the ones I made a USB basket with.

The culmination point of the upper frame assembly is aligning the wireframes, adding the USB cage and soldering all of these toghether. There are multiple connection points and it is important to solder each one of them to ensure stiffness of the pendant. I use a lot of steel wire to hold all the pieces together while soldering. It also helps to protect already existing joints from the heat.

Clasp Hinges

At this point there are 2 parts of the pendant ready but with no way to hold on to each other. The mechanism to hold them together will be based on standard bracelet clasps, a.k.a. “figure 8 safety clasp”.

First of all I need a hinge on each side of the upper frame where the clasp will be attached to. I also need a piece of wire to attach a hinge to. So I just cut a piece of 1.2mm wire and solder it where the large triangle intersects with USB cage. Same operation is done on the other side of the upper frame. At this point I thought that it would look better if I join the tips of the back and front large triangles together on both sides. It does look much nicer.

To make a hinge I take a piece of 1.2mm wire anneal it and flatten it out with a hammer on a tiny anvil. Then I use another piece of 1.2mm wire to wrap the flattened wire around to form a little loop. This loop is then goes to the spot I prepared for the hinges on the upper frame.

The end of this step is almost assembled pendant ready for clasps to be added.

Polishing

Since the most of the soldering is done it is time for polishing. There are many ways to polish a piece of jewellery but in this case I use a rotary tumbler. This is jsut a barrel with tiny steel balls that lightly hit the silver piece hunderd of times with each rotation. I usually run the tumbler for an hour and the result always astonishes me.

Not only the tumbling polishes off the imperfections on th silver piece, it also make it stronger by a process called work hardening. Taken out of the tumbler the pendant is ready for some hand polishing, adding clasps and setting the USB drive.

Setting the USB Drive

Only when all the heavy operations like soldering and tumbling are done it is safe to set our USB drive into the basket. I use a tiny bit of two component epoxy glue to fill the basket and place the USB drive inside.

In case if the drive does not fit in the basket I use engraver to grind its internal walls to make more room. I always check the fittness by inserting the fron side of the drive into the basket. If it goes in smoothly then it is good to be set with a glue.

The Clasps

The clasp is just a wire loop curved in a way to click on the bump. I cut about 70mm of a 1mm wire and form a U-shape. Then it goes into the clasp hinge I attached earlier to the upper frame. While on the hinge I use pliers to bend the clasp wire in a kind of 8-shape pattern to give it some flexibility to be able to click onto the bumb on the USB frame.

I intentionally leave a longer tail on the clasps to give them a final bend contouring the decorative elements of the USB frame. In order to complete the clasp I solder the tail together with an easy solder and throw the entire upper frame into a citric bath.

Stone Setting

With the clasps in place I could consider that the pendant is completed. But something was kinda missing. Since this is a jewellery piece I decided to add a gemstone – a beautiful square black onyx.

The only possible option to atatche a stone I see here is a prongs setting. This is one of the simplest yet trickiest setting option. So I mark 4 spots where the prongs will be attached to. The prongs will hold some load so the spots for them are selected where frame wires intersecting to add strength.

I used engraver to grind the spots a bit to ensure good joints. Then a took 2 pieces of 1mm wire and bent them in a horseshoe manner. This way it is easier to solder the prongs.

Once soldered I cut off the top arching parts of the horseshoe shaped additions and file the tips to smooth them out. The last accord is to put the stone in its place and gently bend the tips of the prongs so they embrace the onyx tightly.

When the stone is set the only thing left to do is to clean up the pendant with a toothbruch is a soapy water, rinse it and wipe it dry to make sure that moisture would neither damage silver wires nor the USB drive inside it.

The post Fantasy USB pendant with black onyx appeared first on Slavik LTD.

In the office at work there is a place where people drop stuff they don’t need no more, but it is still too good to throw out. One day there was a beatuful earring which supposedly lost its partner. I decided to give it a new life as a pendant instead.

This new pendant I crafted is directly inspired by one of the most iconic pieces of lab equipment: the Erlenmeyer flask. Its distinctive conical shape, designed for mixing and heating, has always struck me as elegant and functional. I wanted to capture that essence and transform it into a wearable piece of art.

For the centerpiece, I used that beautiful rose quartz teardrop cabochon. The soft, gentle pink of the rose quartz offers a wonderful contrast to the cool, precise lines of the flask, bringing a touch of warmth and organic beauty to the scientific form.

To add some sparks to the piece I employed the filigree technique to fill the space around the gemstone. Instead of a solid silver backplate, I took my time handcrafting the intricate silver filigree. This delicate, lacy wirework creates an ethereal, almost molecular structure within the flask’s outline, enhancing the light that plays around the rose quartz. It adds depth, texture, and a sense of delicate complexity that I feel perfectly echoes the microscopic wonders we explore in biotechnology.

This pendant is more than just jewelry: it’s a personal fusion of my professional journey and my love for handcrafted artistry. It’s a reminder that beauty can be found in the most unexpected places, even in the meticulously ordered medical lab world.

Peek at crafting process

First of all I remove the cabochon. Since the original lonely earring is not sterling silver I am not going to reuse its body. Luckily the cab was just holding by a drop of glue and poped right off with minimal force.

Next step is to create a new saddle for the salvaged cabochon. This time I used 0.4mm thick silver strip for a saddle frame. The very same strip made a great bottom to hold the stone. I could cut a teardrop shaped solid sheet but this would hide away the beautiful inclusions inside the rose quartz.

With the saddle soldered and roughly polished it is time for the main shape. I researched the Erlenmeyer flasks and sketched a pendant frame. Then I used a 1mm silver wire to shape it accordingly.

After some bending and cutting I placed the wires on my soldering block and got on with my blowtorch. At this stage it is particularly difficult becuase there is a fine line between melting the medium solder and screwing up the entire piece.

On top of the flask I added a jump ring for a future bail. Inside the flask I placed a first filigree wire around the inner circumference. Only then I soldered the stone saddle to the bottom of the flask. Once the structure was stabilized this way it was easier to add consequitive layers of filigree to fill up the openings.

When all filigree work is completed I added a tiny bail made out of a piece of spiral wire, which concluded the soldering phase. Now it is time for stone setting. I immobilized the pendant by driving a few nails into a wooden block around it. This set up enabled me to operate my bezel pusher to bend the silver edges inside to tightly hold the cabochon.

Once the stone is in its rightful place I take my time polishing the small details with silicone polishing wheels and high grit sand paper. Then clean up all the polishing compound residue and voila – the Erlenmeyer Flask Pendant is ready to be put on and draw some astonished looks.

The post Erlenmeyer Flask Pendant appeared first on Slavik LTD.

A Unique and Symbolic Design

This exquisite pendant is more than just a piece of jewelry — it’s a symbol of everlasting love and deep connection. The pendant features two heart-shaped frames, crafted from solid sterling silver, with an intricate design that highlights the beauty of the materials. The inner heart, adorned with a stunning sodalite gemstone, is connected to the outer frame by two hinges, allowing it to spin freely. This dynamic feature adds an element of movement and grace, making the pendant a mesmerizing and meaningful gift. It is maybe not as personal as the Amber Book Locket with a heart-shaped amber on top of it, but still it conveys a great deal of love and dedication.

The Crafting Challenge

On top of that there is also a uniquness to way the sodalite gem is set. A common setting technique is callez bezel – this is when a rim is made in contoures of the stone and soldered to the plate. This is why you can only see one side of the stone in its bezel. For this particular pendant it would not work well because of the spinning inner frame and it would look odd to have only one side of the stone exposed. So the way I did it (for the first time by the way) is that I first made a rim out of a 3mm flat silver stripe in a shape of a heart so the sodalite would go all the way through it. Then I bent the edge of the rim inwards on one side blocking the stone to get out on the other side. In this setup I just put the whole thing int o the thermolock and pushed the edges of the bezel to set the stone inside. I had to repeat it quite a few times to get the stone firmly set but in the end I got a beautiful result.

The Significance of Sodalite

Sodalite is known as the stone of intuition, communication, and harmony. It is believed to enhance clarity of thought, strengthen emotional bonds, and encourage self-expression. The deep blue hues, often interwoven with white marbling, make each stone unique—just like the love shared between two people. This makes my spinning heart pendant a powerful symbol of trust, unity, and balance in any relationship. I really enjoy working with sodalite, there is a Spy Ring I crafted recently using this stone.

Why This Pendant Is the Perfect Valentine’s Day Gift

Valentine’s Day gifts should be personal, thoughtful, and long-lasting. Here’s why this spinning heart pendant stands out as the perfect choice:

• Handcrafted with Love – Every pendant is meticulously designed and handcrafted, ensuring a unique and high-quality piece that cannot be replicated by mass production.
• Symbol of Everlasting Love – The spinning motion represents the constant flow of love, making it a beautiful metaphor for an unbreakable bond.
• Timeless and Elegant – Made from solid sterling silver, this pendant will never go out of style, making it a cherished keepsake for years to come.
• Perfect for Everyday Wear or Special Occasions – Whether paired with casual outfits or elegant evening wear, this pendant adds a touch of sophistication and meaning to any look.

How to Style the Spinning Heart Pendant

This pendant is versatile enough to complement a variety of styles. Whether worn on its own for a minimalist look or layered with other necklaces for a trendy statement, it will always stand out. Pair it with a silver chain of your choice to personalize the look even further.

For a complete Valentine’s Day ensemble, consider matching this pendant with sterling silver earrings or a bracelet that complements the blue tones of the sodalite gemstone. This thoughtful combination will enhance the beauty of the piece and create a coordinated, elegant look.

Caring for Your Sterling Silver Pendant

To keep your pendant looking as beautiful as the day you received it, follow these simple care tips:

• Store it in a jewelry box or pouch to prevent scratches and tarnish.
• Clean it with a soft cloth and mild silver polish to maintain its shine.
• Avoid exposure to harsh chemicals, perfumes, and lotions that can dull the silver over time.

Order Now and Make This Valentine’s Day Unforgettable

If you want to surprise your loved one with a one-of-a-kind, handcrafted gift, this sterling silver spinning heart pendant is the perfect choice. Available for a limited time, this exclusive piece is sure to capture hearts and create cherished memories.

Make this Valentine’s Day unforgettable by gifting a pendant that symbolizes the infinite and ever-turning love between you and your special someone.

The post Spinning Heart Pendant appeared first on Slavik LTD.

For me jewellery has always been more than just a decoration — it can tell stories, capture moments and sometimes conceal secrets. My latest creation, a handcrafted silver ring with an oval sodalite gemstone, takes this concept to heart. While it looks like another odd ring, a closer look reveals a modern twist: a detachable part hiding a Goodram UPI2 64GB USB drive. This piece isn’t just about aesthetics – it’s a blend of artistry and practicality, designed for those who value elegance and ingenuity. And this is probably something a secret agent would wear on his world saving mission.

The Inspiration

When I set out to design this ring, I wanted to create something that resonated with modern needs while staying true to the timeless allure of handcrafted jewelry. Sodalite, with its calming blue hues and unique veining, was a natural choice. Known for its connection to intuition and logic, the gemstone represents balance — a fitting symbol for a ring that marries tradition with technology. The body of the ring is made entirely of silver wires of various sizes. Even the bezel to hold the gemstone is just a loop of wire hammered to a flat stripe. Later on I added two prongs to a bezel to ensure the sodalite is set tightly and is not going to fall off while wearing.

The hidden USB drive adds a layer of intrigue and functionality. In a world where digital storage is vital, why not incorporate it into something beautiful? This ring is perfect for those who appreciate the unexpected and enjoy carrying a bit of mystery wherever they go. The USB part secures itself to a ring with a rectangular frame made out of a delicate twiested wire that swings easily on two tiny hinges.

A friend of mine when saw this ring said to me: “Oh, this is like of those fun medival rings with hidden compartment for poison!”. Well, she always had a somewhat odd definition of fun.

Rings with Secrets: A Historical Perspective

The idea of jewelry with concealed functionalities is not new. In fact, rings have a fascinating history of hiding secrets. In medieval Europe, “poison rings” were popular among the elite. These rings featured small compartments under the gemstone, designed to hold poison or other substances. While this sounds dramatic, they were often used to carry perfumes, snuff, or even miniature messages.

During the Renaissance, rings evolved into symbols of romance and espionage. Lovers exchanged rings with hidden compartments for secret notes, while spies used them to carry microfilm or coded messages. Some rings even had tiny sundials or compasses, serving as practical tools for travelers and adventurers.

One particularly intriguing example is the “puzzle ring,” a multi-band ring that interlocks into a single piece. Historically, these rings were given to spouses as a loyalty test; if removed improperly, the bands would fall apart, revealing the wearer’s betrayal.

These hidden functionalities made rings more than mere adornments — they became tools, tokens of trust, and symbols of ingenuity.

A Modern Twist on Tradition

Inspired by this rich history, my sodalite silver ring takes the concept of concealed functionality into the digital age. The detachable part, housing a 64GB USB drive, adds a practical element for the modern wearer. Imagine having your most important files — photos, documents, or creative projects — literally at your fingertips.

The design process was both challenging and rewarding. Crafting the silver wires to form the ring’s base required precision and care, ensuring the USB drive remained secure yet easily accessible. Setting the sodalite stone was a meditative process, allowing the natural beauty of the gem to shine while complementing the ring’s innovative feature.

Who Is This Ring For?

This ring is for dreamers and doers, for creatives and professionals who appreciate the fusion of beauty and utility. It’s a perfect gift for someone who loves unique, handcrafted jewelry with a story. Whether you’re a writer carrying your latest manuscript, a photographer safeguarding precious memories, or simply someone who loves a touch of mystery, this ring is a statement of individuality and purpose.

The Allure of Mystery

There’s something undeniably captivating about owning a piece of jewelry with a secret. It sparks curiosity and invites conversation. Every time you wear this ring, you carry not just a USB drive but also a connection to centuries of ingenuity and storytelling.

In a world where so much is mass-produced, this ring stands out as a testament to craftsmanship and creativity. It’s a reminder that jewelry can be more than decorative—it can be meaningful, functional, and utterly unique.

So, the next time you slip on this sodalite silver ring, take a moment to appreciate its story. From medieval poison rings to modern digital drives, rings with hidden functionalities continue to captivate our imaginations, proving that beauty and practicality are timeless companions.

Final Thoughts

Jewellery is a deeply personal expression of who we are. By creating this ring, I hope to inspire others to see beyond the surface and embrace the unexpected. If this story resonates with you, I invite you to explore my Etsy store and discover the perfect piece that tells your story.

What secrets will your ring hold? The answer lies in your hand.

The post Spy Ring With a Concealed USB drive appeared first on Slavik LTD.

There’s nothing quite like creating something unique for someone you care about. The design? Think three diamonds elegantly merged together into one eye-catching piece!

The citrine gemstone steals the show with its rich, golden-yellow glow — it’s like carrying a little piece of sunshine everywhere. I chose citrine not just for its beauty but also because it symbolizes happiness and positivity. Perfect for a birthday gift, right?

The pendant’s design combines modern vibes with a touch of playfulness. The three diamond shapes give it a bold, geometric feel, while the mix of smooth silver and textured details adds depth and character. It hangs on a sleek silver chain, making it super easy to wear with just about anything—from a casual tee to a fancy dress.

The citrine gem is set on four prongs in the central diamond frame for an obvious eye catching effect. Two smaller diamonds beneath and abouve the citrine are filled with twisted wire – an ancient technique called filigree. I love how this tripple diamond shape turned out!

Unfortunately, life has driven us far apart and we now live in different locations now. Thus I packed the pendant nicely in a cute little jewellery box and shipped it across the world.

It is a pity I didn’t get a chance to see her smiling face when she opened it. Nevertheless, she seemed really happy about her new silver triple diamon pendant with a mysterious citrine gemstone in it!

If you’ve ever thought about making a custome gift for some close to you instead of buying a regular one, I can’t recommend it enough. Handmade pieces like this are one-of-a-kind, just like the people we create them for – they are totally worth the effort.

The post Triple Diamond Filigree Pendant appeared first on Slavik LTD.

I started sketching my envelope locket trying to add some usefulness to it. This is where the USB idea came in – the vast majority of USB drive are pure functional, but not aestetic. My locket would fuse these aspects, I thought. And sterted bending, twisting and soldering wires.

I used mostly silver wires and the filigree technique. The locket opens up to reveal a concealed 64GB USB drive inside. The front side boasts a captivating garnet cabochon I found in a local mineral shop.

Paired with a custom 65cm silver chain, this locket becomes a wearable artwork (at least that what I aim at). My main point here is that it offers a perfect blend of ancient silversmithing, traditional form and practical function.

Once I completed crafting I rashed excitedly to show my envelope creation to my wife. But her immediate response was not I prepared for.

She said: “Aww you made a lovely tiny cute purse!”  a PURSE!

Well, she’s not wrong – this is me who was so focused on the envelope theme that couldn’t shift my perception. Nevertheless, envelope or purse – I’m still pleased with how this experiment turned out! ????

For non-Barbies as well – it would fit any doll regardless of manufacturer, as long as the silver rectagular purse would go with the overall outfit.

Elevate your style with this one-of-a-kind piece that marries tradition with modernity. Visit my Etsy store for more details.

The post Envelope Silver Locket with USB drive 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.

Delve into a world where fantasy meets innovation with my Enariel pendant. This exquisite piece combines the artistry of elvish and celtic design elements with the functionality of a 64GB USB drive, offering you both beauty and utility in one elegant package.

A creation journey

Being a huge fantasy genre fan I always have this desire to bring some of its elegancy into our world. Also I want my jewellery to be more than just a mere decoration. This is where the USB drive part comes in.

Once a spark of inspiration lands in my mind it takes me hours of sketching to get it out.

I select the most promising draft and start crafting the separate elements accordingly. The overall idea is to make this pendant in 2 parts: a main frame with a gem and a detachable USB drive.

The USB drive part

The bottom part of the pendant is essentially a basket for a USB drive with decorative frames. I chose a brand new Goodram UPI2 64GB nano USB drive. This particular model is awesome for such projects because its plastic case is not an integral part of the drive itself. After removing the plastic parts you got a clean full metal USB stick with little grip bumps on the sides.

I used 1.0mm wire for the central frame and 0.8mm wires for everything else.

The main challange here (and the excitement) is that the elements must be assembled in 3D instead of a flat piece. I solder the central frame first and two auxiliary ones on both sides right after. I figured that it is easier to solder all 3 frames at the bottom point and then attach it to the USB basket.

The main frame

I had an itching desire to create something spiky. It was probably inspired mostly by the world of Witcher and Elder Scrolls where you can often loot some cool artefacts left by ancient civilisations. Hence, the idea boils down to have two wire triangles curved inwards attached to a cage where a USB drive would come in.

Together these triangles would create a frame stiff enough to hold a detachable element firmly. I used 1mm thick silver wires for that purpose, but it turned out that 0,8mm would work just as well. So I would solder 2 out of 3 pairs of vertexes together leaving the last pair at the bottom where the USB part would be inserted.

Only at a later stage of the project I thought that a gemstone would make it all look even cooler. Luckily I had this gorgeous carnelian cab lying around for quite some time that I purchased in a small mineral shop in Poland. A bezel setting was not an option as it would ruin the airy feeling of the entire design. Thus I simply marked four points on the frame as symmetrical as possible and soldered prong wires.

One of the most important things of the entire pendant is the way its parts are holding together. The connection must be strong enough to ensure that the bottom part would not fall off easily. On the other hand it should be easy to operate. I had to get through few iterations until the mechanism was good enough. I used simple bracelet clasps firmly clicking onto the blobs soldered to the USB basket.

The result

After some extensive polishing and tumbling I set the carnelian on the prongs and bent the ends of clasps to kinda outline the bottom frame. I am happy with the end result and also I learned few things along the way so this experiment can be considered successful.

You might also wanna check the video of the Enariel pendant:

Cha-ching!

Another major evidence of success and recognition of me as an artist is that the pendant was sold!

My artistic ego is skyrocketing!

Even more so, my artwork was also bought as a birthday gift! I guess that the artistic fulfilling sensation ain’t getting better than that

If you like the stuff I create make sure to check my Etsy store SlavikLTD.

The post Enariel – fantasy USB pendant appeared first on Slavik LTD.

Let me tell you a story about a handcrafted silver filigree locket inspired by a norse mythology and a little bit by the Sandman series aired on Netflix.

The Myth

The ancient myth says that Unelma, the norse Goddess of Dreams, once found a lost dreamer wandering around her halls. “How dare you invade my castle without an invitation?”, she asks with anger. “I’m terribly sorry, Your Majesty”, the poor boy desperately replied, “I have no idea how I got here and I got lost… I’m just trying to find my way home”. Unelma looked in his big scared eyes and said playfully: “I will show you the way, but first you shall amuse me with a riddle”.

The boy was so frightened and exhausted and thoughts were running inside his head hecticly. And out of nowhere he suddenly remebers a riddle from a game he used to play and claims:

“Often will I spin a tale, never will I charge a fee. I’ll entertain you an entire eve, but alas, you won’t remember me. What am I?”

Unelma thought for a while and replied: “I do not know the answer to your riddle nor have I heard this one before. You did very well and not only I will send you home, I will reward you with a gift if only you would give me the answer to your riddle”. “It’s what we are in now, Your Majesty”, the boy said humbly, “the Dream!”.

As the legend goes, this boy woke up with something squeezed in his hand. It was a beautiful piece of prehnite stone with dark inclusions of epidote mineral. He never parted from this magical stone since.

Unfortunately, the description of the amulet is nowhere to be found throughout the mythology. However, it is generally known that Unelma loves books and she never refuses the offering with prehnite stones, especially the one with epidote inclusions.

Hence, I crafted this locket based on all the clues I could find to make it look as close as possible to the amulet from the story. The USB stick will come handy to store your dreams, but it can also hold any tokens from your awaken life.

The post The Book of Unelma appeared first on Slavik LTD.

Why?

As you probably know, my home country Ukraine is being attacked by russia. They try to justify their invasion with some bullish%t about freeing Ukraine from the nazi regime. The entire world understands the outrageous stupidity of this crap, hence we are being supported from all over the globe. And Ukraine does need all the support right now.

I am lucky to have an established life abroad, thus my mission now is to provide maximum support to my family, friends, army and volunteers in Ukraine. Since I have spent most of my savings already I try to raise some extra funds by crafting and selling jewellery.

What?

I started to craft silver pendants which depict Ukrainian coat of arms “Tryzub” (trident) with a heart shape opening added inside it. Hence, the name “With Ukraine At Heart”. It was originally designed for my dear Ukrainian friends for their anniversary (Ukrainian trident pendant). They kindly agreed to share this design with the rest of the world.

The mainframe is made out of silver 0.8mm wire and its larger openings are filled with twisted and flattened silver wire, this technique called filigree. In the middle there is a natural garnet gemstone set on 4 prongs. Pendant hangs on a 55cm suede necklace.

I also had a few aventurine cabochones as in the original Ukrainian trident pendant.

A special modification would be a trident with oval faceted topaz gemstone. I hope to sell this one through the online auction to be able to buy another set of tactical tourniquets or armoured vests for brave Ukrainian soldiers.

How?

Should you wish to support me and help my country to fight back those damn russians – please visit my Etsy store section “Save Ukraine” to get one of these pendants (or contact me directly).

If you want such pendant with a specific stone please contact me.

If the price is too high but you still wanna help Ukraine – please donate to trusted charity organisation such as ComeBackAlive – every penny counts!

Together we will win! Слава Україні!

https://youtube.com/shorts/C1gv_5Rwdxw?feature=share

The post “With Ukraine At Heart” Silver Filigree Pendant appeared first on Slavik LTD.

Sole

Every silver shoe starts with a sole. Same as previously (like in High Heel Filigree Sandal with Carnelian Stone and Butterfly or Strappy high heeled pendant with garnet cabochon) I cut it out of a 1mm silver sheet. Interestingly enough I couldn’t find any template for a high heel sole so each time I draw it by hand. It would be an issue to craft a specific size shoe, thus it’s a good thing no one will wear those on their feet.

Once the first sole is sawed and rough edges are filed away I use it to make a pair. I draw an outline of the first sole on the sheet to saw a second one. This way it is easier to make pair of soles look very much alike.

Having both soles cut and polished it is a perfect moment to stamp my brand on them. Mainly because they are still flat. Once you bend them into a shoe shape the stamping task becomes hell of a lot more complicated. Ah, recently I got a new punch with a tiny 925 marking and I love how it presents itself right under the SL stamps.

Next step is to bend the sole into the shoe shape. It can be a bit difficult because you want your shoes to have sexy curves. I mostly do the bending by hand with a little help of nylon pliers not to damage the surface too much.

Heel

Once I’m happy with the soles shape it is time for the most tricky part of the shoe – the high heel itself. The heel is a complex pin with a flat angled surface on one end.

To produce the heel I first heat up and melt one end of a 1mm wire to form a bubble. Then I cut this bubble to fit the angle of the sole and solder it to a little D-shaped 1mm plate. It does look really ugly until it burred, filed and polished to its proper shape.

When the heel starts to look okay-ish I solder it to the sole to form a “slipper” which is a base for the future shoe. Based on previous experience I now use a longer piece of wire so I can adjust and equalise the heel hight for both shoes. Having both slippers looking alike is a huge successful milestone in this project.

Back heel holder

The leading design idea for this particular pair is to have few shoe straps to hold the stones. Pretty much like these gorgeous Cassandra high heel sandals from Saint Laurent. Not being too good at following the sketches I decided to model it out. I sculpted a little leg out of a candle wax and attached it to a slipper.

First decoration (and also structurally crucial) element of the shoe decoration is the back heel holder. I use paper stickies to cut out the shape for the heel holders and stick them onto the wax leg. Based on the paper template I saw them out of 0.8mm silver plate and anneal it to prepare for hammering.

Straps

Back heel holder also has rather complex geometry. I tried before to produce only with and tools and let me tell you – it is not a good idea. I am genuinely happy that I spent profit from selling my High Heel Filigree Sandal with Carnelian Stone and Butterfly on this micro dapping set! It is a perfect tool to form silver into curvy shapes and I was super excited to use it in this project.

With the heel holders soldered to the slippers it finally started to look like a proper pair of heels. Now it is time to add some straps!

Again the sticky notes came in very handy for modelling straps for my sandal. I just cut out thin stripes of paper and put them onto the wax leg to see how it would look. It also gave me an idea about where the stone saddle will sit and what are the attachment points.

Based on the paper templates I cut my 0.6×1.4mm flat wire into pieces and solder them one by one to each slipper. Once all the straps were in place I filed the attachment points for the stone saddles and soldered them right in. After all the soldering I left both shoes in the acid bath for some time for cleaning. It would be great to put them into the tumbler for a nice polishing, but I ain’t got one unfortunately. But my Dremel Micro with metal brushes and silicone discs also managed to do a good job. The result was actually better than I expected and I got so excited I almost started to set the sones!

Shackles

Happily though I managed to calm myself down and noticed that an important element is still missing – a shackle to connect an earring with a hook.

It would still be possible to do after the stones are set, but I prefer not to heat up the stones. This is risky as not all stones take heating positively. Some might change colour or even crack, hence it is a good habit to leave the stone setting as the very last step in making a jewellery masterpiece.

I took two tiny bits of my flat wire and bent them into micro jump rings. As this should be the very last soldering activity I used the super soft solder to preserve already existing solder joints. Also I clamp a shoe heel in a cross tweezer to dissipate the excessive heat while soldering the shackles. With shackles attached I went through another cycle of acid bathing and manual polishing to get ready for stone setting.

Stone setting

This is my first project I specifically purchased stones for. There is a local shop selling all kinds of precious and semi-precious stones, This is where I found these gorgeous garnet marquise stones and I knew exactly where to put them. Basically I did the entire shoe design around these marvellous garnets.

I choose to use bezel setting technique for this project as I find it the most neat and tidy way of exposing a beautiful stone. Prongs can sometime steal away some thunder away from the stone and I definitely didn’t want it here. Given that the high heel sandal is not the easiest shape to set the stone into I needed a smart way to firmly hold it in a vice. Most jewellers advise to use some sort of jewellery putty or sealing wax, but I can tell you that the polymorph plastics works great as well. You just melt it in a hot water, form it around your piece and let it cool down. Once hardened it is surprisingly strong and you can safely clamp it in a vice for bezel setting. After I finished setting stones into their saddles I gave the earrings another round of fine polishing. And let me tell you honestly – they look truly remarkable!

Exhibition

I hope you enjoyed following the manufacturing process and now it is time to check out the final result. This time I tried to spice things up a little and produce some artisan styled photos (at least in my mind they are). Thus I invite you to have a glimpse though the pictures below and enjoy the show!

This piece is still available for purchase. If you are interested please visit my Etsy Store or send me a DM in my Instagram to talk business

The post High heel strappy sandals silver earrings appeared first on Slavik LTD.

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share via Email
• Share on Tumblr
• Share on Reddit

Captivated yet? Then let me take you through a process of handcrafting an elegant high heel shoe pendant with filigree straps and a wonderful amethyst triangular stone.

Sole

This is no secret that you have to start somewhere, preferably from the beginning (silly grin face). In the world of shoemaking, even silver ones, the starting point is the sole. I couldn’t find a decent blueprint of such shoe so I drew one myself. It might not be exactly proportional but in the end of the day I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt anyone’s feet.

I have a sheet of silver 1mm thick which makes an excellent base for silver shoes. The only thing you have to do is to saw the sole out of it. And then do some filing, burring or sanding depending on the tool of your choice.

When you are happy with the shape of the sole it is a good idea to make both surfaces flat and polish them. Believe me it is going to be much harder once the sole is bent (wise wizard face). This is also a perfect (and probably the only possible) moment to brand your jewellery piece with a steel punch. In my case I stamp SL as an abbreviation for Slavik LTD, which is the trademark I still contemplate to register officially.

Would you believe that crafting a heel itself is one the most complicated operations in this entire process? Well, you should. Unless you are good in melting and casting silver, it is going to take a lot of effort to carve a good stiletto. It is still an enormous struggle for me and would appreciate any idea you might have for simplify its manufacturing process.

Decoration

The centrepiece of all this is the amethyst I mentioned in the beginning. The saddle for it appeared to be straightforward – a flat 1.2mm wide stripe ring with filigree basement will hold the stone firmly. Even though it fits tightly I added another loop of 0.6 wire around the saddle and three chunks of the same 1.2mm stripe to make sure the cabochon is not going anywhere.

The idea is to set the stone in the front side of the shoe. In order to do that the saddle needs to be solidly attached to the shoe sole somehow. And it must looks elegant of course. So I bent a piece of 0.6mm wire into a kinda-monkey-looking shape leaving enough space in the middle for a saddle. This shape provides 5 connection points to the shoe which should be enough to ensure the structure stability.

Fine silver wire is very flexible and needs reinforcement to keep the shape. I added few wire loops above and beyond to solder the saddle in the centre. The blank spaces were practically asking me to fill them with filigree. I am not strong enough to reject that so ended up with putting filigree in every strap.

When the monkey-shape was soldered, cleaned and polished it was time for a final assemble. This is by far the most thrilling phase of the silver shoemaking process. Mostly it’s due to the complexity of the shape it is extremely difficult to control heat dissipation while soldering pieces together. And lack of such control leads straight into previously soldered pieces start to live their own lives with twists and shifts.

Happily this time I got lucky to have all parts attached together with no bigger adventures. Which let me focus on the most satisfying operations in jewellery making – setting the stone. With a saddle prepared earlier it is a matter of levelling the cabochon and carefully bending the prongs to hold it tightly.

Exhibition

Once stone is on its rightful place the whole thing was meticulously polished and bathed in the ultrasonic cleaner. A final touch with attaching a jump ring on the back and voila – the elegant silver high heel sandal with filigree elements and a gorgeous triangular amethyst is ready to reveal itself to the world. Either as a necklace or a piece of art!

This piece is still available for purchase. If you are interested please visit my Etsy Store or send me a DM in my Instagram to talk business

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share via Email
• Share on Tumblr
• Share on Reddit

The post High heel filigree sandal with amethyst appeared first on Slavik LTD.

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share via Email
• Share on Tumblr
• Share on Reddit

Intro

It is very satisfying that there are people out there who share the same passion. In my case this passion is elegant shoes and I found a way to express it in a form of jewellery. A friend of mine noticed my post in social media and contacted me right away to make an order. Motivated by the demand I set off to materialise a challenging idea I had in mind for quite a while – a high heel sandal with a butterfly wings inspired by Sophia Webster‘s incredible shoes.

High heel slipper

As any other silver shoe project (like this one or that one) I start with sawing a sole. I used a template from a previous high heel project that I am particularly happy about. Some say that the size of these pendants is too large to be delicate enough. Well, this is how I do my art and if you don’t like it – you’ve got the entire rest of the world to explore.

Although the sole is relatively easy to saw, making a good heel is far from trivial. Surely the silver casting would make it a lot easier but what’s the fun in that? The entire piece could have been casted in a mold and therefore loose its uniqueness.

So this time I started with melting one end of a piece of 2mm silver wire into a drop. Then I filed it down a bit and soldered on a piece of 1mm thick plate on top of it. First it looked rough but after some heavy grinding the result was actually better than I anticipated.

Once the heel is grinded to its rough shape I decided to attach it to the sole and do the fitting of the entire slipper. The trick I learned from mistakes is to make sure that the sole is polished as good as possible on this stage. Every new element on the shoe will not make polishing any easier. On the pic above you might notice the “S L” punched on the sole – it stands for SlavikLTD (in case you were wondering).

It is also important to use a hard solder on this stage. Otherwise if you use the same solder at all steps of building a piece you might find yourself getting angry about elements randomly detaching or misplacing during the heating operations. Once the heel is in its place there is usually a lot of redundant solder to remove and defects to file off.

Back heel holder

I was meaning to reproduce this element for a while. Some real sandals have this piece in the back of the shoe to hold a foot firmly. It seems to be easy to make in fabric but in my case it has to be a metal sheet.

I happened to have a small piece of fine silver sheet about 0.8mm thick and I saw it as a perfect fit for a job. After a few failed attempts to make a sort of a template out of paper I got annoyed and just cut out a triangular piece to start with. The difficulty here is that this element has a complex semi-spherical shape stretched to the top. It’s a shame I don’t posses any dapping punches as it would probably make this step a lot easier. This time I had to go old school and hammer the back piece on a round end of my little anvil. Although time consuming the process was satisfying and the result turned out to be more than all right.

Stone saddle

The slipper is ready even with a curvy back piece that makes me clap my hands when I see it. What’s next? Now it is time to think about a saddle for my mesmerising carnelian smooth marquise. I bought this stone in a local mineral shop for a few bucks only because it had an imperfection embedded in it. In my mind this inclusion makes it even more perfect.

A stone setting rule of thumb is to begin with a good saddle. I used a 0.6mm thick silver stripe to make an oval which tightly fits the stone. Then file the ends just a bit and solder the oval and add the support ting on one side. You will always be able to grind the saddle insides to fit your stone, but if you make it too big – you might as well start from scratch.

The stone saddle must be firmly connected to the shoe. I decided that three attachment points should be enough to hold it in place. The support frame is a sort of a v-shape which will be bent and have its ends soldered to the back heel holder.

Because there was no sketch (not on paper at least) I had to do a lot of fitting tries. This time luck was on my side as it appeared that the size was just right and there is no need to start over.

Before the final bending the saddle support frame I wanted to decorate it with filigree. It is way more convenient to do while the frame is still flat. Once you make your frame curved it becomes a nightmare to fit the filigree wire in it.

Once the filigree is in place it was time to add another important structural element – prongs. These are pieces of wire to hold the stone in its saddle. Learned my lesson in the High Heeled Amethyst Earrings this time I used thicker wire for prongs and attached them as two U-shape frames instead of four separate pieces of wire. then I bent the ends in the hoop and soldered the entire decoration component onto the shoe. So far it looks promising.

The butterfly

Inspired by a Sophia Webster winged shoes I was sure the butterfly wings will look awesome in a silver shoe as well. I did, however, had some doubts whether go forward with this idea because the shoe was already looking great after the rough polishing. In the end the curiosity took over the risk of screwing up a perfectly good pendant.

This time a sketch was rather necessary at least a rough one. I have come to realise that I have never sketched a butterfly before and it appeared to be nothing like straightforward. I ended up doing a research on butterflies and you would be surprised how many of them are out there. After a couple of hours and few sketch pages spent on butterflies I had a winner fitting perfectly to be sitting on a silver shoe.

Thanks to my engineering intuition I did spent a bit more time thinking through the whole assembly process. Otherwise I would most definitely ended up starting this element over and over. The trick is that the butterfly outline is initially made flat so that I can fill it in with filigree. After that it will be bent in half to spread its wings. That’s why I made the frame with a single piece of wire with both ends running parallel in the middle. I assume that with a single wire in the middle it would not be stiff enough and there might have been difficulties soldering it to the shoe.

The final assemble is always breathtaking as this is when all previous flaws usually appear. I was worried that during this operation I might overheat it and the heel or back heel holder will get misplaced. Luckily this time no major disaster happened, nothing that cannot be gently grinned away anyway.

Stone setting

Once all soldering operations are completed and rough polishing applied – that’s like almost the finish line. One of my bosses used to say that “if it 90% done – it’s done”. But in my case I thought it would be weird and irresponsible to spend so much effort crafting the saddle for a stone and leave it empty. The biggest difficulty here is that the shoe has a complex shape especially with a butterfly wings on its back which is not perfect to be clamped in a vice.

In order to preserve all the delicate parts of this pendant I decided to use a thermoplastic putty for stone setting. I put the beads into the boiling water where they melt into a single slime. This slime goes inside and around the pendant making sure the saddle is accessible. Once it cools off it gets impressively hard so that it can be safely clamped in a vice. It is now time to insert a stone in its place, maybe grind off a bit to get a perfect fit and bend the prongs to hold the stone firmly. Voila!

Final note to myself: even though the thermoplastic putty works great for the stone setting activities, removing its residue from tiny cavities of a complex shape pendant is a nightmare. Next time I do need to remember to think this step through more thorough.

Photoshoot

Many thanks to my lovely wife for taking those unbelievable pictures of the high heel filigree sandal pendant with a cornelian stone and silver butterfly. Enjoy!

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share via Email
• Share on Tumblr
• Share on Reddit

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

The post High Heel Filigree Sandal with Carnelian Stone and Butterfly appeared first on Slavik LTD.

I was a bit stuck trying to come up with an idea for a birthday gift. Have you eve faced a similar struggle? Even though you know this person all your life but the brain goes pitch black when it comes to choosing the right present. I believe that the perfect gift must be personalised and carry a meaningful message. It can as well be a super expensive thing to make your friend crazy happy, but unfortunately I’m not a billionaire. Yet.

Hence, I was looking for something meaningful and personalised. Luckily my wife is an extremely creative person and she sketched out a lovely design for a pendant with a place for a cabochon in its center.

The meaning behind this design is an interpretation of a lucky symbol – the four leaf clover. Its leaf are sort of inverted into a pointy outline to add a bit of elvish elegancy to the piece. Once I placed the cabochon on this drawing I knew it was the right way to go.

The timing was perfect as there were only few days left before the birthday party. Due to the hurry I did not take much pictures of the manufacturing stages. Instead I managed to set up my old iPhone (with newly replaced battery) to record the entire process.

The production was rather straightforward with not much of complex surface challenges like I had with my High Heeled Amethyst Earrings or with the recent Strappy high heeled pendant with garnet cabochon. The quatrefoil pendant is basically a symmetrical wireframe with a cabochon cast in the middle and two jump rings on top and bottom peaks. Based on previous projects I thoughtfully reinforced the center cast with additional wire loop to keep the stone firmly in its place. Once the framework was soldered together the filigree got packed in. It always brings a mysterious and elegant effect to any jewellery piece.

Apart from time pressure the biggest challenge in this project was to set the prongs right. This is an operation which requires a lot more hands on experience than I’ve got so far. In my first try I soldered the prongs before the filigree went in. It was a bad idea as 3 of 4 prongs got displaced when the filigree was getting soldered. So I just cut them off, finished with filigree and tried again. This time instead of soldering a single prong I made 2 staples to make it easier to set in place. It went way better and easier to handle, but the next time I have to remember to make a bit deeper grooves where the prong touches the frame.

The pendant needs to have a clamp to be attached to a neck chain. I made a circle out of a thin silver wire and squeezed it on one side. That it was only a matter of filling in the filigree and bending it into a loop shape. I made similar element for the bottom jump ring only smaller and with no bending.

Deadline was approaching fast and I didn’t make any pictures of final polishing stage as a well as stone setting operation. Also my iPhone ran out of space and stopped filming my magic. But in the end the final piece looked really pretty and I’m really proud that I actually pulled it off. Enjoy the video I put together about handcrafting this pendant!

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

The post Custom quatrefoil pendant with chrysoprase appeared first on Slavik LTD.

Sole making

As any other project it starts with a basic shape. In this case the shape is a shoe sole. This time I did go extra mile and outlined a sole of real high heeled sandal. Not being sure about the right scale of a future pendant I placed few outlines beside each other to compare.

I knew for sure that this shoe must be bigger than previous ones I made. The reason is simply because the flattened silver wire I have looks clumsy on a smaller sole. So I printed the scale sheet and cut out few outlines. It seemed that number 5 would be good enough.

Next step is to glue the paper sole to a silver plate. I have a nice 1mm thick silver sheet, which is perfect for this project. With a good jigsaw a sole appears in no time. Important point here is to give it a very good polish as you wouldn’t have access to the inner sole surface later on. Also it is much easier to accomplish while the sole is still flat.

Another trick is to grind off the edge on a lower sole surface. In engineering terms it is called fillet, but it is not crucial to keep a perfect radius around the entire circumference of the sole to make it look great. Once you happy with the fillet the sole is ready for the main bending. I use a pair of soft jaws pliers to protect the surface during this operation. Also it is important to remember to stamp a logo before the bending, in my case it is “SL” on the bottom of the sole.

Modelling the heel

Then comes the fun part – making a heel. The difficulty here is that the heel is geometrically complex object, which cannot be easily produced by basic operations like bending, flattening or sawing. This one requires moulding. Silver moulding is not easy to master at home, but there are shortcuts. I took a piece of candle wax, warmed it up in my hands and modelled a heel directly onto the sole.

After few iterations of the wax heel it finally looked good enough. So it was the time to make a mould. I used a common gypsum powder, the one you could find in any home appliance store. When the mixture was getting a sour creme consistency I stick the sole with wax heel right inside the gypsum cast. I gave a few days to dry and harden and then I heated it up with a blow torch, let the wax out and poured melted silver into the cavity.

Even though the result was not perfect it was still fine to go forward. I did realise that there will be a lot of grinding and filing to get to the shape of the shoe I envisioned.

It took some effort to grind all the imperfections off the homemade silver moulded heel. And even then I knew it would need more work. Nevertheless I decided to leave it to the latest phase of the project. I needed to connect the heel to the sole in order to proceed. Steel wire came very handy while soldering the pieces.

Decorating the slipper

I call a sole with soldered heel a “blank slipper”, which is a huge milestone in a project like this. If you can get it right – the next step should be easier. However, I figured that it might be a bit boring to decorate the slipper with only silver strips. So I decided to add a stone as a decoration. Luckily there was a lovely garnet cabochon in my stones collection which would fit perfectly onto a sandal I was making.

The aim was to make this miniature shoe a bit more realistic than my previous creations. Not like it will ever hold a foot in it, but I still wanted to get the details right. So I modelled a tiny leg out of the same wax I used for a heel before and attached it to the slipper. Now all the straps started to look much more vibrant and gave me a clearer visualisation how could it look like in the real life.

Soldering such small and complex pieces is always tricky. I had to scrap a lot of flattened wire to get all the soldering work right. When I completed the last joint I figured that it was a middle of a night, that’s how I got an idea to shoot a video of citric acid cleaning bath.

Setting the garnet

After a hot bath and few hours of filing off all the excessive pieces of straps all over it was a time for a final challenge. Setting stone in a bezel turned out be an extremely difficult process (if you want to get it right of course). My fellow goldsmith (a professional one) advised me to wrap the entire piece in hot sealing wax – the substance once used to seal royal correspondence. With no goof quality wax in hand I decided to improvise and use a thermoplastic polymer. It actually worked quite alright firmly holding all the delicate pieces intact while letting me put it into the vice.

I cannot say it all went smooth, but at the third attempt I managed to fixate the cabochon at its saddle. In the absence of an impact engraver (I hope to have one someday) I managed the whole bezel setting with tiny flat screwdriver and a hammer.

Voila

After the final touch of a fine grain polishing paste and brushing up in soapy water it was the happy ending of my story. Please enjoy the photoshoot and don’t be shy to share this with your friends!

Being so happy about finally have the spring sun I just couldn’t help myself and made a little clip. Enjoy!

This piece is still available for purchase. If you are interested please visit my Etsy Store or send me a DM in my Instagram to talk business

The post Strappy high heeled pendant with garnet cabochon appeared first on Slavik LTD.

This particular story starts with a rectangular malachite stone, which I was lucky enough to dig out in one of the local mineral shops. It is not perfect for the design I had in mind as one of its surfaces is convex. Well, it is still better than nothing, right? Besides, it is not that easy to come across a clean straight rectangular stone these days. I decided to give it a try anyway.

As my camera body is going to be bright green, I though that the lens might also get some colouring. There was a rose quartz cabochon lying around waiting for a perfect project to come by. We all know that the world is far from perfect, hence we should grab the opportunities as they come.

I made a simple round cast with two prongs out of a silver strip for my camera lens. There was no need for any back support as the camera body will hold the cabochon in place.

The body itself consists of a rectangular frame and two horizontal bands running across the whole piece. In order to fit the malachite I had to make two identical frames and solder them together afterwards. Only after that I realised that it would be way easier to do the soldering first to get a wider stripe and then bend it into a frame.

After hours of bending, fitting and soldering the back stone finally got into its rightful place nice and tight. I then added few prongs on the back to make sure it doesn’t go anywhere. Actually one of back prongs is an imitation of an on-camera flash, which in the same time is a pendant chain loop.

After all the soldering I removed the excessive pieces of stripes sticking out everywhere and give the whole piece a rough grinding round. It came out a bit different from what I was having in mind, but it does resemble a camera look.

Although non-functional, there is even a shutter button added on top of the camera body. Once grinding was done I did a first iteration of polishing with rubber abrasive brushes (they are amazing by the way) and set the malachite into the frame. All the fitting efforts payed off and the camera body is now fits snugly with the curved green stone.

Simple things are usually learnt hard. I wanted to do some more polishing around the frame edges with the malachite in place. This is when I felt stupid not recalling that this mineral is not particularly stiff and scores only about 3,5 on the Mohs hardness scale. Luckily the scratches were not critical and I managed to buff them out so the back of the camera looks mesmerisingly smooth.

Setting the quartz was pretty straightforward using the two top prongs I set up at the very beginning. However, next time I’d rather spend few more hours to build a bigger cast for lens and set the stone from the inside as I did in my earlier Silver camera pendant. Even though it is much harder to produce I believe it worth the hustle.

The final result might not deserve a central exposure in an art museum (depending on a museum probably though), but it still looks good and instantly reveals its inner meaning.

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

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share via Email
• Share on Tumblr
• Share on Reddit

If you like the article please post it on your favourite social media so I can get some motivation to proceed

The post Malachite and rose quartz camera pendant appeared first on Slavik LTD.

Sketching

I guess it was only natural that my first idea was about Ukrainian national emblem, which is a trident of a sort. The challenge was to tweak it somehow to make it qualify as a lovely anniversary gift. At some point I got a hint – a picture of a lovely logo design. Now the concept is clear let’s get to sketching iterations.

Somehow from the very beginning I was determined to add a stone to this piece. Hence, the whole design process was revolving around cabochon selection. The initial choice was a beautiful carnelian pointy oval stone I though would fit the concept.

However, it was looking a bit too formal while it was supposed to have some romantic flavour. After few dozen messages back and forth about design options we got to a consensus – curvy trident with a heart shape inside and a smaller aventurine cabochon. Similar to the one I used in this project.

Soldering

Now it is the time to select a wire for this pendant. With my first design iterations I was sure that square wire would be perfect for this piece. Since the concept drifted somewhat to a more elegant shape I changed my mind in favour of a round 0.8mm silver 930 wire.

In the video further below you can watch the whole wire bending process. I have started with the heart of this pendant – the heart shaped frame. It was crucial to get this one right as any flaw in its shape would mess up the entire arrangement. Then I added all the adjacent element and consequently soldered them together. You can see the black marks on the side elements helping me to position them evenly.

The bottom part was a particular challenge as I wanted to achieve this delicate fusion effect, emphasising the accent on a heart-shaped frame in the center. In order to do that properly I firstly soldered all the other joints with a little help of a steel wires to keep all the elements on their places. Intentionally I left the two last wires at the bottom loosen for post processing.

Filigreeing

After fine filing and sanding the wireframe looks good and it’s ready for some filigree touch. Even though filigree filament looks gorgeous in jewellery I decided to keep the heart shape empty to put an accent on it. So I fililigreed (it’s not a real word – I made that up) the central opening and both side loops and I’m pretty happy with the result.

Filling the central opening has one more purpose – it will help to keep the cabochon firmly in place. For the fragile looking pendant the prongs stone setting seems to be the perfect option. I attached four prongs to the central loop making them a bit too long and too tight for my stone. It gives me a chance to set it more precisely by sanding off tiny layers of prong’s metal.

Once prongs are soldered and filed to a final shape the whole piece takes an acid bath. This process removes most of the flux and burn residue making silver prepared for polishing. First round of polishing I usually do before the stone setting to make sure that internal surfaces look good as well (not that anyone will ever look there, but still). And the final touch is to make it all shine with buff brushes using polishing paste with different grain sizes after the stone sits on its throne.

Completion

I must admit this was a very satisfying project with a very nice outcome I am truly proud of. I do hope that this pendant will bring some positive emotions to my friend and his lovely wife. Enjoy the video!

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

The post Ukrainian trident pendant appeared first on Slavik LTD.

So I grabbed my pencil and commenced the sketching process of a new airplane pendant. It was decided that this time there should be some stone involved and I had a gorgeous aventurine cabochon in my possession.

After a few dozens of sketches I’ve managed to get the one that seemed pleasant and I started to bend the wire and prepare it for soldering into the central frame.

In this design I wanted to make a pointy tip at the back of the airplane and rounded in the front to give it a sort of high speed impression, somewhat similar to the shape of a comet.

Proper shape of the central frame is crucial here as it will not only hold all silver pieces together, but also a stone on top of it. I must admit I didn’t pay enough attention to this obvious fact until the later stage of this project.

You would be surprised how challenging it is to bend wires for such small elements and make them look symmetrical. Even having some experience in silversmithing I’m still looking for a better technique for bending wire in identical shapes.

It is not rare when there is a beauty contest ongoing to identify the most good looking twins for symmetrical projects like this. The ones which did not pass are going to the scrap hold waiting for another project they might be reshaped and get their niche.

Soldering such gentle frame is always tricky, and here is the trick works best for me so far. Out of a simple paperclip I produced a few steel holders, which can be arranged freely on my honeycomb soldering block. These holders help me to keep delicate elements together firmly and soldering process goes much smoother.

Tail wings are getting installed first using solder chips with higher melting temperature. I do this to ensure that attaching next elements will not misplace the ones are already there. Besides, in this configuration it looks like one of the SpaceX rockets, doesn’t it?

Jokes aside – it’s time for wings to take their place and give it a good look as all pieces are coming together. I like the overall proportions so there is no reason to start from scratch. The final building stage is attaching four prongs to the frame so the stone can sit tight on top of the frame. Right after that comes cosmetic phase – filling in all the cavities with a twisted and flattened filigree wire.

Flaws grinding and polishing – check, thorough visual inspection – check, fancy gift packaging – check: the aircraft is ready for take off!

I truly love those moments of excited suspense when a person is unpacking the gift. It seemed this time the recipient was sincerely happy with her new filigree airplane pendant with gorgeous green aventurine cabochon. And I got tons of emotional satisfaction and a chance to prove myself worthy of my word!

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

The post Airplane pendant with cabochon appeared first on Slavik LTD.

I sketched out quite a few options around the amethyst cabochon with bull’s eye effect. Unfortunately, there was no way to make a cast for it out of the crown strip I have at hand, hence classic prongs will hold the stone.

The most important and should I say the most satisfying part of making an elvish jewellery is creating its central frame or spine. It usually is a pair of wires intertwining in different ways and shapes. In my case it is a basically 4 leaves shaped frame soldered at the joints.

Then comes the frame for a stone where I’ll put a few prongs to hold it in place in a final phase. It is made with the same wire as the spine so it looks like its natural extension.

The last pieces of frames are the “elven ears” – they shift the visual focus a bit to the top to make the lower part of the spine look more delicate and the entire piece starts to look wonderful. The challenge here is that I’ve got two joints with 8 wires in each so I’d have to use medium-hard solder to make sure the pendant is stiff enough to hold together.

In this design I decided to install 6 prongs for the cabochon, even though 4 would be enough to firmly hold the stone in the frame. Once the prongs are in place, I put the filigree filament inside some of the frames to get a mysterious gipure effect.

Soldering the metal parts is completed so it is time to take an acid bath to get rid of the impurities and flux residue. After that a series of sanding off the flaws with fine grain brushes and thorough polishing afterwards.

And here comes the stone. Mesmerising amethyst cabochon with a bull’s eye effect. First I bend the prongs a bit to let the stone sit tight in its place, even a bit of minor grinding is usually required to position it accurately. Once I’m happy with the stone positioning the prongs should be bent with extreme precaution – this is the step I used to have a lot of failures breaking the prongs, misplacing the stone and sometimes tossing the whole piece to trash and starting over.

This time I broke only one prong with no further damages and I was able to fix it relatively quickly. Although the acid bath and polishing procedures must have been completed again. I also decided to make a special shackle with the filigree in it to match the design of the whole pendant and voila – I am quite proud of the end result! Enjoy the video

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

The post Elvish pendant with amethyst appeared first on Slavik LTD.