for those who don't know, i am not a huge fan of store bought components and handcraft my jewelry. while this does make the work more time consuming and the pieces are more costly, i think it just really makes the jewelry more special and unique than if i slapped a stone on a commonly used component and called it a day. i think it is one of the things that can set apart a line from the overly saturated bridge jewelry market. here are a couple examples of my of my more time consuming works in which the jewelry components are handmade:
for my "maya earrings," as seen above, i hand form the frames that resemble a spade shape. i then tightly coil wire and gemstones around the frame; working in the dangling stones and chain accents accordingly.
for the above gold filled, ametrine earrings, which have no name, i use a similar technique as with the maya earrings.
some may wonder what a torch has to do with all of this. the reason is that i often solder the handmade frames using karat gold or silver solder (depending on the metal used for the frames). for the past few years, i have been using a small butane torch, much like those used for creme brulee, or an acetylene air torch kit for larger projects, such as rings and other things that require more soldering. i also have been using the acetylene air kit for casting, which isn't the greatest since it takes a long time for the metal to get to temperature.
finally, i broke down and ordered a smith oxy/propane as a holiday gift from yen jewelry to yen jewelry in celebration of the great holiday sales season for the line.
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