Chipmunk Round Pendant

Here is another one of Santa's little helpers sitting atop Santa's shoulder bidding him farewell for the big night.  The design was positioned over the collar of the plate and is visible on the back side of the pedant.  A decorative frame of Tiffany Method lead-free solder is all the way around the pendant.  Hung on a 20" silver tone snake chain with a lobster claw clasp.

The process of creating a piece of jewelry from vintage or antique dishware starts with a plate, cup, saucer, bowl, etc.  Each unique piece made allows me to give a new life to a beautiful piece of history.  Once I have isolated the section or sections to be used,  I start with a wet saw to cut it down to size.  Sometimes the placement of the design is on a curved edge, directly over the ‘collar’ of the dishware, or on an exceptionally thick or thin section.  This may be visible on the back side of the piece and/or may create a slight curvature or irregularity of the item.  I find that those variations lend to the authenticity of the art.  It will not affect the way the piece displays when worn or hung. The next step is using glass cutting tools to form the rough shape.  From there I use a wet grinder (used with stained glass art) to smooth the edges and finalize the shape.  Copper foil is applied to the edges and burnished smooth.  Lead-free soft solder (I use a brand called Silver Gleem®, which contains 3% silver and polishes to a beautiful shine) is applied using a soldering iron set to 658-730 Degrees Fahrenheit depending on the affect being created. The first application forms the base of the frame for the piece. Once framed, then the decorative dots, texture stamping, wires, charms or patina can be added. The bail is added which is generally hand formed and sized individually for each piece before being soldered onto the frame of the piece.   After that, it is determining how it will hang. Chain, length of chain, beads, gemstones, pearls, etc. Finally the piece is hand polished to a high shine!  Enjoy!