This fluttering butterfly pendant is cut from a true Victorian era piece of dishware. The design of this Crescent Ware Enfield England china was produced between 1893 and 1900. The soft pink, green and yellow make it perfect for the Spring Collection. The oval pendant measures 2" wide by 1" high and is framed with Tiffany Method decorative solder dots, polished to a high shine. A half moon textured bail is soldered to the top allowing it to dangle freely on the pearls. The custom chain contains a 6 1/4" strand of freshwater pearls combined with an 18" section of repurposed silver tone chain. The clasp is a quality round spring clasp.
All pieces are hand made by me in studio and never sourced out. Every piece is unique in design with its own upcycled flourish. All dishware is vintage or antique unless noted otherwise on the item description.
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 manually 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 often 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!
