Honey Do List March Design Challenge

The challenge that Eric Wentling planned this month was to be about the Minnesota winter in what he calls the tundra. Then 60⁰F weather came along and melted most everything on him. A trip down to the river in Belle Plaine led him to discover these melting ice crystals tucked into the bank where they were sheltered from the sun and warmth

Photo courtesy of Eric Wentling

There’s only one thing that works for this inspiration photo and that’s quartz crystal, so I made these pendants

 

Crystal Cave Pendants

I saw these pendants in my mind months and months ago, long before they became reality. The brass and copper bails are a simple design that I made, cutting the metals, texturing them, applying liver of sulphur to add a patina, and adding the holes

Once that was done I added a protective coating of ProtectaClear. I’ve used this product before and it does an excellent job of protecting metals, so long as it’s applied under the right conditions. The metal must be spotlessly clean, with no oils from skin or other sources on the metal. Otherwise the protective coating will lift right off

The next day the ProtectaClear was dry and it was time to form the metal into the bail shape. That’s when I realized I forgot to anneal the metal pieces before sealing them. Uh Oh. Well I decided it was time to just go for it and form the bails. Thankfully I was able to do so with assistance from a pair of bail forming pliers

The neck cords were made with mousetail and waxed cotton with different end crimps and clasps. I varied the lengths for no special reason other than for fun

On this last pendant the photo shows how crooked the bead hole is. This wasn’t obvious when I bought the gemstone but sure stands out now. I am working on a different way to attach this stone to the bail, thinking of doing some sort of wire wrap around the stone to hold it securely and attaching it sideways. I’ll post about how that turns out

Two of these pendants will be going to the Dufferin County Museum where they will be for sale in the gift shop from April 3^rd until Sept 5^th

Please visit SJ Design  for the blog reveal to see what everyone else made

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day