Fabergé...ish

Late February 2009 - Fabergé....ish

There's this nice little jewellery shop in the mall called Serendipitous. They sell silver jewellery with semi-precious stones. I don't usually do much jewellery shopping, but I do tend to stop by and chat with their manager, who I met when we were both selling hand made jewellery at a craft show. This particular day though, they had the prettiest little spherical locket style pendant with a little ball-chime inside and an amethyst on the top. They called it a Harmony Pendant. I just couldn't walk away without buying it.

I was (and still am) quite pleased with my purchase, but it also got me to thinking...could I make something similar using wire wrapping? I tried to let the thought go and just enjoy my pendant, but the idea wouldn't let go of me. So I let it stew around my head a bit and then did a sketch. Then I cut some wire and started putting it together. I didn't get too far when I thought to myself "This is insane, this is too fiddly, going to be way too time consuming" and I gave up. Or at least I thought I did, but the idea still wouldn't let go of me, so after a few more days of simmering, I changed my tactic, cut some more wire and started again. 5 hours, over 8 feet of wire, and 2 magnetic hematite beads later, my sphere turned out to be more of an egg shape approximately 1 1/4 inches tall, and 5/8 inch diameter.

After looking at it awhile, it reminded me (and apparently a local chainmailler I know) of a Fabergé Egg, so I guess it was kind of a happy accident. This piece was finished 26th or 27th Feb. 2009. Eventually, when I'm feeling more ambitious, I have an idea how to make one that actually opens :D