Modern Lunula

EARLIER this year I wrote a little about the Lunula and how over the centuries so many different cultures have used amulets shaped like the moon. I love the idea that modern jewellery could become something more than decoration, that it could have significance for the person wearing it, and so I have returned to the Lunula again for this month’s project.

I used a gorgeous little tear shaped labradorite and set it in a bezel setting on a moon which was textured using drills, burrs and a hammer.

 

I then made a clasp and two little beads using some left over textured metal and strung it on a necklace of czech glass beads, matte hematite, labradorite and smokey blue/grey crackled quartz.

I have a few more lunula planned along with a triple moon ring and hopefully, being furloughed and unable to work in April, will be able to get a lot done in the next month.

Stay safe.

Going Small And Going Home

LIFE has become a little peculiar recently but in those long forgotten days of early March (or possibly late February, who knows, it all feels so long ago) a friend asked me about engagement rings.

I pointed her at my website but then realised that I have nothing on here that is particularly weddingy and it was probably time I pulled my finger out and got out of my big-stone comfort zone.

So I went and found a tutorial on line https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6gE6IEtRE8 and had a go. I have done similar things before but it can be really refreshing to follow someone else’s tutorial. We don’t always do things the same way and it is good to pick up different ways of doing things. His trick of closing a ring and then running the saw through the join before soldering is excellent as a way both of balancing the sides as well as providing a fresh, clean surface for optimal solder flow.

I used a 4mm Tunduru sapphire in a deep purple and the result is perfectly sweet and a little bland (it’s also a bit ropey as I am not used to working at such a small scale and to be honest my eyes struggle a bit) but the next one will be neater and I can go on to incorporate this kind of thing in something that is more me.