Opals are my…. ya know…

by margarita on October 27, 2008

Well, if you know me well, have heard the story, read the article, or just know my entertaining use of language, you can fill in the blank.  Otherwise, make up your own entertaining title and swear you know it’s true.
I’ve been off the blog map for a bit, mostly due to moving. The studio is mostly back up and running.  I hope to have plenty of new pieces/stories/pics to share soon! 
My most recent pieces are opal.  The first is a simple set of rectangular cobalt enamel on copper earrings bezel set in sterling silver.  I fused a bezel for the opal into the enamel and set the opal over the enamel.  The slight translucency of the opal allows the cobalt to show through as well as act as a mirrorback for the opals’ fire. Oooooooo!

The second opal I cut back in Ohio in the summer of 2005.  It’s a brown boulder opal which is seriously messy to cut, but, Boy-o!, is it fun!  Through the wet brown muck on your hands suddenly flashes of color from the exposed precious opal come into view. Each second it changes shape and more or less peeks its way through.  The fabulous “crack”* of precious opal that heads straight towards the point only showed itself in the final sanding and polishing steps. Score.
I decided to set it with a piece of silver scribble and do a sparkly (but sort of matte) Mizzy wheel texture.
 
~margarita

*You know how punny I am. It had to be done:)

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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

margarita November 8, 2008 at 12:09 am

Ha! You caught me:) Be as picky as ya like, I like particular folk. I wouldn’t ever submit a snapshot like this for jury, though. I could post the pair as the original photo, but the glare on one of them was horrendous and I didn’t feel the need to reshoot for just a blog:/ If I’m feeling motivated, I’ll try better next time!

Calvin Smith October 29, 2008 at 6:25 pm

Sorry to be so picky, but it looks to me that the pair of earrings is actually a single picture copied to two images. The fire of the opal caught my attention. That is never exactly the same between two stones. Next, I noticed that the little reflections from the enamel surface are the same.

This picture could be a problem is submitted to a jury. Just a heads up.

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