New Earrings

I bet you are wondering what in the world does she do with those castings she makes. My friends would tell you I have a ton of unfinished castings around here - I do - I admit it. I keep making wax models and know I haven't nearly enough time to finish things right now.

There are about a half dozen different designs that I "cast in place" using various CZ's. I'm sure I already mentioned why I'm not using the more precious stones in an earlier post. They require a much different burn out cycle and I'm using a shared burnout kiln at the moment. The CZ'z can take the heat - precious, well - they're touchy.

Usually I don't make long earrings. But this was just begging for it. Sorry about the quality of the photo. They are kind of a knock out in person and the final dangle doesn't even shine in the photo. It's a highly polished silver bar I soldered up just for the earrings. Bugger!

Anyhoo, this is what I am doing with the cast earring parts. In this earring there are three pivot points. At the top the whole piece can swing freely - then at the ring and again at the bottom. The rings on the silver bars were soldered at an angle so two of the sides face forward.

If you're going to have bling on - it ought to be blingy. Handmade all the way to the earring wires, including the balled wires to hang the stone chips. Yup, this is what I do with those castings. Before I finish this pair just a tad more I wore them to make sure the weight hung correctly and nothing would tangle up. Like I said, I am pleased. Not heavy on the ear at all - I was worried. Now, it's off for one nice cleaning tumble and a tad more shine

I'm not sure if I should antique them for a romantic look. What do you think?