[Sketching Spring Necklace :: sterling silver, 23 karat gold, copper & enamel]
Have I told you about how much fun it is to make the flower skeleton elements for these pieces? The vision behind the flower bones is that beautiful, loose, sketchy look of charcoal on heavy art paper. Know what I mean? Anyway, I keep the structure of them and the fabrication of them as loose and easy as possible so that they almost look like real charcoal drawings, at least, in my minds eye they do. A few days ago, I made a flower skeleton that turned out a touch too perfect looking. I took it all apart and loosened the lines up a little to give it that “raggedy-end-of-winter-bristled-by-breeze-backcombed-sun-bleached-and-trampled-by-deer” look I was going for. This necklace was a whim and it turned out better than expected. I am charmed. Again, there’s the lovely contrast of warm and cool colors here paired with a sort of lightness of being in the elements that build it. This piece is a tunnel for a warm breeze, a thin cluster of thicket that allows wind sail and storm careen, the bony dust of last summer clinging to the riffles of the rocks, moon glow and aspen groan.
I’m thinking about keeping it for myself. I haven’t kept a necklace in a good long while.
