A Special Project
About a month ago, Tony-- a friend of my husband's, approached me about making a necklace for his wife Jen's birthday. She had seen a necklace on a TV show that she had fallen in love with and he wanted to surprise her with one just like it. After searching high and low for the exact piece, both Tony and I came back empty-handed so we set out to make it instead. He described the necklace to me and even sent me a hand drawn picture of it!
We had the opportunity to discuss the details of the piece in person during one of my husband's volleyball matches. Tony described what he envisioned for the piece, and I explained all of the different possibilities for materials that we could use. I had also printed out a collection of images to show various types of styles for discs, chain, and other design elements. Next to each image, I wrote a summary of the material and wear expectations, style, size, and price. Tony and I settled on a design and price point that he was comfortable with and we were off to the races!
The components arrived about a week later. Tony had suggested that I document the process and it was a great idea! I was super excited to unpack everything. With the modern minimalist design, the discs were very smooth and shiny. I was hesitant to mar their pristine surface with fingerprints, but that's what polishing is for ;-) I laid out all of the components to take pictures, admiring their fundamental beauty the way I imagine an architect admires the wooden beams that will line his house or an artist her oil paints.
Tony and I both wanted this piece to be something that his wife could cherish and wear again and again. It was a meaningful and long lasting symbol of his love for her, the effort that he put into creating something she really liked with design embellishments from his heart. We had chosen Gold-fill for all of the components, as it was sturdier than Vermeil or Gold-plate but still soft enough to work with easily. It has such a beautiful warm glow to it and would look lovely against Jen's olive complexion.
After snapping off some shots of the newly unpacked findings, I laid them out into the shape of the design to ensure that everything fit together as planned.
Satisfied with the layout, I began the work of creating the necklace. Excitedly, I pulled out my new jeweler's toy: a punch designed for use with precious sheet metal. I carefully measured the distances for where the holes would go and punched them. With this type of hand punch, it is almost inevitable to get a rough and slightly raised edge around one side of the hole's circumference. To remedy this, I used my husband's Dremel and a very fine grain jeweler's file to sand down and polish the pieces to a smooth finish. This was the most difficult part because it required a very light touch and careful placement of the file in order to avoid scratching the surrounding area.
Once this was finished, all that was left was to put all of the pieces together. This was the magic moment of seeing the piece come to life from it's individual elements to a beautiful, glowing whole. I always savor this part of the creation process, taking care to secure each link with precision and introduce each component into the piece with meaning.
And finally, the finished product:
Several weeks before Jen's birthday, Tony and their adorable son "A" came over to pick up the necklace. They both loved it, and it was decided that "A" would be a great surprise secret keeper until the big day and would then have the honor of presenting mommy with the necklace.
Fast forward to now: According to Tony, Jen loved the necklace and sentiment, happily wearing it during their entire birthday vacation. Here is the photo they sent:
Thanks Tony, Jen, and A-- for a wonderful experience and for entrusting such a special design to me. Enjoy your new piece and wear it in good health!
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