Stone's Throw

This is the other necklace I made in Linda and Opie O'Brien's class. I love the patina on this one, and the imagery.


The class handout had the drilled stones, copper bezel and some other components already in it, ready to use. I used liver of sulphur to darken the copper and make it look aged, and applied a patina over that to give it the green-blue look.


I was trying to drill into my resin cast buddha I had brought, but didn't have my dremel, so I accidently split it into two pieces. But I decided that the cracked, ancient artifact look worked, so I went ahead and embedded the broken buddha into the bezel. And I like how it gave it a very timeworn look that goes well with the feeling of the rest of the pendant.


I'm debating putting a clear resin top over it, but I sort of like the rustic stone look it has now, combined with the beautiful natural color and texture of the drilled stones, so I may not do that after all.


I brought the chains with me, and a small group of glass colored beads, and found two with a greenish-blue tone that went perfectly with the overall color of the stones and the copper patina.


The reverse side of the copper has asian imagery on it also, those were the images I took with me in my bag to use as class materials and they worked in perfectly.


At first I thought about stacking the stones, to make a link in the chain, but after I drilled the two holes at the top and one in the bottom and put in my metal liners to protect the patina, I knew I wanted to use the stones as a dangle and part of the linked chain. My mother gave me the hemi-circular metallic charms, and I had saved them for something special, so I used them in both the pieces I made in the "Set In Stone" class with the O'Brien's, they seemed to fit in very well.


It feels very lightweight and the color is stunning, very natural world and ancient feeling. I love the writing that shows up on the left lower side, as though someone was writing notes on a wall or box and it remained behind, out of context but still legible.

Linda and Opie are fantastic teachers, I learned a lot about sweat soldering, patina, balance and visual harmony from them. And they are a team in a class, working together and with the students. They have a new book coming out soon, too, so keep an eye out for that. If you ever get a chance to take a class with them, don't pass it by.