Friday, December 23, 2005

"His Majesty", Designer Cloisonne Lion Necklace


My brother often sends me photos of "big cats", as he knows I love them. Being a Leo, the lion is my favorite, but I also like all the other big cats and you'll often find them appearing in my jewelry designs. Well, Scott sent me this photo he shot of a lion profile recently, and I decided to design a cloisonne pendant using this lion profile as the basis for my design, which is below:

The lion pendant was extremely fun to work on for me. Each individual wire was hand formed to create the profile design. I had already decided on a blue background, knowing it would look good with his amber and terra cotta colors. At the last minute, I decided to add a tiny gold lion pawprint into my design, so it's right in the center of the blue, adding just that extra amount of rich detail I was looking for.

I created spiral wires which are embedded directly into the pendant. Then I made a brass wire frame for the pendant, and utilized this side spirals to insert the wires through. I wasn't quite sure how that was going to work out, but it turned out beautifully!


For the chain, I hand fashioned individual links using some rare vintage lampwork and crystal beads I had been saving for a special project. To soften things, I added tiny glass based simulated pearls.

All in all, I am thrilled with how this one of a kind design turned out! To read more about "His Majesty", please click here.

Hope you like him! Comments welcome!

Jai

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