Botanical Swing Earrings

I'm pretty excited about my newest piece. It's a bit more bold and daring than some of my other earring designs, but I think it still has the whimsical quality I try to incorporate into each of my works. I wanted to make something long and dramatic, using silver that fades into black. I was inspired by a design in one of my books, Le Japon Artistique. Here are some photos of the Botanical Swing Earrings, and a behind the scenes look at how I made them: Forming the silver to match my sketches (though I did stray a bit from that design in the end!): Using balled up silver to create the botanical "pods" at the ends: Soldering the metal: Using radial bristle discs to create a uniform finish:
The final product, oxidized and finished to fade from silver to black: Here are a few images from the Le Japon Artistique book, which inspired this recent piece. The works are from various Japanese artists from the Art Nouveau era, and they are just beautiful. I love the sinuous, curving lines from that time period.