Pendant "Playing and the fossil wood"

This silver piece was an unique design who was born from playing, a play between the tools, the metal and me playing like a little child twisting the metal, making a different direction each stretch, seeing how the metal answer to the pressure I make it and then I will play with texture. This is an unique piece, totally designed and elaborated by me using silver 925.

The piece which charm this pendant is a beautiful fossil special shape Wood, originated in Costa Rica, is a reflection of this country, full of primary and secondary forest, with beautiful and exuberant natural biodiversity which survive the human touch, thanks a God this biodiversity became protected. The wood is supported by a based and surround by a square wire of silver which sustained it in position. In this design you can observe the two faces of wood.

Hg, April 2014

Making a Jewel Step 1: The melting

The melting is an alchemy process where metals are melted together along with the other elements like fire, gas and oxygen. All come together with our own energy and using our particular abilities. This step is the first in a long process to bring a design idea to life. 

The colors and the sound charmed me. The beauty if the bright silver, the different gold tones, the changes in the flame that cause the transformation; the white, the yellow and blue tones; the sound of the torch's flame that signals the exact temperature and the beautiful flame that approaches the cruset making what was once solid a silvery liquid. 

The sounds of the torch walks over my body and is part of the scary feeling that I need to prevent me from making a mistake.

The long and strong flame has to be in an exact location in front of the cruset giving it's high temperature to it's contents. The metals begin to melt like ice cream in the sun on beautiful summer day. The metallic colors are changing, all are shining metal is changing and the forms are changing. The metal melts, mixes becoming one big unique drop . From here I have to proceed carefully. So very carefully I pour contents of the cruset into a mold that I heated earlier.

That´s it! Everything must be kept warm because any coolness will solidify the liquid silver. That is why everything has to be kept under the care of the torch's flame until it comes to rest in a laminate ingot shaped mold. Once in the mold the liquid becomes solid in moments.

Them I take the solid cool metal out of it's holder and move on to the next step in the process in preparing material for my jewel. 

Hg / July 11, 2010 

Tools, materials, other things....

Hg / May 24, 2010