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Understanding the Difference Between Gold-Filled and Gold-Plated Jewelry: What You Need to Know

My husband and I just had all new carpeting installed over the weekend in our house. I was forced to get everything out of my studio, clean it all up, and put it back in order. Here are the results!    

 

 

   

  

Nice and clean and ready for the new spring Garden of Silver jewelry collections to be born!

 

 

 

I have been working on a new collection this winter of sterling silver flower shapes that I am creating into numerous jewelry pieces. Here are some photos of the process.

Sketching the flower and leaf shapes on a sheet of sterling silver that I embossed on my rolling mill. As you can see, I use every possible area of the silver so there is very little waste. Trying to keep an eye on the materials budget!

Then I use a tiny blade on my saw and cut out each piece individually. This is a tedious process but I wanted every flower and leaf in the collection to be a one of a kind. Each one has its own personality.

  

The pieces are sanded on my grinding wheel to smooth out the edges and give the flowers a matte finish which I love. I am not into very shiny polished pieces, looking for a more natural and earthy feel to my collections.

A handful of sparkling sterling flowers in my dirty hand.

The flowers are on the soldering block where I solder on the stems and leaves to finish off the look.

My plan is to combine these garden elements to create a large cohesive collection of necklaces, bracelets and earrings. There will also be an element of color added through my new enameling skills.

The collection should be completed within a few weeks in time to celebrate the arrival of Spring!