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Homage to the Fire Spirit

Your mission Ms. Steede, should you decide to accept it is to make a pendant that captures the Fire Spirit. 
At least that is what I thought when I was commissioned to do this piece. 
At first it was going to be a single piece that would be enameled reddish orange for the flame effect but I wasn't feeling it. I didn't like that it was so flat. I like depth, texture, and movement. So I spoke with my partner in crime and we came up with this... 
There will be two pieces cut and then soldered together and domed to give it depth. What about the bail? Isn't that always the question?

Ran the design past Kim and got the green light, so let the cutting begin!

Lots of pictures of the process, here we go...

1. Two pieces sawed out prior to soldering together (note the piercing)

2. Used white out to prevent the solder from running out from under the inner piece. Eww...how ugly! Time to clean it up. Now to attach the bail to the back.

3. What the...Oops I placed the bail too low! 

4. Re-positioning the bail. White out, flux, and a little solder in area for bail.

5. Ta da! Perfect!

6. Heat patina I wanted to keep but knew it wasn't going to happen.

 7. Heated and quenched several times to get this red patina

 8. Patina I ended up with. Not too shabby!

Now all that is left is to fire up Fuego and see what the Fire Spirits have in mind for its color. The center flame will be enameled and the rest will be raw copper. I'm kind of nervous. This is the part where I could mess up but can I really? 

Wish me luck!

Namaste
Kalaya
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Comments

  1. TysheenaAugust 14, 2011 at 9:37 AM

    Good luck! It looks good so far...can't wait to see the finished piece!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kalaya SteedeAugust 14, 2011 at 10:46 AM

    I can't wait to see the finished piece as well. It will definitely be a surprise. I think I need to invoke the Fire Spirits now. I could use a little help! XO

    ReplyDelete

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