Copper necklace with cold enamel

I've finally finished a new piece! I've spent quite a bit of time working on it, and waiting for the epoxy hardener to arrive, so I could finish it off with adding cold enamel to it, but finally all of it is done. And I'm very happy with how it turned out.
Ta-daaaaaah!

I've made it entirely by hand, the only ready-made elements being the carnelian beads. The chain, and the pendant were made from scratch by me.

The necklace was loosely inspired by the early medieval Slavic jewellery. I had to adjust the design slightly - originally I wanted these... dots to go not only around the middle "resin nest" by also between each of those on the perimeter, but there wasn't enough place for them.

I've made the pendant using chasing and repousse technique. I was a bit afraid that the "nests" I created for the resin to go into won't be level, and that the enamel will overspill, but fortunately that was not the case.

Both the pendant and the chain were oxidised to deep grey colour and then polished to create highlights.

The chain alone took 4 hours to make! I'm not sure you can imagine how my hand felt once I've finished it ;) Anyway, here it is, ready to be sold in that very box you can see on that last photo :)
I love, love, love working with copper! I hope I will have something new to show soon :)
Till the next time!
Kasia.

Beginning...

I think, for the first post, introductions are in order!

My name is Kasia and I just love making jewellery. I love other crafts and art in general too, as well as good deal of science (biology mostly), but this blog will be dedicated to handmade jewellery (as you probably guessed from the blog title ;).

Until recently, I've mostly been making polymer clay and papier-mache jewellery, but recently I found out about wonderful technique called chasing and repousse and started to work in it as well.

I have an etsy store, deviantart, pinterest and google+ accounts, so check them out if you're interested!

And i this first post I will share my newest creation: handmade copper necklace made in viking knit, chainmaille and chasing and repousse techniques. 
Click on pictures for better view :)

Chasing and repousse is a very old technique, one that had been used by ancient Egyptians, Greeks and other cultures. Basically, you anneal metal to make sure it won't brake when you work it, place it in pitch ( or other material, such as beeswax, piece of lead or hard rubber. From what I've read, some people actually use even plasticine. Whatever you choose, the material must support your piece of metal so it doesn't collapse unpredictably, but also must have some give, so you can create some pattern) and start hammering outline of the pattern you wish to create.

After this is done, you take the item from the pitch, clean it, anneal again, turn over and start this whole process anew. Heating the metal often is very important, because it hardens during hammering and can brake if not soften again. Annealing also relieves internal stresses in metal.

  

For my piece, I chose raw copper - it means it hasn't got any non-tarnish coating. Pendant itself is lightly oxidised and polished to accentuate raised pattern. It is suspended on viking knit chain.

I've finished the viking knit part by adding short lengths of chainmaille chain and handmade hook clasps.

The whole necklace is about 55.5cm long and weights just 17g.

I am definitely looking forward to making another piece in chasing and repousse. It's technique that takes a lot of time (and sometimes patience ;) but I absolutely love it!

Till next time!
Kasia