Forest Life pendant with sugilite and Amethyst

This pendant was made for my forest life series. I used a heavily hammer textured piece of silver for the backing. It reminded me of a leaf that had been on the ground for some time. I forged a silver wire into the shape of a curling vine. The round amethyst at the bottom to finish and give the eye a resting and a way to keep from going off the design.

Setting the big stone

Braided rings

I've  been working on a set of braided gold and silver bands. These are open braids with one 2gold and 1 silver. The other is 2  silver and one gold

The braiding starts with 16 gage wire annealed to dead soft. I'm doing 2 different patterns so I need 2 coils 

The braid looks irregular and uneven at this stage but it can be straightened after soldering  the ends together by forcing it onto a mandrel

the finished rings silver and gold braid

This is one of the peices I've been working on that includes stones that I bought from a fellow artist at a "swap meet / flea market" for artists and art supplies. It was a fun day and I came away with a bunch of stones, some of which I don't even know what they are.  However I do know what this one is.  It's Charoite.  It comes from one place in Russia.

"It is a fairly recent discovery found in Russia in 1978 in the Murun mountains in Yakutia, near the Charo River. This is the only known location for this rare mineral. It ranges in color from a light lilac to a deep purple and can be mottled with gray, white and black inclusions. The chatoyant variety in a bright deep purple, is usually considered more valuable than the non-chatoyant variety although both are used in jewelry and compliment a number of other stones." from bernardine

 This is the domed side of a

 a 2 sided pendant

This big pendant is back set meaning the bezel was folded over the stone from the back and the "seat" that the flat side of the stone would sit on is now on the front   This makes this piece wearable either way