The design is an intaglio, meaning the ‘picture’ is recessed below the surface of the piece. The leaves are cut (pierced) out of a sheet of silver, which is soldered onto a backing, also in silver. The piece is oxidized black with a sulfur-containing chemical, and the surfaced sanded back to silver. This leaves the recessed design black.

I just saved the cut out oak leaves from the proceeding pair of earrings and fused them on top of a backing sheet of silver. The piece is blackened or patinated, and now sanding and polishing reveals the leaves above the background, or in relief

The design of leaves dangling from their branches in done in 14k gold, and backed with sterling silver. This design comes from the ‘Leaves in the Wind’ earrings and rings. Gold is very expensive! The use of a thin layer of gold, backed with sterling silver, allows the black patination of the design and saves on the use of gold. Still, the gold used costs about $65!

In this construction, the blackened silver is depressed and the polished silver stripes are in relief above the surface. They are about 1 inch in diameter and are partnered with a matching cuff bracelet.

I love the marriage of different metal colors. These earrings include pieces of silver, nickel alloy, copper and brass. They are backed with sterling silver so only silver contacts the skin.

The garnet is floating on the ‘goo’…

4 mm fire opals, simply set and attached to crossed pieces in sterling silver.  Reminiscent of a wood fire.

Fire Opal earrings.  4mm Fire Opals, simply set in a puff of smoke.

The petals on this flower are reminiscent of a succulent plant. I took liberties and set the flower with 4mm garnets.

The stones are (from left to right): London Blue Topaz, Peridot and Idaho-mined Garnets.

The red berries hanging from a branch are flush-set manmade rubies; the design is an intaglio cut into one piece of metal and fused onto a second piece. After oxidizing the piece black, the surface is sanded and polished. The stone setting is the last step.

The stripes of metal are brass, silver and copper, fused into a single sheet. The inside or underside of the earring is a thin sheet of sterling silver.

The stripes are brass, silver and copper

These earrings were a commission, using two large topaz stones, one from a pendant and one from an earring whose pair was missing. I used a simple basket setting, brass for the setting and 14kt gold for the ear wires.

These earrings feature pear-shaped cubic zirconia with twisted wire accents. The wires are silver with a gold filled accent wire. This set includes a matching pendant.

These clear quartz stones are cushion-shaped (round squares) and beautifully cut to really sparkle. The are set in a simple basket made from silver wire.

The leaves are in relief, cut from brass and soldered onto Argentium sterling silver. Argentium sterling is (relatively) tarnish-resistant.

Again, the leaves are cut from brass and soldered to a strip of Argentium Sterling Silver.

Samaras are winged seed pods that blow the seeds of certain trees in the wind. These samaras are patterned after those on The Tree of Heaven.