For the May 2022 Honey Do List challenge Sarajo Wentling and her husband Eric put up a photo of this beautiful beach as the inspiration. It was cool and inviting and I really wanted to go there. Immediately upon looking at it, I thought of creating a bead necklace with an air chased pendant. The thought came easily, however, it took a while to materialise.
Finding my way back to jewellery making
Now, six months into my new admin position I had forgotten what it was to make jewellery. I did teach jewellery making this past semester. But that was a methodical demonstration of techniques and making of components without a lot of creative exploration. There wasn’t any kind of commercial or market consideration in it either. Without knowing exactly when and how I had stopped making jewellery. It got harder to write and posting on Instagram seemed meaningless. At the end of May, I heard from both friends and strangers who were worried that I was giving up. After listening to several such pep talks, I decided to dedicate last weekend – my birthday weekend to get back to jewellery making. I made several women’s necklaces.
Boy, it was hard! Despite keeping it simple with beads and previously created pendants I had no idea how to put together a new design. I was struggling with colour and texture matching, skills which I had taken for granted before. It was then that I realised how well I had locked up my creative brain function to focus on logical reasoning. Furthermore, I was in the middle of a bad shoulder/elbow pain and using pliers made me cry. After struggling for two full days, I finished making it and a couple of other pieces of jewellery in different colours.
- Updated in response to the comments
What is air chasing?
It is a technique of chasing metal, particularly copper without a pitch. An Annealed piece of metal is folded into tow, without creasing the center and the ends are secured in a vise thereby trapping air in between. The metal is hit using punches and a chasing hammer or the ball peen side of the hammer alone making indentations. Once complete the metal is annealed once again, gently opened and flattened with a nylon mallet to create a flatter surface. The piece can be cut and filled to create interesting components. This technique can be used to create a variety of abstract surface finishes and can be altered using inks or other colourants.
Air Chased beach necklace
The Air Chased beach necklace is a long necklace of looped glass and agate beads. I created the pendant by using the technique of air chasing to imitate the rocky shore. Finally, I applied patina to introduce blue waters and the clouds. Here are photographs in both natural light and studio light. The Air Chased beach necklace is for sale.
I have been super late in posting as the reveal was on June 3rd. However, the linkup is still open so please visit Sarajo’s blog and see all the creations!
I hope you find it interesting
Cheers
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