Delicate gold pendant

Gold is just delicious, isn’t it? The warmth of the metal, especially in contrast to something cooler, such as silver or diamonds is just so sumptuous. Lately, I have had the opportunity to work a bit more with gold, as a number of my customers have brought me gold to be reforged.


This time it was a very simple and, to be honest, rather ugly pendant in a lovely, slender snake chain. It was rectangular with 5 little bowls in it, each holding one diamond. The pendant was made of 14k gold and had diamonds – that was the good part. The shape was uninspired, to be friendly. This is when I should show you a before picture and doh… I didn’t make one. Then at least I should show you process pictures and again… I didn’t make them.

So, to be quick about this, before showing you the end result, this is what I did: I pulled out the diamonds and cast the gold into a stick. I rolled and drew it down to 1,5 mm wire and then I created “the usual” Karin-curly-pendant, this time with balls holding 3 of the diamonds and a facet cut drop of clear quartz.

The result I absolutely loved!

A blacksmith came by

Recently, my gallery has gained a new acquaintance. His name is Kasper, and he does iron age blacksmithing! Now, obviously, without a furnace, he couldn’t work within his trait, but he circled my grandfathers old ambos with a lot of love and asked how silver reacted to being forged. Now, I don’t do MUCH forging – I flatten out wires to achieve that elegant whiplash effect that I always aim for, but apart from that… not so much. At some point I have tried to stretch a piece of silver to become thinner – and failed, wondering how on earth that is done. I can now report that I know!

 

So, Kasper was given a piece of silver – roughly 6x30 mm and 2 mm thick to play around with.

Kasper has never worked with silver and never so small, so to him it was a real challenge. He had to use far smaller hammers and pliers than usual and get a lot closer. Then again – since the metal isn’t hot when being forged, it’s a lot safer.

And so of he set, creating his specialty: the woman’s knife. It’s a very beautiful tool that every woman who was worth anything, was carrying. He learned a lot about silver and I learned a lot about forging – and also what some of those weird tools that came along with grandfathers anvil was for.

And here we are: a tiny, 3 cm long silver iron age knife, oxidized to get that original, dark look.

Here you see how tiny it is compared with the originals, which are approximately 12 cm long.

I think it’s VERY beautiful, and have suggested that he starts producing more of those knifes – both the real-size in iron and the small silvery one for pendants and sell them on Etsy and Amio. I think he will, eventually, so keep a lookout for Danish iron age knives

London Blue –creation of (yet another) ring

By now the regular readers of this blog have seen how I have created a number of different rings with set stones. They are all different, but of cause the basic steps are the same, such as the tapered bezel. However, If you would like to see the creation of yet another beauty, please take a look at the Danish site Amio.dk (something equivalent to Etsy, where I also have a shop), where I have been asked to show just such a process. It's written in Danish, but the pictures of cause speak for themselves. Here it is

Jewelry gallery –now with homepage!

My gallery has been in office for a month and it has been paramount to me to give it a virtual home too. With the help of my good friend Michael, I have been building and building and now it’s done: http://www.gallericastens.dk/ . Take a look at it and especially the amazing artists who have their work exhibited here too!


And haven’t I been working at my bench at all while the homepage came into being? Of cause – I have to ;-) Amongst others I decided to do a light version of an older design – the fairy flower, made of oxidized silver with gold leaf, a peridot and a light amethyst.

Here is the new version made of bright polished silver, a wire of 14k gold, a peridot (again) and a pearl. Both are beautiful I think – can’t decide which one is my favourite…

What's on my bench these days?

Currently I'm experimenting with oxydized silver in combination with gold. I am working two parallell projects: a mans ring and a delicate wrapping ring.

The mans is created from a huge silver ring, which I', making even bigger by adding a layer of gold inside (fusing it together)

Here the fusing is done and the initial filing. It's cuddling with the equally half-finished wrapping ring...

Okay, here the filing and polishing is done. The ring shank has a total of almost 5 mm, so a huuuuge one!

Now, what happens when i oxidize it?

Mmmmm nice... it goes from very clean and bright, gold and silver just being nuances, to a stark contrast. I'm loving i! However, I think most would prefer it to be a bit more slim at the sides for comfort - though I must say, that I was surprised to feel how comfortable it was, even with it's full 5 mm thickness! Must be because it was so round and soft...

So, I decided to file something of the sides:

Very nice too!

Now, what does it look like when oxidized?

Here we go! Very nice indeed! Me likes...

So, what about the female wrapping ring?

Uhhh.... very pretty and airy!

Also VERY nice! The oxydized silver really brings out the gold! It has to be at least 14 k though. I did this with 8 k, and that turned somehat rosy. Cute, but the contrast wasn't that big.

Maybe I should even put in a few sparkling diamonds? Nah - that's going to be next time...

Feeling secure

So, I’m all set up in my brand new gallery, which I took over from a goldsmith – with all security measures in place. Tonight I got it tested – not by a burglar, but by accident and myself, which was a very ensuring experience! I had forgotten my mobile in the gallery and after having visited a friend swung by to pick it up. My gallery has roll-down bars in front of all windows, cameras, sensors, you name it, and all hooked up to an alarm central, which I pay for (dearly) every month.

I thought I could just disconnect the alarm, roll up the bars, run in and fetch the phone and out again. Not so – of cause. The second the alarm went off, the company called me to find out if I were the source or if they should get out full force. I called them off and thanked them - and was mightily impressed. THAT was a very fast reaction indeed! So now I pay my monthly fees happily, very sure that my and my commissionaires’ jewelry is very safe indeed…

So, I carry on creating increasingly valuable jewelry with a calm heart. Here are some of the latest beauties from Gallery Castens:

A big ring came to life

All has been about the Gallery lately and I have barely had time to actually work with creating jewelry. However, this week I took out a few hours and decided to start doing again what this is all about. I sat down a created one of my signature “big rings” of silver and 14 carat gold. Its focal point is a green amethyst set in gold and flanked by 3 white diamonds set in some of the golden balls.

I like working with a design like this because I get to explore layers and depths. This ring is extremely 3-dimensional and reveals itself as something new whenever you change the angle. This is a piece to get lost in…