Colorful Skelly Heads

I could not pass up these stone skelly heads at a recent bead show. Still trying to decide what I'm going to do with them. The colors are so festive.

Ancient sea lily for a special pesce

One of my last projects in 2010 was the creation of this necklace showcasing a crinoid fossil. The piece was a gift for a special friend, and it enabled me to practice a few more techniques that I just learned this year: Forming with sheet metal, utilizing riveted prongs to hold the piece to the metal, and soldering rings.

All of the silver is sterling, and the back plate of the pendant is brass, which picks up on the warm tones of the crinoid fossil and frames the piece.

The piece has a double bail that hangs from brown leather, with a hand forged clasp.

As you may see from the sketch, I decided to orient the fossil opposite of what I originally planned. That is part of the beauty of the creative process; being able to change and adapt as I move toward the final product.