Welcome to the Final Chapter of Cherrie & Curt, "A Love Story"....

Oh my goodness, what a joyful journey! But, as with all jewelry designs...the are finished,and you pack them up, and your baby is delivered to it's new home. Before I finish this beautiful ending, (or beginning as the case may be), of Cherrie & Curt's Story, I want to share with you the last steps of the Necklace fabrication process. So let's begin...

THE CHAIN

In the last blog we finished the pendant and now it's time to make the hand wrought chain!
Making a continuous coil enables me to make all of the links the same size. A good old wooden dowel does the trick. Thank goodness my husband is a carpenter so I can go rob him of his leftovers! You can see what the coil looks like behind the dowel. I the place tape on one side of  the coil, which helps keep the coil stable when I saw it into jump rings.

 

And here are the jump rings. All ready to be soldered together.

I joined all the links to one end of the already made clasp. Now I will solder the joins one at a time.Then I  will texturize them, which also work hardens the metal, and gives them a great look. You will see the end result at the end of this blog.

                                                                  
                                                                      THE BEADS

After finishing the chain. I moved on to the hand made beads. With Sterling Sheet in the Disc Cutter and my trusty ball peen hammer (I DO NOT use my good hammers on whacking jobs, haha) which gives I nice dead blow to the disc cutter. I made 4 beads in 2 sizes. 

The disc that will become the bead.

The discs have been stamped.I have a repeating stamp pattern on the bezel strip,clasp & beads.
After the stamping is finished I dome the discs. Then find the center and punch the middle for the stringing holes.

 

After placing the discs together with solder chips placed inside just so, I drive my T-pin into the holes to keep them together. I invested in this very cool Heetrix station last year...it allows me to spin while soldering, keeping my heat nice and even allowing my solder to flow. How did I ever live without it?

And Ta Da... the beads fully soldered. Now time to clean them up,and get them ready for patina.

                                                         THE FINISHED PARTS

Here are all the finished parts ready for  their patina and assembly. Pictured are more Nevada Candelaria Turquoise Cabochons  from the same Old Stock. Cabs are from Etsy's "Lost Sierra Stones" cut by Artist Terry Williams. He and Richard make one heck of team, and know their Rocks!! I am proud to call them my friends! And very lucky to get such extraordinary stones!

FINALE'

At last! The finished the necklace! The patina is a wonderful Gun Metal Finish. This allows me to highlight the high spots, and keeping the rich dark color in the texture and stamping. I have to tell you, when I finished ,  I cried! And as my nearest and dearest read this, they are all shaking their heads yes. Jen gets so emotional. In this case, a true labor of love. And it was a beautiful creative partnership. Curt and I agreed , we don't remember  having so much fun!

Close up and personal !!

Like a natural leaf in it's natural state, I wanted to show imperfections to make it realistic.

The hammered, textured, and stamped chain, clasp and beads.

You want your back to be as pretty as the front !!

        
             AND THEN THERE WAS THE NEED FOR A BEAUTIFUL JEWELRY BOX !

As I was finishing the necklace, I got the idea for a jewelry box. So I  asked Curt if he would mind if I asked my husband Stephen to make it, and he love the idea. So as the box was being designed and made, I wanted to add a very personal note from Curt to Cherrie...and he gladly obliged. So I made a copper plate, textured it, and then stamped the beautiful saying. From what Curt told me, it was very sentimental and Cherrie would understand the meaning.  I stamped the words..... "Fairy Tales Do Come True" and stamped them in a "not so perfect" fairy tale way. Learning from a First Nations Elder... you always leave an imperfection or flaw, to remind yourself that you are not perfect...and  always learning and growing our spiritual selves. Nice.

One of my favorite tools. My Foredom Belt Sander attachment...gives me freedom to file perfectly. Hand finishing comes last, then ready for Patina.

                                      AND HERE IS THE FINISHED JEWELRY BOX !!

Stephen made this from repurposing a felled Cedar Tree on our property. Mother Nature took her down, but
Stephen gave her a second life. She will  now live forever. 

I also use Metal Clay in my work, and I had this beautiful letter "C" that I just finished firing in my kiln. It was laying there staring at me, and I thought "PERFECT!" I gave it to Stephen and now Cherrie has her initial in copper on top of the box. Made a nice touch.

Here is the plate finished and mounted on the inside of the box.

I have to thank Stephen for putting his heart into making this gorgeous box. He left it natural for the most part, and it was the perfect home for the necklace. I wanted to make sure the necklace was well cushioned, so Stephen cut a nice supple piece of tanned deer leather to lay in the bottom.

Ahhhh....Home at last! Praying they love it !!

                                                               AND ...THEY DID!!

And here are my precious Curt & Cherrie Clarke. A love made in Heaven. They waited a very long time to find each other, but with Divine Intervention, they did!  We delivered the necklace to their gorgeous home. Did I mention, that Cherrie is also an Artist in her own right, and they both love to decorate and create. I have to tell you, they are very talented! Their Home is soon to be in a magazine. How exciting and deserving !!
After we got settled and started talking, they shared more of their story. And then Curt made a very profound statement...and I hope I remembered it correctly...
 "God was busy making them ready for each other, it just took awhile."
Then Cherrie opened the box.
Happily,they loved the package that we delivered (She is wearing the necklace in the picture),and of course with all the emotion tied up in making it...my tears spilled. What an amazing gift God has given to us all.
I am thankful everyday for meeting them both. I am in awe of them both. I thank them from the bottom of my heart for allowing me into their beautiful lives. The "Necklace" was more than a piece of jewelry, it was a spiritual journey. I learned so much about myself, a gift in itself.  The end result ? Well, I don't think there is and ending here...we gained a friendship that feels as if we have always known each other, and Curt & Cherrie will continue to live, laugh & love.... because...

"Fairy Tales Really Do Come True."