contemporary jewellery | Eileen Moylan

Making Silver Earrings Part 2

05.02.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

Last week I wrote about a pair of silver earrings I was making for myself.

Now that the wires are in place it’s time to start soldering. I’ve filed the joint in such a way that they will fit together perfectly and won’t move during the soldering. Once I have them soldered, I leave them to cool and then clean them in the acid.

I’ve cut two lengths of .7mm round silver wire for the ear wire sections.

When I have the wires soldered on I can start filing the edges. I’ve decided to file the step between the silver earring and ear wire so it’s looks seamless. Once I have that done they are ready to be polished and of course worn!

Ta- dah!

Sketching with Metal

04.12.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

Sketch in Metal not a finished piece

This week I’m working on a commission piece in silver set with a large oval cut emerald. I’m still in the early days of design but I decided to post some early photos of the work so you can see how it changes through the design and making process.

As you will know I love to sketch but sometimes acutally working out the design directly in metal can be more benificial. This is one of those times! The sketches just weren’t giving me a sense of how the form would flow when translated to metal.

So I cut out some copper and using a cheap oval stone I started to play around with the design. Once I have the rough design worked out in metal it’s back to the sketch pad to refine these ideas and work out dimensions.

Here are a few photos of the rough sketches in metal.

Sketch in Metal not a finished piece

Family Crest Brooch

04.03.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

Last week I posted photos of a brooch I made recently. The design brief was that it would incorporate the crests of the two family names. Unlike most family crest jewellery the customer wanted the crests executed in a contemporary design.

This was a really nice job to work on, not only were the crests lovely but the customer was so appreciative of my designs and sketches. The crests were a bird and a fish so I had to figure out how to incorporate these into a fun design.

Click here to see the making process.

I was really happy with the finished product. I decided to mount the crests in a frame design and make them in gold so they would contrast against the silver. I also added some flowers in silver. I had planned to keep it all polished silver but when I experimented with the surface the black oxidized finished worked better. Anyway here’s the finished piece.