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Ta Da!

Well, I have been very busy creating for the Women’s Expo – but I wanted to share with you the castings I received of my paw print charm:

paw-print-charm-frontback

Here you see the front and reverse.  When I receive the sterling silver charms they are tumbled and shiny.   They don’t stay that way for long.  I file and sand, then patinate in a liver of sulphur solution, neutralize and finally polish back to get the oxidation just right.  This gives the letters and paw print more definition. Being hand finished, each charm is a bit different from the next.

I think Frank Billanti Casting did a wonderful job!  The pieces are about an inch across and have a very nice weight and feel to them.  It is the kind of piece that I know I will be playing with when wearing – it is a very tactile piece.

When I have a little more time, “my metallurgical engineer” brain will write a post about Frank and the casting process.  The things you don’t know about your jewelry!

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 2:48 pm and is filed under Guide Dog Foundation, Jewelry Making. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

10 Responses to “Ta Da!”

  1. Robin says:
    September 18, 2009 at 5:23 pm

    This is absolutely fantastic Maria – Great Job!

  2. Maria says:
    September 18, 2009 at 5:32 pm

    Thanks Robin, I finally feel like it’s REAL!

  3. Dee says:
    September 18, 2009 at 9:49 pm

    Yeahhhh, what a fabulous job Maria..they turned out absolutely beautiful!!!

  4. Maria says:
    September 19, 2009 at 7:14 pm

    Thanks so much, Dee. I’m pretty happy with it – and thrilled to have a permanent “reminder” of our wonderful Miss Perky. She is going to be a wonderful service dog.

  5. Simone (junglefrog) says:
    September 20, 2009 at 3:05 am

    Wow, I love how those look Maria! Great job… I would love to have one of those from my cats!

  6. Maria says:
    September 20, 2009 at 9:55 am

    So glad you liked it Simone and thanks for visiting!

    I’m not sure I can add anything “cat” to my collection – my husband is deathly allergic, so we don’t have any kitties living with us. We might be able to work out a custom piece, if you can supply the paw print! LOL

  7. Angela@spinachtiger says:
    September 21, 2009 at 4:48 pm

    Maria, I like them. and, they come from your heart, it’s obivous.

  8. Maria says:
    September 22, 2009 at 2:44 pm

    Thanks Angela! Yes, this project is a labor of love for me :-)

  9. Polymer Clay | mariaparay.com says:
    November 15, 2009 at 11:10 pm

    [...] spent many days designing my Perky’s Paw charm.  I should have kept better track, but I’d say I made 40-50 models – possibly more!  [...]

  10. Casting | mariaparay.com says:
    November 23, 2009 at 10:12 am

    [...] the case of my Perky’s Paw charm, I created between 40 and 50 models to get it just the way I liked.  To repeat this process for [...]

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