Sapphire Sculptural Pendant

This is one of my newer hand-sculpted pieces. The pendant has a hand-mined NC Sapphire as its centerpiece that measures 16mm by 14mm. The pendant has hand-mined GA Garnets and NC Topaz as accents. The pendant measures 36mm by 28mm. This design also has 22K gold highlights. The pendant is hand sculpted by me. I use a Precious Metal Clay blend that allows the pendant to have the strength of Sterling, but not the tarnishing. I then hand-carve the designs in the metal and when happy with the design, fire it at high temperatures in a kiln. This burns out the clay binders and leaves behind pure silver or gold. The 22K gold added into this design is created with Aura 22. It is a 22K gold slip I paint on the piece and when it is fired in the kiln the gold molecularly bonds with the Silver to create a 22K plating that will never be able to come off.