Sculptural Emerald Earrings

These are one of my newer hand-sculpted pieces. The earrings have wonderful NC hand-mined Emerald gemstones. The earrings measures .75 inches in length. This design also has 22K gold highlights added around the stones. The earrings are hand sculpted by me. I use a Precious Metal Clay blend that allows the earrings 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. I then add a patina to the piece that will darken it, turn it a copper color in places, or may even turn the silver rainbow-ish. I will then seal the silver to keep it from ever turning another color.