Quite a while ago, I decided to make a brooch using a twig I had cast. I wanted to add a beautiful tongue shaped stone that I had purchased years before and saved for just the perfect project. I finished the bezel and while fitting the stone into the bezel…Oh no! I had dropped the stone! It had fallen on the tile floor and broken into two jagged pieces. I’m afraid I then uttered some rather unladylike words. Now what? Well, time to put my thinking cap on…how do I salvage this project? After spending time doing a re-design, I ground and filed the rough edges
of both pieces of stone to a smooth finish, and found that, not only could I save the brooch project, but I could also create a another! Fortunately, I had a large stash of cast twigs that I had made in a casting class as well as pearls and assorted gemstones. These pieces are made of sterling silver which I textured in a rolling mill. 14k gold wire adds a constrasting warmth to the oxidized silver. The brooch in the top photo has a tube set garnet and a pearl. The brooch in the bottom photo is accented with a tube set ametheyst and watermelon tourmaline. I couldn’t decide which brooch I liked best…I was so pleased with both pieces that I simply couldn’t part with either of them. I still have them and wear them often although they are quite differnt from the jewelry I am making these days. Of course, one never knows when the spirit will move me to dig into my box of cast twigs and make another brooch…or whatever?
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