Twiggy...

In the late 1990's I took a jewelry class geared primarily to casting. I had always wanted to try casting metal and I figured I would "test the waters" so to speak to see if I liked it enough to invest in the specific equipment required. I learned to carve wax and I made a ring and several bracelet charms. I decided casting wasn't really something I wanted to pursue so I spent the remaining class sessions casting twigs. Having always had an affinity for trees in winter when branches and twigs display beautiful formations, I have enjoyed using these cast twigs in my work and adding them to brooches and pendants...my "Harvest" pendantshown above sports a cast twig atop the pod-shaped enameled focal. Now that I'm so into creating earrings, I figured this would be a great way to use some of my cast twig stash!They really are wonderful as dangles and quite light in weight! The collection shown below features gemstones of pink chalcedony, honey quartz, and chrysoprase.