These buttons belonged to my grandmother, and I've always enjoyed their bright colour and lovely design.
However, I found them very difficult to set them into jewellery because, being buttons, they have a rear hole. This means that threading through them didn't work, as you wore the piece they turned over, and I didn't want to wrap wire around them.
As they aren't really something I wanted to add to clothing, I left them in a drawer for years. Then recently I was playing around and discovered a way of mounting them that stopped them from turning.
I tried a pair of earrings, but they were just too large, however as a necklace I thought they work perfectly.
For more details, see: http://www.jewellerydragon.com/N22062.htm
www.jewellerydragon.com
JewelleryDragon is available at the Harrison Lord Gallery in Brighouse, West Yorkshire.
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I love dragons (there you go, I said it!) and I've been looking for a dragon necklace for years.
When I decided to start sculpting again, this piece was the obvious choice, and I chose a Chinese dragon to do. After I had started I discovered that the new Chinese Year was the Year of the Dragon (I really hadn't known before!) so completing the piece this year became essential.
I really loved making him, but found it a massive technical challenge to get enough detail on what ended up as a very large piece. I wanted to colour him in, so with tiny emeralds I created his scaly skin, with yellow sapphires for the underbelly.
The eyes were originally going to be black, but I found a matching pair of fiery rubies, and had to use them. Setting them was also interesting, I used a head pin in each one to give him his startling gaze. I then had to add a pearl, so picked the best I have.
I chose one with a slight flaw, just because I thought it added to the piece, and surrounded it in rubies again, to give it flames.
All in all I love this piece, I think it is really a sculpture, and would look amazing with a little black dress...but it is quite impractical to wear! It's not often I say that about my pieces, but with the amount of silver wire and gems he is really very heavy. The detailing on him also creates little traps for the unwary.
Really this piece is an example of what I can do, and I'm really looking forward to creating more pieces in the future.
For more details, see: http://www.jewellerydragon.com/N22072.htm
www.jewellerydragon.com
JewelleryDragon is available at the Harrison Lord Gallery in Brighouse, West Yorkshire.
Got a Kindle? Read my blog direct! UK and USA
