This piece was designed for a monthly challenge held by the Aspiring Metalsmiths Etsy Team.
I sat down with my sketchbook and decided to design a piece for a handmade glass cabochon I recently purchased. After finalizing the design I scanned it to my computer and traced it with Adobe Illustrator. I printed the template and glued it to a sheet of sterling silver and set to work with my saw. Each star is hand pierced with a jewelers saw, the same goes for the moon and star pattern that is behind the stone. Once I had all that sawn out I went to solder on the bezel and realized…. I had made the piece a little too small to accommodate the glass cab I had originally planned for. I thought about starting over, but I didn’t want to just abandon all the work I had put into it so far.
Luckily in my stash I found this lovely little blue chalcedony stone that fit just perfectly. I loved the light blue color and once finished, I actually like it better than the original plan. Because this stone is just as beautiful from the back I was able to add the star and moon cutout in the back that was not part of the original design. Stamped on the back of the piece is one of my favorite quotes that says, “Not all those who wander are lost.” Then on the front I soldered 4 sterling balls in the orientation of a compass. One for north, south, east, and west. One of my favorite things about this piece is that the back is as interesting as the front. I then attached a 16 inch sterling silver chain with a handmade sterling silver clasp.
This piece can now be found in my Etsy shop.