Medussa Necklace

This is a Medussa Necklace I recently made for a client. It is Sterling Silver, 18k yellow gold, Antique Rose cut Diamonds, Black Vitreous Enamel, Red Enamel, and Pearls.

I took into account the fact that this client is "vertically challenged" as she humorously describes herself. As an observer looks down at the necklace they see the snakes looking up at them with a pearl in its mouth. 

The snakes were the challenge. They have scales etched into the black enamel. This causes the snakes to sparkle when they move. Otherwise, a bright finish looked too "slick" and did not have any character. I enameled the inside of the mouth a fleshy pink color. It can be seen beyond the pearl when you look down at the mouth.

Hinging was a challenge as well. The diamond setting serves as the top of the riveted post. The snake is free to move in the bail. By doing it this way I was able to finish the necklace by assembling it cold ... after everything was polished.

This project led to this design. I'm now making the model for the "dragon wings".

Enamel on Glass, ... my next "layer" of design for my Silver and Gold Jewelry Collection.

Join me on my venture to developing a technique to incorporate enamel on glass, enamel on silver, enamel on gold, silver and gold into jewelry designs reminiscent of the Art Nouveau.

I am starting this blog stream after I have started my experiments therefore there will be an initial period of frequent posts not necessarily in chronological order. This stream of blogs will also serve as a journal for my experiments and observations.

Initially the items I will be making will fairly closely resemble the original Art Nouveau piece which served as the inspiration. This is so I can see how closely I can emulate the look. As time goes by, my own style will develop.

Below is the inspiration for an early project. It was made around 1900.




Below is rendering I did of a "Winter Scene". The finished piece will fall somewhere near the two.


Ned Bowman
www.bowmanoriginals.com
ned@bowmanoriginals.com