Pixel Tracking

Monica Dekleva

Date: 02-05-2023

 

Submission from: Monica Dekleva
Category: StudentGosnells, WA
Item: Pendant

"A harvest mouse is foraging for the last berries of autumn and has struck an incredible discovery of a beautiful opal laying on the ground. Captivated by the dazzling opal, he takes it with the rest of his finds and scurries off home to escape the winter chill that is to come."

This pendant is in sterling silver with a bezel set Australian boulder opal. The mouse has been cut from sheet and high polished to add a contrast to the fold-formed leaves, textured branch and berries. For the berries, I soldered some wire together and heated the ends until they 'balled' up to form the round berry shape. Before finally setting the opal, I put my piece in the tumbler as some of the components were too delicate to polish by hand. It came out sparkling beautifully!

AJS products used:

I used a round ball bur to create the texture of the branch. And a GRS Multi Purpose Vice was perfect for helping me set my opal in place.