Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Whimsy Wednesday & Fini Friday! A Charming Dragon!

Hello Everyone!
Welcome to a double-feature of Whimsy Wednesday and Fini Friday!
I've a charming Dragon and whimsical charms to show today along with how each either have grown into completion!
Let's get started! First, the charms!
These charms are cast of lead-free pewter by a company here in the U.S.A! I love working with their materials as everything is so well-formed and of excellent quality.  The dark little recesses that you see are little holes in which to glue crystals or other cabochons. I used Swarovski crystal (Colours from left to right are: Sun, Fern Green and Volcano) rhinestones because I love the precision of the faceting and the beautiful flash of colour that produces. I'm not certain where I'll use these, whether in earring creations or as a dangling detail in a necklace or bracelet. They are so very fun, I'm excited to see where they venture to next!

And now!
For the Dragon!  We're on a journey from material to finished creation!
First, some of the materials!
The two gold-coloured beads are hand-made brass from the Ivory Coast. Their holes were a little uneven due to the hand-casting, so I widened them on my drill press! The top bead is our Dragon and his is hand-carved boxwood! It takes the Master Carvers up to four hours to carve one of him and each one is signed on the bottom! I absolutely love the three-dimensionality of him!
 You'll see what I mean in the following photos! Title: As Yet Unknown Ingredients: Hand-carved boxwood Dragon, brass (Ivory Coast), glass, Copper and Brass Pen (USA), brass.

A closer look at the front of our Dragon!
  
A close-up of the back of the Dragon... 

Gold and Red are colours of good health, long life and prosperity in the Orient (and in other cultures!). I wanted this creation to be quite interesting, yet with a simple design so as to keep all the attention on our Dragon friend! The finished creation is reminiscent of absolutely elegant, yet fire-y and timeless and perhaps sacred! Very fitting for a Dragon! 

So!  There you have it, the end of our journey and the finished creation, as promised!
I'm taking a mini-vacation for the rest of the week, so I won't see you until Monday! 
Until then, I'll just mention my BlogTalk Radio Interview in February!
Tuesday, Feb. 19th 3-3:30pm (CST, USA)
I'm not giving any hints, so hop on over for a listen that day to hear their message!
See you on Monday!
Ciao!

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