Lonneke and Arjan came to Florence for a few days on holiday from the Netherlands. They took a 3-hour workshop with me and learned the crushed stone inlay process. Lonneke is an experienced jeweler who wanted to add a new technique to her repertoire. Arjan had very little to no experience with making jewelry and wanted to do something fun. Both were able to finish their stone inlay pieces in just 3 hours.
Lonneke had in mind to create a design based on the plan of a petite walled village in Northern France: Montmedy, and used this vintage map for her template. Ironically, it looks rather like a 2D diamond shape – perfect for this application, and perhaps inspired by my Barletta Fortress pendant.
She quickly pierced and sawed the details of the plan in the top layer of silver, filed the edges, soldered it onto the back sheet, and then sawed around the perimeter.
Arjan did the same with his fleur di lys brass pendant/keychain – his first time with the jeweler’s saw and the soldering torch!
Once soldering was completed, they carefully filled the frames with the crushed stone and epoxy. After allowed to dry, excess stone and epoxy was rigorously sanded away and the pieces were polished.
Visit Lonneke’s website: www.lonnekekeuten.nl
For information about a bespoke jewelry class or workshop in a well equipped studio in the center of Florence, Italy, for one or more people, contact me.
See other examples of 3-hour jewelry workshops:
Rustic silver ring
Fleur de lis keychain
Fleur de lis pendant
Convex ring in sterling silver with flower
Convex ring in sterling silver
art925 