Necklace and Bracelet in Branch Coral and Sterling Silver

Necklace and Bracelet by Sam Patania

I just finished this piece yesterday afternoon, October 22, 2008. I had been encouraged to develop this idea from the first branch coral pieces I did which took me ten years to finish. This one only took 2 weeks so I guess I’m getting better. I named it “Coral Sea” because I see sea life in this design.

Dick Barber made the bezels for me and then I started to decide how I wanted the stones to fit together. The pattern that the stones make is really the only decision I have for one of these pieces, they honestly grow as I work and I have no idea what the outcome will be. All I had to begin with is the stones laid out in a pleasing group and the desire to use the bead wire. How the stones will connect is just something I trust will come to me as I need the ideas.

The skeleton for this necklace was a piece of 6 gage round wire that I forged into a shape that I loved and then thought I had wasted that time and material since it didn’t seem like it would fit AT ALL with the necklace I was attempting. So I put it aside and kept working on the stems on the bezels. Dick really did much ot the heavy lifting on this piece, the bezels for this coral are no fun to make.

After the stems were all soldered on the bezels I laid a few of them on the forged wire, just to see how the hell I was going to continue with this piece and it all clicked. With some alteration that wire I thought was going to be some new design brought this necklace together. I was able to assemble the bezels into a coherent necklace and put the bracelet together rather quickly after the skeleton problem was solved.

I then started with the bead wire, I love tapering this material. It gives it an organic feel and visually ties the design together. I made my messy chain to finish the necklace, it is wound 22 gage wire which I chingar up so that it is not uniform.

The bracelet was simpler in assembly since the model I used for the first one worked so well. ( I forgot how I put together the first necklace so I didn’t have the model in mind for it) The one thing I wanted to do with the bracelet was put stones on the side so they were not facing up. To my mind it gives it more depth and you need to look at the bracelet from all angles to really get it. That , of course, makes it impossible to photograph so I don’t even try. You need to hold it to know it.

I would love to explore the forged 6 gage wire again to make something in all silver, so that is in my mind. I am presently working with another set of this branch coral for another variation of this necklace. I should be done with it next week. The idea for it I just got as I was writing that last sentence was to make it narrower with less of an important center. Similar in feel to the Flowers for Brenna necklace rather than the Floral or Wedding Necklace . So I’ll see.

These pieces are available through Mark Bahti’s shop, www.bahti.com. More contact info is on the “About Patania” page.

Tagged as: Add new tag, Bahti, coral, My Jewelry Designs : from Inspiration to Construction, silver