Pendant by Sam Patania
One year at the Tucson Gem Show I went to visit a friend who comes every year to the AGTA. His name is Mark Levine and his company is called Merchants Oceanic out of New York City. Mark had a fantastic lot of opal which I fell in love with. It was the nicest opal I had worked with and I needed to put it with diamond and set it in platinum.
The opal was cut in free form shapes so I wanted to cluster them in an organic manner and fill in with diamond.
- Penadant by Sam Patania
This pendant was so much fun to make. I couldn’t photograph it to do it justice, the opal was just magnificent. It has depth, color and flash, all you could want in opal.
The backs of the opals were not flat but raw crystal so setting them took some doing. I used tubing to make the diamond bezels.
I finished this piece off with a very simple commercial chain which did not take away form the pendant at all.
I photographed it on a model to show proportion. This product shot was done with 35mm film and scanned. I shot it on a piece of glass which gave the picture a nice shadow.
This piece sold right away.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Jamie King 11.12.08 at 2:54 pm
Sam,
The opals are beautiful, the design is inspired and the execution is flawless. Way to go!!
Jamie
Helen Hill 11.12.08 at 8:23 pm
Wow! Sam, that is simply stunning! That for me is what opal jewellery is all about and similar to what I imagine when thinking of what to make with my new Australian opals. I’d like to set mine in yellow gold with diamonds. Of course mine won’t be anywhere near as gorgeous as yours, but that’s the sort of quality and sense of design that I aspire to.
Helen Hill