Xidni Dragonfly Pendant Done!

[iLander]

So, I was oogling Etsy and found the Xidni shop. http://www.etsy.com/shop/Xidni

I fell head over heels for the little dragonfly pendant (and I'm plotting how to buy more pieces ).

http://www.etsy.com/listing/51845216/14k-gold-enamel-dragonfly-pin-and?ga_search_query=dragonfly

The owner is named Steven Schall, and he is very nice. Prompt replies, during business hours, he kept me up on the progress of the piece, etc. He makes the pieces as the orders come in, and this took about three weeks. He can do the enamels in any color or stone that you like, so I vacillated a while, but ended with the original ruby/red/black version. The red enamel is plique a jour, which I always love, it's a translucent version of enamel. So the light shines through. The ruby is not the greatest red, it tends a bit to the purple, but I wasn't expecting too much. He did check with the ruby supplier and they claim heat only, no beryllium, etc. Eye clean, only tiny inclusions at 10x. The diamonds are very bright and white, eye clean, very sparkly. He could make it as a pin and a pendant, but I went with pendant only. The whole piece is 14K red gold (looks like regular yellow gold to me), which he said works best with enamels.

I think his photo shows off the piece pretty well, but I think mine give you an idea of the exquisite smallness of the piece. It's 1 1/4 inches at it's widest point. I think it works beautifully as a pendant, and I'm wearing it a lot. I think he can set other people's stones, but only if it's pretty close to the size of the existing stones in the piece.

I thought of posting this in the Jewelry Pieces subforum, but there's not a lot of traffic over there. Thanks for letting me share!

 

[TravelingGal]

Pretty!

We do have the SMTB forum for sharing any jewelry....

 

[iLander]

Pretty!

We do have the SMTB forum for sharing any jewelry....

Should I ask to have it moved? I never go over there, I only go to colored stones, and I didn't think it was a CS worthy ruby . . .

 

[TravelingGal]

I post everything jewelry in SMTB, but I think it's CS worthy too!

 

[iLander]

I dunno . . . I just went to SMTB and it's all ginourmous diamonds over there!

I think my tiny dragonfly will get eaten by those big things!

I will move it to CS.

 

[movie zombie]

love it, iLander!

i'm sorry you didn't feel like it was worthy of a post in CS......because i think it is!

 

[GemFever]

Great pendant! I also think it's quite CS worthy

 

[Enerchi]

It's beautiful, iLander!! How unique and so fun to wear!

 

[Fly Girl]

Love that dragonfly pendant! Good find on the Xidni etsy shop. I'm drooling over their goodies as well.

 

[kenny]

Wow! That's very very cool!

 

[JewelFreak]

How unusual & pretty, iLander! I love its delicacy. How about a neck shot? Would like to see its size on you. Plique a jour is one of my favorites too! I especially like the way he did the body with the diamonds & gold spacers.

--- Laurie

 

[chrono]

Definitely CS worthy - do not think so lowly of us here that we are unable to appreciate such work.

I am amazed that he is able to set such tiny enamel into the wings. How well do the legs and other thin metal parts hold up to wear? I would worry the legs might get broken off. I have a very fine calla lily pendant of which one of the three stamens have broken off so I never wore the pendant again even though it has strong sentimental value.

 

[distracts]

Wow, that's gorgeous!

Somebody's Etsy favorites list just got a whole lot longer... Some of those amazing earrings would be perfect for my wedding.

 

[Lady_Disdain]

I am amazed that he is able to set such tiny enamel into the wings.

Plique a jour enamel isn't set into metal. Instead, the powdered enamel is packed into the pierced spaces in the metal and fused.

 

[chrono]

I am amazed that he is able to set such tiny enamel into the wings.

Plique a jour enamel isn't set into metal. Instead, the powdered enamel is packed into the pierced spaces in the metal and fused.

Cool! Thanks for the explanation. Got to have a steady hand for that too, I'm sure.

 

[pinkjewel]

very pretty!! I'd love to see a neck shot,too! I'm loving some of his flower rings and lilly earrings!

 

[iLander]

Hi Mozo, GemFever, Enerchi , Kenny! I felt awkward, since most CS projects involve months of stone selection, CAD's and agony. But I feel better with your encouragement! Thank you!

Hi Laurie and Fly Girl, I have been drooling over his pieces for a while, and it took me a full month to pick just one. It's the plique a jour that attracted me, you don't see it done very much these days, and it's so pretty. In my first and second picture, you can see the light coming through the red. I am trying to decide if I want this piece for Christmas, http://www.etsy.com/listing/65850570/18k-gold-equisite-enamel-wingled-lady,,,, it's a bit bigger, and the wings are all plique a jour. He can make it in any colors, and I tried it in Photoshop with blue and green wings, but it was surprisingly icky. I may end up with it just as it is.

Hi distracts and pinkjewel! If you like some earrings, just send Steve an email, have him tell you the size, then pull the pic off and print it out. You can adjust the size with a copier or a photo program. Then cut them out, and voila!, you can try them on. I always do this with jewelry that I buy on the net, it really helps.

Hi Chrono! The legs are actually pretty sturdy, they don't act bendy or anything. If I knew anything about gauges, I could tell you, but I don't. That's a shame about your pendant, can't you send it to DanielM or someone to fix? Or just wear it, I'll bet no one will even notice the missing stamen.

Hi LD! Yup, I love that stuff, the stained glass effect is awesome.

Here's the neck shot (not my neck, FYI)! It's really a great size, not too big, and not too small (I mean the pendant, not the neck )

 

[movie zombie]

when its right, its right, iLander.
not everything has to be agognized over and contemplated to the nth degree.
.....reminder to self, on that, too.

its a lovely signature piece. i can see it also on a red silk rope.

 

[Lady_Disdain]

The price on the winged lady is excellent. Joseph Arquer does beautiful plique a jour but his prices are a completely different ball game. Hans Meevis also did some, but I think it was just a one off.

Earlier, you mentioned that the red gold doesn't look red. That little fact started niggling at my mind so I decided to do a little research in my books and I was right. There are 2 main reasons.

The first is because of zinc. Enameling on alloys that contain zinc is a big no-no. The zinc creates bubbles in the enamel, it can distort colours and just generally gets in the way. 14k yellow gold often contains zinc, to counter the color influence of the silver and copper in the alloy. 14k red gold, however, doesn't contain zinc.

The second is that enamels work best on pure gold or fine silver. Copper adds in a lot of oxides that change the colour drastically (enamels on copper are also beautiful, but you need to know what will happen to the glass on each metal). Copper can be removed from the surface with ordinary pickle. Silver, however, needs nitric acid (ouch). Since red gold contains copper but no silver, I suppose it is easier to create the rich gold layer necessary.

And the side effect of creating this layer? The piece looks yellow, not red, just as you mentioned.

If anyone would like a little technical reading (and doesn't want to buy Oppi's opus): http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/ajm-metals_under_fire.htm

 

[Lovinggems]

Nice pendant, it's delicate looking on your neck. I love dragonfly motifs and was thinking about getting a dragonfly wing earrings before.

 

[chrono]

iLander,
How about dark blue and light yellowish green? Perhaps the colour palette you selected did not have enough contrast? In theory, they should be a good combination. Yes, for now, I've decided to leave the pendant as is. It is a 22kt gold piece so it's not an easy piece to repair.

Lady D,
Wouldn't pure gold be too soft for enameling or am I mistaken? How about 22kt gold? Does the lower quantity of alloys still affect the enamel?

 

[Lady_Disdain]

I think you are right, Chrono. Pure gold is too soft for enameling. This is why enamelers use lower karat gold (14k and 18k) and bring up just a layer of pure gold over it. It is quite a thin layer but enough to isolate oxides.

Even more important than the karat, though, is the composition. Gold, silver and copper alloys work all right. Once you start adding the unusual components (specially with silver, which often gets some silicon, germanium, etc in the alloy), things get wonky.

 

[Arkteia]

Beautiful piece, with antique look to it, very elegant. Wear it in good health, I am positive you will get tons of compliments on it. It is very stylish.

 

[minousbijoux]

Unbelievable! ilander, how could you ever doubt where that piece belonged??? It is COLORED, it is unique, and it is gorgeous! Thank you for creating something so unusual! We have needed someone to bring us up a notch lately Love, love, love it!

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Unbelievable! ilander, how could you ever doubt where that piece belonged??? It is COLORED, it is unique, and it is gorgeous! Thank you for creating something so unusual! We have needed someone to bring us up a notch lately Love, love, love it!

I am going to go a little farther and say that she should add it to the gold thread in Jewelry. And that is "as well" and not "instead of" here.

 

[minousbijoux]

Lady D:

You speak as if you've tried your hand at plique a jour?

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Lady D:

You speak as if you've tried your hand at plique a jour?

It is on my list of things to try, but I haven't worked the courage to yet! I still mess up ordinary enameling at times.

 

[artdecogirl]

ilander, your piece combines some of my most favorite elements, I love love love enamel! It's just beautiful, enjoy your great find.

 

[iLander]

Hi Mozo! Thank you and I think we can all use that reminder! Red silk cord is an awesome idea, and would give it an entirely different look. Thanks, I'll try that!

Hi LD! I agree, I think he has great prices for what you get. I learned a lot from your posts! When he told me about the red gold, I did the email version of nodding and smiling. Thank you for teaching me!

Hi Lg! Thank you! I didn't think it would be so delicate and fine, so that was a bonus for me. Dragonfly wing earrings sounds like an awesome idea! Did you see the big dragonfly on his Etsy store? All I can do is drool at it.

Hi Chrono! Thanks, I will try those colors with some photoshop trickery, great idea! BTW I wanted to say I appreciate all your time and attention to CS, you're the lifeblood of this forum!

Hi Arkteia! I agree, I love antique jewelry, especially art nouveau, but I can never afford the really awesome antique pieces. This is as close as I can get. Thank you for the kind words!

Hi Minousbijoux! Your comment is so sweet, I could just hug you! Hope all is good with you.

Hi Artdecogirl! I love enamel too! I could never find this in an antique store, it would have been snatched up. I'm really considering some of his other pieces, but it is so hard to choose! Love your avatar ring, BTW.