Sculptural Peacock Sapphire & Topaz Broach/Pendant

This is one of my newer hand-sculpted pieces. The pendant is sculpted to look like a peacock with NC mined Sapphires. The peacock also has NC mined blue Topaz gemstones as accents. This design also has 22K gold highlights.This can be worn as a pendant or a broach so it is very versatile. The peacock is a little over 2 inches in length. The peacock is hand sculpted by me. I use a Precious Metal Clay blend that allows the pendant to have the strength of Sterling, but not the tarnishing. I then hand-carve the designs in the metal and when happy with the design, fire it at high temperatures in a kiln. This burns out the clay binders and leaves behind pure silver or gold. The 22K gold added into this design is created with Aura 22. It is a 22K gold slip I paint on the piece and when it is fired in the kiln the gold molecularly bonds with the Silver to create a 22K plating that will never be able to come off. I then add a patina to the piece that will darken the silver used in it.