This is one of my newer hand-sculpted pieces. The pendant is sculpted to look like a Sea Turtle with a shimmery blue Labradorite as its centerpiece. The Sea Turtle has 2 blue NC mined Sapphires as its eyes. This design also has 22K gold highlights. The Sea Turtle is a little over 2 inches in length.

The Sea Turtle 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.