The process of getting back on track after the big fire is now almost finished.
Karens brooch with the “The little prince” and the Fox was lost in the fire, but I managed to recreate an almost identical version for her birthday shortly after Christmas. Luckily I had a good picture of the old one, and I also found a piece of (rare!) petrified oak for the base-plate. Even though the lost one was made 20 years ago I still remembered exactly how I made it.
The book about “The Little Prince” has a very special place in our lives: When I met Karen I sent her a copy of the part where the fox meets the little prince (and you should definitely read it!), and at our wedding party Karen read it out loud to all the guests. Who is the prince and who is the fox, we still don’t know 🙂 The pictured scene is not exactly from Antoine de Saint-Exupérys drawings, but my own composition that will fit the circular shape. Always remember what the fox says:
“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Here they are on the little planet, talking wisely about friendship:
A silver seashell with a ruby was also lost in the fire. I bought the ruby on our trip to Vietnam in 2012, and later made the seashell as a gift to Karen at our 40-years wedding anniversary.
Last year, at our 45-years day, I gave Karen a re-design of the sea-shell, but this time a little larger, with more details on the surface, and a really large pearl “looking out” through the shell. I think the new one is much better than the lost one, and a pearl is more in its right element than a ruby (and less expensive).
The technique I used is basically the same as before: Cutting the outline out of a silver plate and making most of the surface details first. Then the curved shape is made afterwards by pressing the silver plate between a set of positive and negative 3D-printed plastic forms. I used a really large parallel vice as a press. The only really difficult task was to fit the pearl onto the backside: I bought the pearl with a pre-drilled hole, and then a 0.6mm silver “pin” is mounted through this hole securing the pearl to two hooks soldered onto the shell on each side of the large hole. Here is the result:
I also made a set of earrings, using the same technique. Smaller, simpler and much easier to press into shape. Now Karen has a complete set, and here you see one of the earrings:
