Monday, January 17, 2011

Dreams and Dragonflies

I'd like to share some details of a client's custom project I finished for the holidays. My client Paul wanted a custom sterling silver Maria necklace. The front of the necklace would have a black and white photograph of a dear loved one, and for the tiny square image on the back of the necklace he wanted a dragonfly.

Let me show you how I  took the dragonfly from sketch to finished piece:

{the wing structure of a dragonfly amazed me}
I ordered mossy green beads of faceted emeralds for the finished necklace, and sketched a dragonfly with colored pencils. It did not have to be very detailed, because wait until you see how tiny the sketch will become!
{I carefully position the tiny photograph with precision tweezers}

 I photographed my dragonfly sketch and reworked the image in Photoshop. A local Pro Lab printed the miniature original photograph on archival paper for me.



{the back of the necklace as I was working on it}
I was thrilled with this beautiful custom piece when done, and the necklace was a wonderfully received Christmas gift for Paul's wife Tami. Paul chose the dragonfly because of the powerful message of transformation a dragonfly represents. Read the insightful quote by Walter Dudley Cavert here.


Today is Martin Luther King Day, and I'm especially struck by power of transformation. The future is in the the generations that follow us. Take the time to remind the children in your life of the power of hope.

Loretta

10 comments:

  1. That is so cool. I would love to see the whole thing! Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  2. A treasured piece in Tami's collection. Beautiful!
    Cathy

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for sharing a bit of how one of your wonderful pieces are created! xo

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love how this turned out. It is fun to hear about your process too.
    Ashlyn

    ReplyDelete
  5. That is very cool Loretta! I love the dragonfly.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for stopping!i am so excited to find you and your blog,please come see me when you visit your sister in portland!
    have a lovely week~deepali

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi, nice to meet you. Jody here. I came to you through Kayce. I love seeing how you put the green beads and the teeny dragonfly together and how painstakingly detailed the work is. Wondeful and fascinating!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Jody- Glad you stopped by! (Kayce is a dear)

    I really appreciate all the kind comments on this piece of jewelry!

    Deepali- I'd love to stop in!

    Loretta

    ReplyDelete

A comment? I'm so happy to hear from YOU!