Behind the Scenes: Custom Figurative Inlay Pendant
This client had seen my previous gym-related inlaid figures, and wanted to do something similar picturing his wife, who is an award-winning cycling instructor.
My client sent me a few reference pictures to work from, along with a general scope of what kind of pose he wanted for the figure (a standing pose above the cycling saddle).
After the initial sketch, he made some tweaks on the drawing before we finalized the design that would be used to make the custom inlay pendant.
Using the drawing as a guide, I made the wire outline for the channel inlay before soldering it to the backplate.
After sawing, filing, and polishing the sterling silver pendant, it is ready to be inlaid.
From here, I sent over a few stone color palette ideas based off of some pictures and clothing styles his wife wears.
I use actual pictures of the stones I have in my collection and Photoshop them into the design so my clients can see how the colors and stone patterns will look together before I start working on the next stage.
He ended up going with this selection for the inlay pendant, which included moonshine (her skin), willow creek jasper (hair), Hubei turquoise (sports bra), Lucin variscite (shorts), Florida agatized coral (shoes), obisidian (spin bike), red jasper (spin bike details), and lepidolite (light purple background).
Because of the intricacy of many of these parts, I had to hand-carve over half of them using my flex shaft and small diamond bits to ensure and excellent fit for all of the stones.
Once all 28 pieces of stone were cut and polished, I set them in the sterling channels. Many people always ask about how are stones set in a piece of inlay jewelry, and all inlay artists use an adhesive. I use a high-quality, water clear epoxy for my inlays to ensure they will last for years to come.
Following a final cleaning and stone polish, the pendant was finished.
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