Behind the Scenes: Custom Stone Intarsia Pendant
This client came to me with a particular image she wanted to replicate in a mosaic stone intarsia pendant that was 2.5 inches in diameter.
She had some ideas of what stones she wanted to use for her pendant, but was interested in seeing what other stone options would best color match the picture she sent me.
From my suggestions, she selected sodalite (dark blue), Russian amazonite (green with white inclusions), and Australian opal (pink) to make her mosaic.
Just to make sure that my client would love her color selections, I made a rendering of her design with pictures of the stones she wanted so she could get a feel for how the finished pendant would look.
Once she approved the stones, it was time to get to work! I started by cutting the center pieces of pink opal, followed by the outer pieces of sodalite—making sure to number all of the stones since they go in a very particular order.
From there, I cut the thin wedges of green amazonite for the stone intarsia design. Because all of the wedges need to fit perfectly, I had to slowly trim each stone down little by little until they fit properly.
With the stones all cut for the mosaic, I could affix them together with a strong, two-part epoxy. My client wanted there to be some black borders around each stone to resemble her initial design.
To strengthen the stone intarsia, I always back them with another stone—usually whatever stone is at the border of the design, so I used a nice big piece of sodalite.
Shaping and polishing the stone is the next step. Because this pendant was going to have an open-back design, I also polished the backside of the stone as well.
Once the stone was finished, I could make the sterling silver setting for it. My client opted to go for a reticulated bail to add more visual interest to the overall design without detracting from the stone intarsia.
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