I finished my narrative pendant and am thrilled with how it came out. I love the chased and repoussed rocks and the pelican. I also love the sailboat shaped clasp but as I was soldering the ball/post to make it close, the post melted. I did my best to file a groove for the clasp to fit, and it makes a tight fit, but it does not have that clicking sound when you close it.
The die-forms were easy to whip out in a couple of hours, so the hard part was in making the chasing look convincing. I think I achieved this pretty well.
The hinge did not give me as many problems as I was expecting, which I was thankful for, however the hinge pin did solder to at least one knuckle. This was not a big deal, it just meant that I had to keep the two sides together instead of taking them apart to finish them.
Soldering the tiny chain to the huge form melted quite a bit of the chain so I kept having to replace it. If I were to do it again I would either solder the chain to the internal frame before the frame went on the piece, or I would attach the chain to jump rings hidden behind the frame and not solder them shut.
Once I had all of the components, assembly went relatively smoothly.
The first patina that I did looked too dull, so I removed it and went back with more precision, this time knowing exactly what I wanted to hit with the heat gun and what was getting dye-oxides. The rock forms and chased pelican have a heat patina from the heat gun. The softer heat gave the rocks a bright reddish purple color. The water has a heated cupric nitrate patina, while the fish and the pelicans have the dye-oxides. I am much happier with the colors than I was at the crit, but still don't love them. I would like to get the water brighter.
Overall, I am very happy with everything about this piece. I did not run into many problems and feel the finished product came out beautifully.
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