Natural Blue Topaz in Celtic Braid

   

I finally decided not to delay this project any longer, I knew I will need an oval shape cabochon for the project. But instead of a cab, I went for this pretty, pretty 21.75carat Natural Blue Topaz, and then wrapped it with Perri’s Celtic Braid Pendant technique. I was dead nervous, first of all, the stone is precious, am not sure if I will ruin it like scratching it’s surface throughout the in-making process; second, this is the first time I am executing Perri’s tutorial! I basically – spent 2 hours just study the tutorial, yes, study – without tools on hand. I always do that when i was in school, study means study, making notes is another task and I never mix them both – and I advice people that bought my tutorials to do that too. Study the tutorial as though the teacher is standing right infront of you, and you listen, and act later, first simulate the work-flow, visualize it in your mind and lastly, execute it.

 

The challenge I have had was – instead of a rounded cabochon bead, mine is a topaz that has a cone-shaped back, I wrote to Ms. Perri and Bobbi to tell them my concern, they both replied to assure me that everything is going to be fine! And as the matter of fact, coincidentally, Bobbi was executing this very same project with a very same size stone (15mm X 20mm), hers is an Alexandrite, not a cab neither, I highjacked one of her pendant’s picture and put it here for you to see:

The fun part of this whole thing is, we were as though sitting next to each other because of the pace of the E-mails exchanged, we thrown out ideas to each other (or as for my case, typing it out loud just so that I could see it to get the idea) whilst making our own pieces into success, though I’ve started the project midnight and called it a night after coiling the 30ga wires on 26ga… Knowing me I would have stayed up until the project is finished, but I knew it clearly that this won’t work for Perri’s design(s), like what Bobbi said, patience is a key, and as for me I thought – if you didn’t want her design enough, it won’t turn out like what it was supposed to be!

 

Thank you Ms. Perri for sharing such wonderful knowledge, and thanks Ms. Bobbi for sharing your experiences! I had fun making this and because I “listen” to what the teacher said in the tutorial, this pendant is made with Artistic wires. I know I am ready to break my silver wires for it now. :)

 

Happy weekend all! :)

 

-Me-