Faux Bone Pendant

A Faux Bone pendant.  The purple field looked pretty good a first, but I decided that it needed some help.  I put a half-drilled  Swarovski cabochon pearl in the field and that improved the appearance.  I also added a few brush strokes of pearl.  Whether that was a good idea, I don't know.  Maybe yes, maybe no.

Lighting conditions certainly not the same.

I don't know why, but I sort of like the half-drilled pearls.  Of course, these are not real pearls.  They only have the appearance of a pearl.  And, they come in a variety of colors.  Hard to find, though.

 I use this method to fasten the pearl.  First, I ball the end of a short piece of 20 gauge copper wire. I don't bother to pickle or remove any fire scale.  It's all going to be hidden anyway, except on the backside of the piece and that will be taken care of later.

Next, I insert the wire into a riveting block, that funny looking hexagonal steel block with different sized holes and slots, and hammer down the balled end, flattening it into a nail head rivet.

After removing the rivet from the block, I file the head to make it thinner, and it brightens up the end.

Then, drill a hole in the Faux Bone where the pearl will go, and chamfer the outside part of the hole with the point of a triangular scraper.  This because under the rivet head there will most likely be a tapered portion, left over from the original ball. Chamfering make a tapered opening and the rivet will sit flat against the back.

I file the other end of the rivet to remove any bur and actually file a bit of a sharp point so the wire will easily go through the hole, place the piece on the bench block and tap the rivet head flat on the back.

Having previously tested the hole depth in the pearl (1/8"),  I clip the wire to that length, file the end a bit, and put one tiny drop of Zap-a-Gap adhesive on the wire and quickly pop the pearl on wire, and let dry.  Although this adhesive sets up very quickly, I let it dry for 24 hours before continuing to work on the piece.  

Next week's blog entry will detail the process of making a bail for the stringing and a different sort of pendant, my magnificent (ha ha) segmented pendant!  I just know you can't bear to wait for it.  Chuckle, chuckle.