Come Fly With Me, Copper Butterfly Necklace

One of my newest is this beautiful copper butterfly necklace. Several weeks ago my daughter came into the house saying, mommy look what I found!! In her little hands she was holding a butterfly that she had found laying on the floor in our gazebo, sadly it had been dead for some time.
I had seen where others had rolled a butterfly wing through there mill creating unique pendants. However not wanting to make an exact replica of what others had done but still wanting to see if this really worked using something as delicate as a butterfly wing I got busy annealing my copper to make it as soft as possible in order to take the impression.
I gently placed the wing onto the copper adding a piece to the top and rolled it through. Happily and very excited it worked. There on the sheet of copper was every little cell.
I carefully cut the shapes to match, filed the edges and drilled the holes. I chose to add a beautiful crystal dangle that would reflect the rainbow when hit by the light. I used rolled and stamped wire rings, added my copper chain with a handcrafted copper closure and it was finished. This is truly a one of a kind and although I listed it in my Etsy shop, I am seriously considering keeping this one for myself.
It's not often your lucky enough to find an expired butterfly. So these will be few and far between in the making. And each butterfly wing is only good for one pass as it is destroyed in the process.

My second finished project is my butterfly in the garden bracelet.

This was made using brass wire, I created the rings then hammered them for texture and wire wrapped them so the opening was closed. I used purchased brass filigree butterfly and brass beads, one of our own lampwork beads and my own design ceramic floral beads. The ceramic beads are the center of this bracelet for me as they were made by my own two hands using buttons that once belonged to my childrens great grandmother. I pressed the metal buttons into the beads the pierced the hole through the clay creating the beads. I gave them a jungle gem green glaze. Overall I think the bracelet is uniqu in design and I was happy with the finished piece.

Process to making my copper pendants

I thought today would be a good day to show a bit of how I make my copper pendants.

First of all they all start as a sheet of bare copper, I cut it to approx. 2" x 6" strips and heat it with my torch until it is red hot. Then quench it into a bucket of cold water. This softens the copper and gets it ready for transferring an image onto.
Most of my pendants are made using my own doodle art that has been etched onto a piece of copper and then transferred to a second piece through my small rolling mill. Or found objects such as leaves, feathers, butterfly wings,.... can all be rolled as well.
Once the copper is cleaned through use of my pickle pot to remove the fire scale, I cut them into usually 2 x 2" pieces, select one of my etched pieces, place them together and put some muscle into the handle of the mill and roll it through. Most etched pieces are usually good for 3 or 4 passes although as the image is stretched no two of mine will ever be the same. And after the 3rd or 4th pass they are pretty useless and that particular design is finished. And that's okay, this is what keeps my pieces unique and one of a kind. I also use a different shape and size for each pendant.
After the image is on the second piece of copper I then cut to shape, file and drill the piece.If it is going to be domed I use my doming block and dapping tools for this. Add a handcrafted wire bail, give it a patina to bring out the detail and polish them by hand to a warm glowing shine.
A few added notes, after your copper is heated it is very soft and pliable, through the process of cutting, filling and doming your work the copper is work hardened and make a very durable piece of jewelry.
I have incorporated one of my own small fused art glass cabochon. I'm always looking for new ways to use my copper and fused glass work together. This was a great way to add a splash of color.