May 20 2017

Bow and Arrow Necklace

This little sterling silver bow and arrow necklace was a very special surprise gift for someone who has their own special meaning for arrows and how they remind them to keep aiming.

It was fun to take on a piece that is outside of my usual style. I wanted to give this piece those little extra details that make a handmade piece of jewelry even more special.

The little feather pieces at the end of the arrow were hand cut and the feather lines were delicately marked and cut by hand to make them a little deeper. I made the arrow head piece thicker so that it would have some weight to it to help balance the piece and hold the bow and arrow straight when hanging. The ends of the bow were drawn out in a rolling mill so that they taper so that the swirls would have a more natural flow to them. The rope was hand twisted and delicately wrapped around the bow. The front of the bow and the feathers were the only parts that I carefully gave a darker patina to so that there would be contrast between them, the rope, and the rest of the arrow (which is very hard to see in the photos).

The most important thing is that the recipient loved it!

Here are some photos of my process in creating this special bow and arrow necklace:

The little pieces on my fingers will become the feathers at the end of the arrow. The silver rope was a challenge to solder on to the bow. The bow is so much thicker than the wire rope and it takes much more heat to get it to soldering temperatures. Because of this, it’s very easy to melt that wire rope before getting the pieces to solder together.

I use my drawings to help me layout my designs and remind me of qualities that I want the piece to have.

This photo was taken on my soldering pad right after the last piece was soldered on. You can really see the tapered ends of the bow well in this photo. The next step is to polish it up!

I loved the little shadow the arrow made on my jeweler’s bench.

The finished piece next to its preliminary drawing. Many of my jewelry sketches are much more utilitarian than artistic because I want to get started as soon as possible on creating the actual jewelry piece in metal.