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Zorias — What You Don't See 232
Published: 2012-07-05 23:37:54 +0000 UTC; Views: 4198; Favourites: 277; Downloads: 31
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Piece # 232 "What You Don't See"A Zoria's Creation. Krista DeSelms © 2012
Well, this has been my biggest challenge to wrap as far as cabochon shapes go. For about a year I've been on the hunt for a true "Crescent Moon" shaped cabochon, and having no luck finding them. So I finally asked around my lapidary friends and sure enough, a good friend, Jim, volunteered to try the trick of making me one. I, the ebay challenged, went on there and bought myself a nice Pietersite slab and Moonstone rough. Jim did his best for me but the Moonstone looked him straight in the eye and told him "No Jim, I will not be a cabochon of any sort!" Had a hissy fit and shattered, this is due to my stunning ability to buy rough. Anyway, the Pietersite was a beauty and she was so much more cooperative.
So Jim took the Pietersite and out of his diligence and hard work came this absolutely gorgeous crescent moon cabochon
Yey Jim!!!Which, I in the past two weeks have attempted to wrap…. Yes, attempted, with success!!! …. the second time around. Anyway, with no further a due I present “What You Don’t See” Enjoy!
Pietersite wrapped in 21 gauge, square and twisted, Argentium Sterling Silver.
Pietersite is a brecciated gemstone. This means that after its original forming the gem was broken apart, sometimes by heating and mangled, reshaped and brought together with quartz, sealing its transformation. The original form of Pietersite is that of Tigers Eye, which is why Pietersite can be found with so many colors in it, ranging from light and dark blues, fabulous yellows and golds and deep reds. These are the natural colors Tiger Eye can take and in turn can be brecciated into the same but more mixed up colors to form Pietersite. Where Tiger Eye stones are very uniform, usually with the chatoyancy all moving in one parallel direction Pietersite has a more chaotic look to it, shine and patterns going every which way. Pietersite can be found in Nambia and some areas of China, though the mining of it has slowed and its become a fairly rare and valuable stone.
Argentium Sterling Silver is the highest quality of Sterling Silver available today and is highly tarnish resistant. Sterling Silver is 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. Argentium is actually 93% silver with the remaining 7% a mixture of Copper and the element Germanium which gives it a higher tarnish resistance and less people are allergic to it than normal Sterling Silver.
Yes, I do custom work.
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Comments: 48
"What you Don't See" is visually balanced with the placement of the Argentium wire and silver beads. The only concern I have are the three curves of wire towards the end of the crescent; to me it seems to be making the piece slightly off-balanced. I think it should be closer to the middle of the gemstone, but since the wire is weighing down on the hanging end of the crescent I can see an authentic and more original approach.
Crescent moon jewelery is popular, but not original. However, you have demonstrated persistence in making a Pietersite gemstone crescent, which isn't something every jeweler attempts to do. In the end your friend did a great job.
The technique is distinguished, precise, and the 21-gauge wire is manipulated expertly. The wires don't show stress, which tells me you bent the wires carefully with little mistake.
The impact of this piece is from your choice in material, and determination to have the Pietersite a crescent and knowledge of the Argentium sterling silver 21-gauge wire. Although the piece is more aesthetically designed, the materials used show your time and effort to making something genuine.
Overall I truly enjoy this piece. What I like most is the title, it's very thought-provoking and has made me look at your piece more analytically than with other pendant pieces. I look forward to seeing more of your work.
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Thank you so much for the critique and all the compliments! I love when people can look critically at a piece of art and give an open and honest opinion of it. I do agree that crescent moon art is far from original but I did my best to make this piece stand out. I've seen many wire workers form crescents out of just wire or beads with wire, but never had seen a crescent cabochon, so I was thrilled when my friend offered to make me one
I'm glad you like the title, it was almost "The Dark Side of the Moon" but it just felt very cliche and too long and awkward almost, so I thought a little harder
Thank you again so much for the critique!
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Love how this turned out. Good wrapping and a gorgeous cab
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Thank you very much!
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Very pretty! I love the color of the stone and the organic flow of the overall piece.
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Thank you very much, it means a lot
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Thank you very much
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Beautiful! If I may ask, where did you learn this craft? I've seen many books on it, but none have really taught me much about it....
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Thank you very much for the compliments
I learned how to wire wrap on my own, I started a while back before it became too popular on the internet and lots of people started trying to do it. I had looked for some tutorials and didn't find any so I went at it on my own. My first creations were nightmares, this past year I decided to throw away most of my earliest works, my Mom stole them from my room before I could get them out. Anyway, I taught myself, I saw a couple of wire wraps and wanted to do it so I did, and eventually I got good at it
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Thank you for helping me! I may have to give it a try
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Your welcome, good luck!
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Thank you very much!
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Beautiful 
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I hope you know a good lapidary, I asked a whole forum full of them and only got two people to volunteer for the task! But thank you for the compliment
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Absolutely gorgeous! I wish I knew how to do cool stuff like this! Wire wrapping is just awesome~
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Ooh, I love pietersite. Such a beautiful stone - and it looks just stunning with the wrap
(But I don't envy Jim having to cut a crescent cabachon - bet that wasn't too fun 
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Thank you! I think Jim welcomed the challenge, he'd been doing a lot of repetitive stuff and volunteered 
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Ahh, well if he enjoyed it then brilliant - though does he realise that actually saying so is likely to have you dreaming up even trickier designs?
And I know in person the colours will be even more lovely - unfortunately things like pietersite or labradorite and even moonstone are hard to do justice to in photos
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Thank you very much! Glad it doesn't bore lol
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Oh it looks fantastic! And great choice of pietersite, it looks like a lovely selection. (I prefer the blue myself.)
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Thank you so much
Krista
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That's a majestic piece. It looks like a storm front.
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This is very nice! I love moon shaped cabs, you're lucky to have one. (I found one once and never bought it... never found any again, so I kind of regret not purchasing it..) I love what you've done to set it, it's perfect in silver and I like the curlies too. Great work!
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Thanks so much hun!
Krista
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No problem! And the crescent turned out to be a fine pendant. It looks like a nice change from wrapping simple ovals and such. I ought to look harder for some cabs in interesting shapes.
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I must say, this turned out absolutely wonderfully! I saw some of your WIP pictures, and I must admit, I was curious to see how you were going to wrap such a challenging piece.
I can honestly say that I would have given up after the initial attempt and said forget it. I'm happy you don't have the same temperament as me. I'm always blown away by the work that you do, even if I don't comment often.
I do have to ask though, where do you buy your wire supplies from? I desperately want to start with silver, but can't afford any of it, so instead work with Brass, Copper, and Bronze.
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Ha haa, I had forgotten that I put those WIP pictures up a while ago. I was kind of upset after the first failure, didn't come back to it for over a week, but it worked out the second time around
Thank you for commenting now, I love comments, but also appreciated watches and favorites
I buy my wire (at least my silver) at RioGrande.com I took a look at some of your wire work and I'll give you one piece of advice, which is the most important advice I have gotten in my wrapping career, Wire Wrapping a stone, is only 40% focus on the wire work, the rest is to show off the stone, so when you put a lot of wire in front of the stone, you take away from it's beauty, but you're on the right track
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I actually have other pieces where there isn't so much wire in the front covering the stone, but I've been too busy to take a proper picture to post them.
I will, however, remember that in the future.
If you have any further advice to give, I'm all ears. ^_^
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