{"id":1057,"date":"2012-01-26T18:11:07","date_gmt":"2012-01-26T18:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=1057"},"modified":"2012-01-27T00:21:22","modified_gmt":"2012-01-27T00:21:22","slug":"cherry-blossom-and-dragonfly-tsuba-pendant-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=1057","title":{"rendered":"Cherry Blossom and Dragonfly Tsuba Pendant part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nHere’s my next project attempt! It’s a tsuba (Japanese sword guard) pendant with cherry branches, cherry blossoms and a dragonfly. The first image is a Photoshopped version of two antique tsuba, and the second image is my pattern I drew from that.<\/p>\n

I cast a small shibuichi ingot (precious Japanese art bronze, 25% silver, 75%copper) and forged it out into a plate, then soldered a .999 Fine silver backing on it so the copper alloy won’t be against the new owner’s skin.<\/p>\n

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\n<\/a>The image above is of the silver back of the raw pendant after cutting it out of the (sort of!) square sheet, and ready to begin engraving and carving. Wish me luck – this is a first for me……<\/p>\n

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\n<\/a>Above are the outlines cut (engraved) into the shibuichi.<\/p>\n

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\nThis image has the lines darkened, for better visibility.<\/p>\n

Next, I have to use a tiny jeweler’s saw to cut out all of the negative spaces. That will probably take all of tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s my next project attempt! It’s a tsuba (Japanese sword guard) pendant with cherry branches, cherry blossoms and a dragonfly. The first image is a Photoshopped version of two antique tsuba, and the second image is my pattern I drew … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[23],"tags":[19,9,3,7,17,16,26,25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6qLAy-h3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1148,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=1148","url_meta":{"origin":1057,"position":0},"title":"Cherry Blossom and Dragonfly Tsuba Pendant part 6","date":"February 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Finally finishing this one up. Above, have cut the ribs in the dragonfly wings, and begun the texture on the wings. Above, the wings are finished. Above, everything finished, and patina applied. Above, finished with the carving, patina applied, and inked. Only have to affix the chain, and it's ready\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Cherry_Dragonfly_Tsuba_49.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1143,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=1143","url_meta":{"origin":1057,"position":1},"title":"Cherry Blossom and Dragonfly Tsuba Pendant part 5","date":"January 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"More cherry flowers, at 4 o'clock. Above, with a quick patina. And here, starting to round out the dragonfly parts, just rough carved so far with carbide burrs. OK, above is the dragonfly body carved. \u00a0Now to work on the wings - I have to decide how to make the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Cherry_Dragonfly_Tsuba_34.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1137,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=1137","url_meta":{"origin":1057,"position":2},"title":"Cherry Blossom and Dragonfly Tsuba Pendant part 3","date":"January 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Above, removing more out of the center area, and texturing it as I cut it away. Here, starting to round the branches (at 9 o'clock on the pendant), and relieving the rear wings of the dragonfly. Continuing on with the branches, and carving on the flower at 8 o'clock. Above,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Cherry_Dragonfly_Tsuba_15.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1130,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=1130","url_meta":{"origin":1057,"position":3},"title":"Cherry Blossom and Dragonfly Tsuba Pendant part 2","date":"January 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's the pendant with most of the areas sawed out with a jeweler's saw and tiny, tiny blade. After a lot of filing to begin smoothing the saw cuts (thanks to my lousy sawing skills), I began cutting away the center section. In this image I've engraved a lot of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Cherry_Dragonfly_Tsuba_6.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1139,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=1139","url_meta":{"origin":1057,"position":4},"title":"Cherry Blossom and Dragonfly Tsuba Pendant part 4","date":"January 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Above, I've used a punch to smooth the flower and adjust the texture of the big branch at left. Here above, I've been working more on the flowers and branches, carving out the cavities in the flowers with a tiny carbide ball burr. Here, I used a blunt, rounded punch\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Cherry_Dragonfly_Tsuba_25.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2455,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2455","url_meta":{"origin":1057,"position":5},"title":"Clockwork Trilobite – Part 2","date":"November 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Today was just a lot of sawing.\u00a0 A lot\u2026I had forgotten how gummy and resisting sterling silver could be, especially in thicker pieces.\u00a0 Now I remember why I much prefer sawing, engraving and carving in steel\u2026 Above are the two trilobite pieces sawn from my two silver plates.\u00a0 On the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Toadsticker_Shiv_Box.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1057"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1133,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057\/revisions\/1133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}