6.5 x 3.5 x 0.5 cm, 0.2 oz each
10.01 ct Tension Set Faceted Red Garnets, Argentium Sterling Silver, Stainless Steel, Niobium Ear Wires
Tension set 10.01 carats of red garnets glow in the light. Light shines through the front and back of the earrings. The ear wires are hypoallergenic niobium. Argentium is a low tarnish sterling silver alloy which remains silver colored longer than the familiar and traditional sterling silver alloy.
The earrings were in the juried exhibit + sale “The Flame Within:: Metal Artistry Unleased” at the ACCI Gallery featuring work by members of the Metal Arts Guild and the Northern California Enamels Guild.
The design is named after its radiolarian inspiration. In the 1862 publication of microscopic sea creatures by Ernst Haeckel, appropriately titled “Art Forms in Nature’, Haeckel drew the creature. To accommodate stones, I modified the creature as I redrew the Collosphaera Huxleyii Müller by hand. I digitized the drawing, modified it again in CAD and sent the design to a laser cutter where it was cut in 30 gauge Argentium sterling silver. I textured, burnished and hand finished each stone setting by hand. Burnishing both sides of the metal increases the light bouncing through the stones.
Learn more about how these earrings are created by watching the short video