How a pendant comes to be - the Little Bronze Night Owl

Here's my newest little gal. Etched in bronze with a sterling silver backing, this little owl is hand drawn and I'm really excited about how she turned out. Inspired by my absolute favorite artist, Gustav Klimt, whose art decorates the walls of my house, you can see elements of his style in the swirls and mosaic-like pattern.

Here's a glimpse into how an idea of a piece of jewelry actually evolves into something wearable. The motivation came from a charm swap I'm taking part in within Etsy Metal. I turned my idea of the charm I'm using for the swap into a larger sized, reversible pendant.

First comes the drawing.

This is one of the many drafts that I played around with last Saturday. The drawing is the most tedious part. I'm learning the fine balance between too much detail, and not enough.


After the bronze is etched, cut, and filed, comes the patina. I patina everything. It's the best way for the design within the metal to really show through.


I thought it would be nice to make this pendant reversible, so I took elements from the design on the front, and embossed them onto sterling silver sheet, which I laminated to the back. Just a little something extra.


After several stages of polishing and clean up, here is the finished piece, available now in my Etsy shop.