The making of the dragon's egg.

This is the journey of my latest steampunk pendant.

I don't always ball up the ends of my wire, but I do like to do it with brass.. mainly because brass is really tough to work with, and heating up the wire anneals it enough that it's pliable. That and I like flame.











I got these bronze gear things a while ago, and I had been wanting to make something with them since then. 

 This dragon vein banded agate stone came from a friend of mine and it's been sitting around for months, while my brain/muse decided what was happening with it.

I decided to anchor it to the stone as I was working. This isn't always the best way to do it, as there is way more for the wire to kink on as you are weaving, "sewing", and coiling.

 I followed the wire across to the back and added another of those bronze gear things.

 This was the perfect piece to use this gigantic antique watch gear on!

I balled up another piece and wove it into place

  I kept on down with one wire, adding another one of those large antique watch gears, and curled it up along the bottom.

Then I wove some copper wire for a short way along, shaping it to the big gear, and then using silver to attach a small gear and a bronze bead.

I folded the wire around the side of the stone and then anchored it to the other side and brought it back around, coiling as I went.

 I added a little more copper to anchor the tail I brought over before.

















Coiling away.. I did some loopdy loop things and added beads, attaching the wire whenever it met another one.

I followed the wire back around the front and continued coiling, adding on another two small watch gears, and then doing a weave thing to anchor the end of the wire to a silver wire I added on. Up until this point, all of the base wires were brass, and only the metal of the wrapping wire had changed.

 I brought the silver wire down around the bottom.

 Then I brought it up and off to the side, adding crystals and such where I thought it needed it.

No bail yet.

 So I wove a bail independently and added it on. I threaded the middle wire of the weave through the hole in the stone and bent the half woven bail over, then I wove the rest of the way down and secured it with the other side's middle wire, and the side wires.

 The other side with bail.

After aging and polishing.

I am not completely sure about the chain I paired with it.. it's a factory made surgical steel necklace. It will stay that way though unless someone buys it and wants it changed :)


Thanks for reading

B