Midnight Blue Iolite on Silver Hoops Dangly Earrings

Hand crafted using traditional methods. The stone settings were created by fitting a fine silver bezel strip around each stone cabochon to make little oval rings, which were then soldered to sheet sterling silver, cut round, filed and sanded. Two hoops were created from sterling silver wire, the ends soldered, shaped on a mandrel and texture applied by hammering. Jump rings were soldered to the top of each piece before they were placed in a warm pickling solution to remove the fire scale caused by the blow torch, followed by lots of cleaning and polishing. The stones were then placed in the settings and the silver bezel pushed over aroud the edges to hold them in place and the settings burnished before connecting the pieces together with jump rings and hanging each one on a sterling silver beaded hook wire.