Copper and Silver-Plated Labradorite Eye
I've made a lot of copper pieces and wanted to start diving into sterling silver wire. Because sterling silver is expensive, I wanted to try using some silver-plated wire to see the contrast between to two tones before spending the big bucks.
I did not get the full start-to-finish on this piece. This is pretty much the exact same process as the Griffin Eye so if you would like more detail, Click Here.
Since I forgot to start taking pictures until this one was partially done, this is what we have to work with.
​
Just like the Griffin eye, I started off with building a frame where my stone could sit so I could anchor different layers to the frame. I then coiled some copper weaving wire around a 20g wire, then spun that around around another 20g wire. Between that coil, I coiled some silver-plated wire to give the contrast of copper and silver in the coil around the eye.
To secure the stone and cover the gap between the eye coil and the stone, I coiled a copper and silver-plated weaving wire around a 20g wire.
​
​
I then weaved the length of wire I used for the inner eye lid area and I decided I would use only copper for this section. At the bottom of the picture, you can see I had already weaved the lower eyelash and bent the wire to the shape it would be when attached to the eye. I used copper base wire with silver-plated weaving wire for the eyelashes to make the lashes have more of a pop affect. I also twisted some square copper wire to give a spiral texture to it and anchored those into the areas of the eye that were going to be bare once the upper and lower eyelashes were attached.
​
​
This picture is closer up and you can see more of the spiral look when twisting square copper wire.
I attached the lower eyelash by just bending the ends of the wire around to the back and anchored them to the frame.
​
Next step, weaving the upper eyelash area and securing it to the piece.
To add more texture elements to the piece, I used two square base wires and four round base wires for the upper eyelash. Using two square base wires at the top of the eyelash gave it a squared off look. I then anchored this to the frame the same way I did the lower eyelash.
​
Also, If you look closely at the lower eyelash, I added one square wire to the end of that as well for a bit of a squared off look.
After securing the eyelashes, I noticed that when looking at the sides of the piece, you could clearly see all the anchored wires in the back and it didn't look the best. To cover those areas, I weaved two more lengths of wire.
Adding those two layers to the edges of the eye really helped to hide the back frame, as well as really defined the shape of the eye.
​
I finished up this piece by bending the bail over a colored pencil and secured it to the frame.
