'Eggplant' Fine Silver Earrings

When I finished these earrings, the first thing I thought of was eggplants, hence the name. These pearls have superior lustre and fabulously rich color. The caps are made by painting silver paste on a wrapped (real) geranium leaf and kiln firing it, burning off the leaf and fusing the silver particles. This method captures all the tiny veins of the real leaf, allowing ultra fine detail in the piece.

There is an old process by which you can give silver stunning colors, but the colors eventually fade. I've always loved the effect, but have not wanted a customer to end up with a faded piece. I have found some specialty paint that I have used here to reproduce the effect, without the risk of fading. The colours are soft teal blues and plums, highlighted with burnished silver edges.