A Symbol of Glass, Silver, and Leather (2011)

During last week’s earthquake, one of the large Bali beads I had bought after much thought was broken. At the same time, I also had some leftover silver, and I wanted to create something using the two materials together — but it turned out to be more difficult than I expected.

Glass and silver can fuse, but since molten silver has low viscosity, it doesn’t blend smoothly with the glass. You can embed silver inside glass, but embedding glass inside silver may be much harder.

Process:
Heat the glass with a gas burner, and when the timing is just right, place a small fragment of silver into the center. Cool it slowly, then shape and polish the piece until it becomes smooth and clear. Cut the leather to the proper size, stitch it by hand, and finish the pendant using a leather strap made from the same material. The whole process takes about half a day.