Found Treasure

Bold Abalone necklace with hand forged textured Sterling Silver toggle pendant $140

Recently, my parents downsized to an apartment so we have been working hard to clean out the house I grew up in and prepare it for sale.  Much to my dismay my garage has been filled to the brim with all the stuff that doesn't quite fit into their smaller home.  I had slowly been going through the boxes, deciding what to do with each item but had yet to find anything I wanted to keep for myself. That is until I opened a small black trunk that my husband had taken from their attic.  Much to my surprise it was filled will antique tools...beautiful, rustic, worn tools.  My family thought I had come across diamonds or old stock certificates from the sound of my excitement!  According to my mother, the trunk belonged to her grandfather who was a carpenter and the tools are well over 125 yrs old.

This hammer was one of the tools in the trunk and immediately I knew exactly what I was going to do with it.  I took it to the home of my metalsmithing instructor and she showed me how to file, grind and polish it perfectly and then, being the motherly type that she is...I love that about her...she wrapped the handle in duct tape so I wouldn't get a splinter.  Old hammers like this are awesome for making interesting textures on metal.  You can shape them by cutting, filing and even etching to make a custom tool.

The hammer was used to create the swirling texture on the toggle pendant on this abalone and silver necklace.  To preserve the crispness of the deep marks I tumbled this piece with steel shot to polish it rather than using the polishing wheel which would have softened the texture significantly. The abalone are very unique...big and bold with striking waves of iridescent turquoise, blue and mauve.

This piece may be my favorite toggle necklace yet.