What close-ups don't convey...
Re: These are a few of my favorite things: -- Frederick II Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: beadiste Mail author
09/16/2014, 07:59:07

...is the absolutely awesome delicacy of the wirework on these beads.
How many of us could take a fine pair of tweezers and bend hair-thin strips of copper into tiny, tiny little shapes and then manage to somehow arrange them in a pleasing pattern on the surface of a tiny little round ball?

Then these tiny wire shapes had to be filled with enamel powder, which takes a very deft touch to not spill outside the outlines...then briefly put into a kiln until just the right temperature was reached [ever peered into a hot kiln? could you gauge temperature by eye?], then ground down by hand with a series of pieces of abrasive rocks,not a lathe, then re-filled with more enamel powder, then ground down... then re-filled, then ground down...steps repeated until all the colors were present and at a level above the wires, then the final grinding and hand polishing.

Most of us couldn't draw these tiny designs with a pencil.

Pic is of an artist hero. The link is a fascinating read.

namikawa_yasuyuki.jpg (15.2 KB)  namikawa_yasuyukiworkroom.jpg (41.3 KB)  

Related link: http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=24259&start=35

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