Keum Boo Earrings

I made these earrings (a tad under 1" wide) in part to demonstrate keum-boo to my students at the Lorton Workhouse. They loved the technique and I liked how the earrings came out. The ovals were traced onto sterling sheet from a plastic template (of which I have a dozen or more- very helpful for getting 2 earrings EXACTLY the same size) and then I edged them in brass square wire (to pick up the gold color from the keum-boo foil) and with a sterling round wire inset. I like the detail this framing gives them. I used some small but fiery opals- one cracked as I set it because it was so thin- yikes! Fortunately I had more! I like the earwire attachments, and they oxidized in liver of sulfur nicely too. The earring on the left I screwed up a bit on- I layered 3 triangles of gold foil in the center, but one got misplaced as I set it and stuck instantly as the earring was already laying on the hot plate (note to self- set the foil BEFORE setting piece on hot plate). So you can see especially on the bottom how there are 2 points. Ah well- handmade, right? ;) Dana