"UNTITLED" Heart Necklace...

Jamie Santellano - Thursday, January 14, 2010 - 12:39pm

I have been thinking about producing a handmade "Limited" Collection, and started designing some pieces with scroll-work overlay and chain Mail pattern chains. One of my first designs turned into a commission for a Christmas present.

"UNTITLED" HEART NECKLACE

The heart is solid, sand-cast, and the overlay is carved. The original heart was made from Polymer Clay.

The Chain is all linked by hand, each link soldered, and tumbled. The weave is called Jens Pind. I've struggled with this particular type of weave and now it's become one of my ABSOLUTE FAVORITES!

The heart weighed in at .670 ozt (21g) and the chain weighed in at 1.595 ozt (50g). Altogether the piece weighed in at 2.265 ozt. (70g)...sorry if my math is off...not one of my best subjects. This is quite a substantial piece, which is really what I wanted to begin with.

I am very happy with it, and received one of the best compliments for 2010...someone thought it was a Brighton! Not that I want my work to look like theirs, but the fact that it caught someone's attention, and they stopped to ask, and then was told "NO!...EVEN BETTER!...IT'S A SANTELLANO!," just brought a smile to my face and a feeling of excitement that my work is finally breaking through...

This is only one of the first pieces of a "Limited" Collection coming soon!

Cheers!

"UNTITLED" CHAIN

"UNTITLED" HEART

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I like the heart. The

Gerald Boggs - Thursday, January 14, 2010 - 1:56pm

I like the heart. The organic feel the leafwork gives it is appealing.
Gerald Boggs

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Thank you Gerald! The

Jamie Santellano - Thursday, January 14, 2010 - 8:34pm

Thank you Gerald!
The scroll-work took quite a bit of hours to complete, but was worth it in the end!

Thanks!

Jamie Santellano

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very nice HEART! warmed with

Moti Lalwani - Friday, January 15, 2010 - 8:02am

very nice HEART! warmed with scrol motif!
Moti Lalwani

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impressive soldering!

visitor - Friday, January 15, 2010 - 9:54am

wow! great job soldering all those links that are so close together!
Cynthia Eid

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OMG! you have no idea...or

Jamie Santellano - Friday, January 15, 2010 - 6:27pm

OMG! you have no idea...or maybe you do! It was a challenge, and soon after I started to solder I developed a pattern so to speak in solder the links to try not to solder them together...that closely linked, it's easy to do.

Thanks!

Jamie Santellano

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Thank you Moti! Jamie

Jamie Santellano - Friday, January 15, 2010 - 6:21pm

Thank you Moti!

Jamie Santellano

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Hi Jamie, Very nice piece! I

hautsteel - Friday, January 15, 2010 - 10:25am

Hi Jamie,
Very nice piece! I really like the scroll overlay, as it lends so much additional depth and character to the piece. I bet that chain took quite some time to make!
Dino

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Hi Dino, Yes, the chain it's

Jamie Santellano - Friday, January 15, 2010 - 6:23pm

Hi Dino,

Yes, the chain it's self took over 7 hours to make...I didn't quite have that weave down yet, so linking it was a big challenge...the soldering was another.

Thanks!

Jamie Santellano

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The first piece of your new

eligius1427 - Friday, January 15, 2010 - 12:10pm

The first piece of your new line looks great Jamie. I really like the overlay, it really adds character and some great contrasting colors. I have no experience with silver so I have no idea what the ozt./g really meants. Do your values mean it's heavy?

I look forward to seeing the rest of the line.

Jake

Jake Balcom
Mettle Design
Lincoln, NE

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Hi Jake, Thanks for the

Jamie Santellano - Friday, January 15, 2010 - 6:31pm

Hi Jake,

Thanks for the compliments...Yes, the .ozt stands for troy ounces and the "g" is for grams. That's how silver is weighed and priced when I go to buy it, so the weight in the overall piece and gives me a base for how much material is used when pricing my work to sell...time is another factor as you well know.

Jamie Santellano

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Jamie Santellano In art

Moti Lalwani - Saturday, January 16, 2010 - 7:26am

Jamie Santellano
In art Price of the material and the time used are secondory, very first preference is the caliber of the skill! if some body did not get the eye, could not draw the portrait for hours of labour! but if some body has that eye or the skill of that caliber and he draws the portrait with all the similarities within a couple of minuts!
Moti Lalwani

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Heartful

warren - Saturday, January 16, 2010 - 12:13pm

Jamie, nice looking piece and the chain baffles me on how much work it looks to make.

On the heart:
"The heart is solid, sand-cast, and the overlay is carved. The original heart was made from Polymer Clay."

I am not sure what all this means, did you use the polymer clay heart to make the mold for the heart? What do you mean about carving, was carved on the heart or was carved from stock and then soldered to the heart?

To cut cost would it be less expensive to cast the heart in halves so does not weigh as much and then solder the two halves together?

Just curious minds because I do not do this type of work but great to see and hear about how it is done and why.

www Metalrecipes -- heat and beat to the desired shape, repeat as necessary.
warren

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Hi Warren, I was a bit brief

Jamie Santellano - Sunday, January 17, 2010 - 3:13pm

Hi Warren,

I was a bit brief about my descriptions above.

Yes, I did sculpt the heart out of Polymer Clay. I filed and sanded it to make it smooth, and to use as my mold. Then I pressed it into sand to get the impression. My goal was to create a solid heart with a "flat" back. Well I had some trouble with that because at the time I didn't know that I could use a charcoal block on the top of the surface, so that the heart's "back" would cool down, "flat." So instead the heart cooled down with the "back" exposed, and I ended up with a curved "back," which then I started to saw off the excess part from the back that I didn't want, so to make the back of the heart flat, and ended up with more problems. It's not very easy to saw out that thick of metal with a jewelers saw.

I was limited on my tools, so in the end I had to file way the excess to make the back flat. My idea was to have the heart lie flat against the skin.

The overlay is the only the scroll-work. I cut out the design, carved out the design with some files (lot's of work) and then soldered down the design. I will be creating a master of the entire piece, so that it ends up being one casting instead of this long process.

I am really happy with the end result...just have to work on the other factors like time, my casting (which I really enjoyed doing myself) etc...

Thanks!

Jamie Santellano

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Moti, understood and agree.

Jamie Santellano - Sunday, January 17, 2010 - 2:52pm

Moti, understood and agree. This is a piece that will be produced more than once so, the others factor in as well.

Thanks,

Jamie Santellano

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Incredible

Sam Alcantara - Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - 1:49pm

i have acquired a few skills of my own over the years; but making something this detailed is pretty mind-blowing.

i seriously cannot imagine getting this much done in the amount of time you did it in!

i think it looks great and i wouldn't change a thing. this might sound kinda stupid, but, "untitled chain" and "untitled heart" made think of the song "unchained melody."

keep up the great work!!!

-sam alcantara

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