Many of us are inspired by the beauty of snowflakes to make all kinds of jewelry using beads, wire and other materials. The real stuff is too elusive to use. Or is it?
It is not an easy process from start to finish. First, they have to collect the snowflakes in the winter months – not fun at all if you don’t like the cold.
They explained :
Catching snowflakes is very difficult. Not all snowflakes that fall are perfect crystals (some break, clump together, etc). Few out of hundreds are perfectly captured with most of them have some imperfection in the preservation. With that in mind, we have made a system to help you understand what is being offered.
So just like gemstones, they have developed a 4 level grading system from A to AAA – the top graded snowflakes with very minor imperfections.
The next step is just as tricky :
We usually collect snowflakes right as they fall! We chill a captured snowflake and our special resin (not superglue) to much below freezing, then place the snowflake inside a drop of our resin. We then carefully put this between two glass plates and set the resin. When we warm the encased snowflake, the water melts and slowly evaporates through the resin, but the nearly perfect snowflake crystal remains! Every snowflake is different and beautiful in its own way!
The finishing touches include a background of onyx or blue agate with solid sterling silver findings. They use glass cabochons or faceted white topaz on top which protects the preserved snowflake. The white topaz gives those pieces a frosted look.
A wonderful combination of natural beauty and human creativity!
ABOUT SNOWFLAKES
Before You Go :
This blog may contain affiliate links. I do receive a small fee for any products purchased through affiliate links. This goes towards the support of this blog and to provide resource information to readers. The opinions expressed are solely my own. They would be the same whether or not I receive any compensation.
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