"Can you make something with a bat and an opal?"

dCustom design is an absolute honor, I love this part of hand making jewelry.  When someone comes to me with all the pieces of a puzzle, I get excited; what is the picture going to be?!  I plan every detail but taking scraps of someone else's vision and creating something with a complete stranger, is humbling, inspiring and serendipitous.

She asked for "a bat and an opal", the rest was up to me.  I chose the "Brown Bat" because they are common in her area and decide to use the opal for the moon.  The sapphires represent lighting bugs, a common meal for these little critters.  She liked another triangle shape pendant I had done, (See "Trinity" earlier in my Blog) so I used that same style.

I so enjoyed seeing this little brown bat take flight; I think he (she?) is the happiest bat I have ever seen.

Once the original sketch is approved, I cut it out and start arranging with the stones and plan the sizing. 

---

Materials; Fine and Sterling Silver, Welo Opal and yellow, natural sapphires with 22k accents on the tiny bead "stars".  The bat is suspended on little, hidden platforms within a triangle shaped shadow box.  I hand build the two tube bails at the top, and the chain glides through smoothly.  The background was painstakingly darkened with sulphur.  

The scalloped edges of the walls of the box all are hand cut with a diamond bit.  What you can't see is the special texture technique I developed and like to use on the outside walls of my shadowboxes; it lends a wonderful, refined-rustic aesthetic.