Lapidary_Journal_Jewelry_Artist_-_November_-_December_2019

OPE

NIN

G^ P

HOT

O:^ J

IM^ L

AW

SON

;^ PR

OCE

SS^ P

HOT

OS:

NO

ËL^ Y

OVO

VIC

H

T

HE MAGIC METAL: that’s

what I call titanium. It does

this wonderful trick — it

turns fabulous colors when voltage

is run through it. And if that weren’t

enough, it’s super light, super

strong, and pretty cheap!

Here, we’re going to use these

qualities in a couple of ways I haven’t

demonstrated in other titanium jew-

elry projects. We’re adding two-sided

color, and three dimensions. It’s fairly

unusual to see both sides of a piece of

jewelry when it’s worn one way, but

the recurved petals of this little fl ower

allow us to take great advantage of

titanium’s special charms.

DESIGN A FLOWER

I always start with a paper template.

Paper is especially useful for a 3D

design since it can be folded, rolled,

or bent to work out designs before

working with a less-cooperative

medium like metal. Once you are

happy with your template, you can

draw around it, paste it to your

metal (if you don’t want to save

it), or scan it and print multiples to

paste and cut.

1

My fl ower has 6 petals, which take

up almost half a circle. The rest is

a little strip that is both functional

These titanium flower earrings reveal different colors on

different sides, which can you see all at once! By Noël Yovovich

See Both Sides

1

4

2

5

3

AN

EASIER

WAY

Heat for Color

If you don’t have an anodizer, you

can color titanium with heat. I like

to hold it in the air with heat-proof

tweezers and play a bushy torch

fl ame across it. This requires a

bit of practice to control. You can

grind the color off one side and

heat again with a light touch to get

a diff erent color on that side, but

it will be a more subtle diff erence

since it is impossible to heat only

one side.

44 LAPIDARY JOURNAL JEWELRY ARTIST