Teardrops and raindrops copper earrings

Hand crafted antiqued copper earrings featuring a teardrop shape charm, with teardrop cut outs and festooned with lots of tiny balls of solid copper, some of which are resting inside the cutouts - hence teardrops and raindrops.  They hang from ball ended earwires to continue the theme.

The earrings have been entirely hand crafted by me in copper clay, with every tiny ball formed with my fingers and fixed in place with tweezers - lots of painstaking delicate work.

The earrings have been darkly antiqued for interest and they hang 34mm overall from the top of my large classic shaped earwires and are 14mm (0.55") at their widest in wear.


What is copper clay / precious metal clay?

Copper clay is a clay like medium made from tiny particles of copper (other metals are available too), combined with an organic binder and made into a pliable clay or paste with water. After working with the clay-like medium to form the article, it is thoroughly dried to remove all of the water, the shape is then further refined and then fired at very high temperature to both burn off the binders and to cause the copper particles to fuse together as solid metal.  

It is a fascinating form of alchemy which allows results not easily achieved by conventional metalsmithing techniques and a delicate level of detail as in this case. Once fired in a very hot kiln, the result is pure solid metal - in this case, copper.