Wild rose hand sculpted copper earrings

Hand sculpted antiqued copper wild rose earrings.  These earrings each feature a single open bloom of a wild rose flower, that has been sculpted and assembled to give the realistic look of a natural rose.  Each flower is fixed to a textured teardrop shaped base which hangs from hammered and scrolled earwires that allow them to move freely in wear.

I created my own cutter for the rose petals and individually cut and formed them into natural curves, bringing them together into a natural looking open bloom, complete with a central section of stylised stigmas and anthers - each of which was hand rolled as a tiny ball and individually applied with tweezers. 

The roses have been hand sculpted by me in copper clay and the earrings represent many hours of detailed work under a magnifier with tweezers.   After kiln firing, the piece is polished and antiqued to bring out the warm tones of the copper and enhance the texture and details.    I also blogged about the process of making these wild roses.


Size:

The earrings drop 40mm (1½") overall from the top of the hammered and scrolled earwires and they are 18mm (0.7") at their widest in wear.


What is copper clay:

Copper clay is a clay like medium made from tiny particles of copper, 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, or components to assemble the finished piece as in this case, it is thoroughly dried to remove all of the water, the shape is assembled and gradually further refined and then fired at very high temperature in a kiln for several hours to both burn off the binders and to cause the copper particles to fuse together as solid metal.