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Seems like these come up every 3 or 4 months. I recently had a request for one of these pendants, and so I made two just for the sake of variety and insurance against failure, because I usually try something new every time. First up, the more ambitious attempt - a twisted bar of 5 dimes. First fused, then forged out to a blunt square nail shape, I hot-twisted it gently, and when shears started, I gently hammered it square and got it hot enough to re-fuse the joints. Can't do that with Damascus steel, and it saved me twice in the process. While I was hoping to see stars, what I ended up with was just as good - they look like long dunes to me, seen from space. For the second one, I kept it simple, just a flat laminate, but went to the drill press and tried to hit it with a raindrop pattern. It's not as stark as the steel I treat this way, but it still made an interesting pattern I think, and almost looks like hidden faces peeking out - I see eyes and some noses, with my whimsical eye. Thanks for looking!

I woo'd two women today. Young enough to be my daughters. In front of my wife. Young women who serve as LDS missionaries, they've been over quite often lately, mostly checking on Carla. Upon discovering my talents out in the shop, they wanted to make time to see the magic happen. They get one day a week to attend to personal issues and have a little "free time" not focusing on church work, which was today... so I went ahead and took the day off, since I have 1000 other things to do in the shop as well as holidays approach. We made necklace pendants, fusing 5 dimes for each, disrupting the surface with a rotary tool and forging back to flat. A little hammer work, a little grind, fold the top over to capture a 2mm leather cord, and finished by hand with paper and fine stones. I used a Liver of Sulphur patina to color the materials once finished. The look on their faces was one their future boyfriends should be so lucky to see. You're welcome, young men of the world, I just raised the bar on you.