I broke out my very old, dusty metal saw this week and had to watch a video or two to remember how to saw correctly.

I also sliced off the tip of my thumb, but the skin is growing back nicely!

I’m so pleased with these layered and textured brass earrings.

I promised my collectors more mixed metals, and I’ve been working with brass and bronze for the last few weeks.

Specifically, I’ve been experimenting with the finish I want to use with brass, and I think I’ve approximated to the best of my ability a look of ‘spun gold’, as the woman that is now the owner of these first edition earrings described them.

Gold is way beyond the price point to wear it everyday when you get a whim to buy a new pair of earrings, so I wanted to see what I could do with brass to get that wonderful warm look that I’m beginning to appreciate.

I’m using jeweler’s brass that I purchased from Rio Grande for these earrings. It has more of a gold look to it that I like, but as you know if you’ve been following me for any length of time, I don’t like super shiny jewelry.

I like some shine, but nothing that looks too machined.

One really cool thing about this finish is that it takes longer for the brass to oxidize. I’m not really sure why that is, but I’ve put this finish on silver, and if I screwed up the design, I throw it in my scrap pile.

I’ve noticed that this finish stays pretty much the way it looks when I initially make them for months and months, so, that’s a great little perk for these earrings, too.

No two pair will look exactly the same due to the pattern I am using. Basically I drew what I wanted on some watercolor paper and then I trace it onto the sheet metal. But I am not the most exacting saw expert so there is some wonkiness to be expected.

But that’s the beauty of the human hand, right?

These are available in my shop as a made-to-order purchase.