Waterslip Silver And Soapworks

Waterslip Silver Pendants are handcrafted by me (John Taylor).
The cabochons I use come from everywhere. I will use any stone, shell, glass or other suitable object that I feel will result in an attractive finished pendant . Each pendant begins with a cabochon, a piece of wire and an idea. More wire, solder and imagination is used until the design becomes apparent. Although there are similarities, no two pendants are ever identical, in fact I have difficulty "duplicating" my own work!

A word about the WIRE.
I use German Silver wire with most of my pendants. It is easy to work with, it has solid color , (not plated) will take all the polishing  you can give and still be brilliant silver. It doesn't tarnish like sterling does.
With finished pendants numbering over a thousand, I have had only a couple of cases of the wearer developing a reaction to this metal.  Sterling Silver wire has been used in some of my pendants, but it is not my first choice, it is more difficult to work, and definately higher maintenance (Polishing!)

The original Waterslip pendants were created from old Silverplate, carefully cut out of old warming plates and such. Shaped and applied over a suitable cabochon, usually glass. I was also using "findings" such as dragonflies, fairies and such, combined with wire and solder. One such finding was a "tree of life" a bulky thing I decided I could "build" a tree instead. Such was the beginning of my most popular series the "tree of life" .Each tree is individually handcrafted directly on to the cabochon. There are upright trees, bent trees, "wonky" trees, depending how the wind is blowing in the shop that day!

I am most pleased with my FreeForm pendants. Pendants that are entirely created from wire, such as my Dragons. (The dragon to the right, however, Does have a"borrowed" head)

SOLDER: much has improved since the days of lead solder. The solder I use is a high silver, LEAD FREE material used in the electronics industry.
The equipment is also much improved, my new "soldering iron" has a computer to control the heat, so I can use lead free solder. (and it was 10 times the cost of my first "quality" soldering station .)