Repousse’ Brooch - finished

I finished the custom order repousse’ brooch today, and am quite pleased with how it turned out!  In my last post I talked about how I formed it using repousse’ and chasing.  After forming, I sawed the brooch out of the background metal, then carefully filed the edges to the shape and smoothness I wanted.  Next I used a texturing stamp and chasing hammer and textured the surface of the brooch.  Once that was the way I wanted, I soldered the pin findings on the back (MUCH easier said than done - given the non-flat surfaces on the back!), then soldered on the bezel to hold the green onyx, then set the stone and gave the whole piece a final polish.  I used a brass wheel in my flex shaft for the finish, but used a pumice wheel to finish the edges of the bezel around the stone after I hand burnished it.

I’m really pleased with how this turned out!  I love the way repousse’ and chasing allow me to form the metal, and plan to do a lot more pieces using these techniques.

Front of the brooch in correct orientation

I apologize for the pictures - the color of the stone did not turn out very well.  It is a lovely green onyx, and that doesn’t show at all!

Side view of the brooch - the color is better in this one.

another side view.... you can see the depth