Silver wire wrapped enamel and cloisonne hamsa pendant necklace

I finally finished my enamel and cloisonné hamsa pendant! I love how the silver foil layer came out. I applied it before I applied the enamel so that the pendant is shimmery and looks a bit like stained glass.

By the way, a hamsa (hand necklace) is a hand-shaped pendant that's meant to protect the wearer from the evil eye. Hence the large eye in the center of the hand. It's a traditional symbol that you see in Jewish/Middle Eastern jewelry. This was my first time delving into Judaica jewelry and I'm proud of how it turned out.

I haven't designed much religious jewelry, but one of the women in my enameling class has suggested that I make Godmother/communion gifts. I suppose I could make some enamel cross necklaces? I'd want to do something beautiful, classy and respectful. I'm about to learn some champlevé techniques (engraving into metal and then filling the depression with enamel) so I'm thinking of etching a cross into a pendant and then using that as a design.

Meantime, my teacher really loved this hamsa. She especially liked the eye and kept showing it to my classmates. She suggested I make more, but this was very time consuming! So for now, this will remain a one-of-a-kind.

Check out my jewelry at Naomi's Designs or MayaGirl Creations.

Next project: enamel and cloisonne cat pendant and hamsa pendant

For most of my enamel jewelry projects, I've been working with squares or circles, but I'm ready to move on to more complicated shapes. Next, I'm going to make an enameled and cloisonne cat pendant and hamsa (a Judaic/Middle Eastern symbol that's shaped like a hand and wards off the evil eye) pendant.

This afternoon, I cut the shapes from 20 gauge copper sheet metal. In the past, I've cut metal using a jeweler's saw, but that can take hours. This time, I used super strong Joyce Chen scissors and they ripped right through the copper! It wasn't easy as I had to put a lot of force into it, but they worked. Now I'm eager to try these scissors on 22 or 24 gauge copper because they'll probably cut through the metal like butter.

I spent about an hour filing my cat and hamsa and crafted copper cut-outs that look pretty good:

You can see the outline that I drew on the hamsa. I plan to put the traditional (evil) eye in the center of the palm, but cover the rest with an abstract cloisonne design. I think I'll use bold jewel tones for this so it looks a little like stained glass.

I also plan to do an abstract cloisonne on the cat pendant, but I'm going to use "cat-colored" enamels: browns, black, ginger and white. I'm basing this a little on my kitty, Maya, who's multi-colored so my enamel cat will have those hues.

I have to say, I really got a kick out of using the Joyce Chens. I felt like a superhero as I cut through that metal! I'm also enjoying my enameling class this semester. I'm getting to do some more complex pieces and we have a good group of people. So far, no one has dropped out and everyone seems to be more engaged than in some of my former classes. In my first jewelry class, we went from about 12 students to three over the course of the semester, so it's nice to be a part of a group where everyone is interested in the craft.

On Tuesday, I hope to get as far as setting the cloisonne. I'm going to see if I can buy some studio time after class so I can finish my projects. We'll see. But now that I have my copper cut-outs, I'm eager to get started!

To purchase my jewelry, head to Naomi's Designs or MayaGirl Creations.