Greta Garbo's Pendant
Every project begins with drawings and samples…
Once the drawing has been approved we can start the process of carving the wax models
Next Step cast and finish the components
We made 26 different castings (no molds) to create the pendant.
One of our favorite parts of working at the bench is getting the castings back from the caster. With fingers crossed we open up the box with hope that they all came our well. The 26 waxes were now all in a beautiful matte finish yellow bronze.
Working within a fixed budget we could not acquire custom cut old mine cut gems. So we set the radiant gemstones table side down to help create the illusion of old diamond cuts
“We cast our components in yellow bronze. Clean up for the metal was very easy because our wax work was so clean.”
The small flowers will be set with garnets.
Garnet cabochons are set in the center of the flowers. For the wheat we had a few extra original gemstone beads from the Greta Garbo gown.
Prepping the castings for the next step - soldering the 26 pieces to the backplate.
Soldering and finishing the pendant
We soldered the components on the backplate in several steps. You had to be careful not to get the backplate too hot or it will warp from the heat. After the final bath of hydrogen peroxide and alcohol which removes the copper coloring and reveals the color of the bronze.
We decided to make the backplate out of nickel silver for hardness and color. The final touches were to use a wire brush to clean the soldered pendant and give it a light texture.
Next step...plating.The assembled pendant was prepped and ready to ship to the plating company.
We selected the Hematite chain over the modern chain. The Hematite chain was made from extra beading from the costume gown. This we felt was more true to the costume designer’s original idea for a pendant.
Once completed we hand delivered the pendant to the Academy Museum, being part of the installation process was exciting.
