My Silversmithing Work: A "Manly" Christian Cross for an 8th Grade Graduation Present

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Project Story:

Today, 5-17-2008, we have some good family friends that are celebrating their oldest son’s 8th Grade Graduation. He’s a great young man, as is his younger brother. The family has been involved in my little country church for the past 30 months or so. The Graduate was baptized last summer in a swimming pool, about a year after his younger brother was baptized. I’ve enjoyed getting to know both of the boys, they are special.

So, wanting to use a little of my new silversmithing skills learned this Spring, I decided this morning to make him a gift in honor of his graduation and his baptism. I started silversmithing this Spring as a way to do little projects like that I have wanted to do, but just didn’t have the knowledge of how to go about it. I’ve enjoyed the class a lot, unfortunately the last session is next week. With the cost of gas to drive 200 miles round trip, and the price of silver, I’m not going to sign up again for awhile.

The “Manly Cross” is Sterling Silver with a Fine Silver bezel (ring around the stone), Blood Red Stone, and mounted on a Whitetail Deer Shed Antler cross section. I tried to make the styling something a teenage country boy would like to wear, and also wanted to make it look a “manly”, not in any way was it to look “girly”. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Ha.

To mount the silver cross I silver-soldered two small hand-wrought nails on the back of it and pierced them through the antler cross section and bent them over and peened them tight. I started to do a recessed inlay with epoxy holding the cross in place, but my silversmithing teacher says that anytime I use the word “glue” he is dropping my grade one letter. I’m done a couple of grades already, and can’t sacrifice another drop. Ha. Silversmith’s don’t use glue. At least not in his class.

Thanks for looking,
Mark DeCou
www.decoustudio.com

Phil 2:5-8 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! (NIV)

-- Mark DeCou - American Contemporary Craft Artisan - www.decoustudio.com