Bird of Happiness

Time passed in my  jewelry making course .It wasn't long before I could make many things. One step at a time, my own workshop was organized. I bought all the tools, and I found myself technically able to do most processes in my home workshop, without requiring technical studio support.

Then our course came to an end. One of our last assignments was to make a locket (a pendant with a compartment that opens). Our teacher showed us a locket he had made himself – a small cylinder decorated in an Eastern ornamental style. Most of the students made something similar.

But I was not interested in repeating someone else's idea. For a long time I pondered and puzzled over what to make.
I don't remember how my idea came to me, but it was of a bird sitting on a branch. Still, it took me a couple of months to decide the technique and technology, and then to try it out.
Finally, when it was finished, friends paid me the most important compliment I could have wanted to hear: "Did you make that yourself? I can’t believe it!"
In Russian fairy tales there is talk about "the Bird of Happiness." That's what I named this pendant.
http://www.artleah.com/