pipe stem earrings in sterling silver - pipe dreams
Pipe dream pipe stem earrings in sterling silver, one pair with a little yellow 14k pebble accent, sand cast from historic clay pipe stems found along the River Thames foreshore while mudlarking.
- approximate measurement - all thickness 1/8" (4mm)
#1 - length 7/8" (21mm) not including ear wire
#2 - length 1 1/8" (30mm) not including ear wire
#3 - length 1" (25mm) not including ear wire
- the pipe stem is 3D and beautifully textured all around, naturally
- the original pipe stems are tubes but when sand cast they are solid
- metal - recycled sterling silver (.925 silver) with 14k gold pebble accents on bottom
- ear wires - sterling silver
- photographed with a US dime and inch ruler for scale
I've selected the clay pipe stems from my collection of historic clay pipe bits and made a sand molds of each, then torch melted the metal and poured it into the sand molds ... sand casting them in sterling silver. Then I cleaned up and finished each pipe stem, adding a suspension loop to the top and on one pair a small yellow 14k pebble on the bottom ...
hand crafted jewelry because how it's made matters.
About the clay pipes ... I found the historic broken bits of single use clay pipes while mudlarking along the River Thames in London. They were the cigarettes of the day, the day being the 16th century and later. A long clay stem, measuring 18” - 36”, with a sometimes ornate, sometimes plain clay bowl often pre-packed with a small amount of tobacco. A predecessor to todays cigarettes and cigarette butts.
There's a great article about them in Beachcomber Magazine:
https://www.beachcombingmagazine.com/blogs/news/mudlarking-the-art-of-smoking
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