A few weeks ago it was my eldest daughter 's birthday. She was forty. I wanted to give and make her something special.
As it was I knew her birthday would also be touched with sadness not only for her but for me and the rest of our family as well ,as my husband had passed away just over a year previous.
I came up with an idea that I would make her something special that would represent not only her but my husband and my self. Hence the "Tree of Life" pendant necklace.
I hand formed antique bronze wire into a round pendant shape I then created the trunk of the tree with the wire and filled the branches with precious and semi precious gemstone chips. My husband's birthstone of Emeralds,my birthstone of ruby( but the nearest I could get to mine was ruby in zoist) so I chose the chips that had a lot of ruby in them and my daughter's birthstone of opal. As she was born in autumn I wanted it to have an autumnal look and feel to it so I chose Mexican fire opal which gave it a nice look of the leaves just turning reddish brown. With the wire that was left from the branches I twisted and coiled them into swirls.
I then strung the chips on beading wire and placed the pendant in the centre. I then placed an antique bronze chain either side.
When her birthday arrived and I gave her the present I explained that I wanted her to feel that her dad and I are forever close to her no matter how much distance we are apart.
She was thrilled to bits with her necklace.
Here are some photos of the necklace. I couldn't post them sooner otherwise she would have known about her present and it wouldn't have been a surprise.
