A Jane Penman Necklace begins with the stone.  I have developed a natural and unique technique of cutting and polishing stones.  From there I fabricate sterling silver around the stone to emphasize it's natural qualities.  In the process the two separate units of stone and silver combine..... a piece of art emerges. These necklaces are "Landscape inside Architecture".

 

The stones in this necklace are from Australia, Gaspeite and Black Jade.  The lime green Gaspeite was first found in the mid-sixties and was considered "rare".  Recently, an adjoining nickel ore mine dumped a quarter of a million tons of material on the gaspeite mine.  It is considered gone forever.  The stone in this necklace comes from the last to come out of the mine before it closed.  (There is another mine in Quebec, but it is not the quality.)  Along with the Gaspeite, the Jade is a really rich black color, unlike others, like Wyoming Black Jade that has a greenish tinge.

 

In making this necklace, as with all of my necklaces, I began with the stones.  First I cut a slice from rough material of  Gaspeite and Black Jade. Then in shaping the stone for the necklace, the stone is my guide.  It's fun, as I really don't know the end result until I start polishing.  Discovering the subtle darker veining was a special treat with this stone. I do a subtle polish, just enough to show the richness of the stones.  I choose a low gloss finish rather than a glass-like look.  The result is a natural looking stone, which relates to the smooth matte finish that I will put on the sterling silver.

I fabricate the silver around the stones.  The stones seem to "speak" to me.  The silver work is a result of what works together. For this necklace I used 14 gauge sterling silver strips, which took on a flower pot-like configuration. The parts join together to become a single unit, a Jane Penman Necklace.  Here I used fairly thick silver behind the stone and even a 20 gauge fine silver bezel strip around the stone, which seems to emphasize the elegance of the stone.  In finishing, I brought the silver to a high shine and then used multiple grades of a specialized micron paper to achieve the subtle and smooth matte finish.