"Butterfly Kiss"

Ref: Pdt 012

Plique-a-jour enamelled silver butterfly on a silver snake chain.

A one-off piece.

£136

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Put your faces close together and flutter your eyelashes at each other.  That's a butterfly kiss.  Personally, I'm a bit of an old traditionalist and like the messing-about-with-lips-and-tongues bit too, but I'm getting to the age when you can't be too choosy.

The enamelling technique used is called  plique-a-jour.  Rather than laying on top of the metal, it fills little heart-shaped windows.  It took me about 3 hours to cut out all the hearts, and another 6 to fill them with the enamel.  In all, the piece was fired around 25 times. 

A lot of work, but the effect is really pleasing.

The beauty of plique-a-jour is that light shines through the enamel, so it is not usually used for pendants.  However, in this case I have put legs on the butterfly to lift the little chap off your chest and help let the light do its work.

As you can see, I have attached a snake chain to the antennae.  The piece is around 4cm across, and the chain is 18".