My sea turtle images were originally inspired by a trip to a sea turtle rehabilitation facility in Topsail, North Carolina. I was absolutely captivated by these wonderful creatures and knew that they needed to make their way into my work.

This image was hand-sculpted from a flat sheet of sterling silver using small blunt tools and thousands of hammer blows. This technique is called chasing and repousse (chasing is to work from the front of the piece, repousse is working from the back to push out the metal and create depth). The work is done freehand, so no molds, machines or stamps are used in the process. This work results in a truly unique and one of a kind piece of jewelry.

The back of this pendant is open so that you can see the work from behind. The pendant is 1-1/4 inches long and comes on an 18-inch sterling silver figure-eight style chain, finished with a lobster clasp.