The basic design for this star comes from the book Silver Threads: Making Wire Filigree Jewelry by Jeanne Rhodes-Moen, although I changed it slightly. The scale, however, is much different! I used 1mm wire to make the twist rather than the 0.5mm the book suggests, and the end result is 4 times larger. I made this to top my silver mylar fiberoptic Christmas tree that adorns my studio in the Yuletide season.

The heavier wire was somewhat more awkward to work, but other than that the fabrication was similar to a smaller piece- although with less concern needed about melting it down! I used dirty pickle, intentionally contaminated with steel wool, to plate a thin coat of copper over the solder joints, and polished it in a rotary tumbler with steel shot to make it shiny and to harden it.

Copper handmade filigree wire.

3.25 in. (7.6 cm)

2006. NFS