Dies Jovis
Luna wx 98%v
Construction and finish-work completed for JB seal disk. All that remains is the formal gifting of this piece to my hardworking familiar!
DISK: ebony, sterling silver, fine silver, 18k yellow gold, amethysts and garnets, miniature (glass) marbles, resin
BASE: thuya wood burl
The seal-side of the disk has an etched inlay of sterling silver from which I raised a thick layer of fine silver by repeated annealing and pickling. The fine silver is a layer of nearly pure silver as the copper had been raised to the surface by fire and removed by the pickling acid. The raw fine silver has a snowy, frosty white appearance and is extremely resistant to tarnishing (much more so than sterling, due to its higher copper content). The raised surface of the seal area was then burnished down by hand to produce a compressed and reflective surface. The fine silver in the channels of the lines of the seal retain their snowy appearance.
The reverse of the disk has a ribbon and ring motif carved in the ebony around a central “well” (the well hole goes all the way through the ebony). The bottom of the well is the back of the silver seal inlay on the obverse and was polished to a mirror finish.
The silver ring lining the wall of the well is of sterling silver with an area of 18k gold that has been stamped with my maker’s mark. The text stamped on the ring is as follows: PER MANUM NOSTRAM -maker’s mark- JB A REGULUS AD REGENS
Within the well are six colorful miniature glass marbles fixed in clear resin.