Earrings, 'Loopy Vines'

Sinuous vines extend their shoots, creeping and coiling into a deceptively simple design. Elaborated from sterling silver, these earrings make a wonderful surprise gift for someone special. Ploy Intha has an unbreakable spirit, battling countless difficulties to fulfill her dream as a silversmith. Intha describes the intricate process, unique to each piece: "The silver alloy is molten in a terracotta container in the forge and poured out into a terracotta disc. The silver is then beaten with hammers into sheets, which are given a concave shape and cut into the wanted design. Then the intricate vegetal design is carved out of the sheets with tiny tools and, once completed, the sheets and soldered and finely polished. The silver is in the meantime beaten and stretched into hooks that are joined to the design. The pair is then washed into water before to be dried, filed and polished." 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper