I designed this huckleberry branch necklace, a reference to my hometown in Montana, as a surprise gift for my mom and sister. Every summer, we hike into the mountains and pick wild huckleberries together. We carry them home and bake huckleberry pancakes, crisps, pies, and more. Huckleberry season is the best time of year.
My mom, sister and I have matching silver charm necklaces with a few tiny charms each that symbolize important moments or aspects of our lives. I thought it would be special to make a tiny charm for each of our necklaces to symbolize our home in Montana.
Process
I started by sketching a bunch of huckleberry branches and different pendant shapes to brainstorm my design.
After choosing my pendant pattern, I moved into Fusion360 and began hand sketching my huckleberry branch using splines.
After my sketch was complete, I extruded the pattern and revolved circles to create 3D rounded berries. Then I made a 3D frame with rounded edges and three levels to create more dimension.
I measured the charms on my existing necklace to size my pendant, making sure the step sizes of my recessed pattern were large enough to fill properly during casting. I iterated on my CAD model for weeks, adding fillets to all the edges and corners and adjusting each branch segment to be wide enough and spaced far enough apart to prevent breakoff during casting. To complete my design, I added a small loop at the top for a jump ring to pass through.
When my CAD was finally finished, I 3D printed six copies in wax, and then used lost-wax investment casting to turn my printed wax parts into cast silver parts.
Unfinished cast silver parts
Wax 3D printed model
Finally, I began the process of hand finishing my silver parts. I used a piercing saw to cut the gates off from the corners, then filed and sanded the parts to a shiny silver finish.
I used patina to darken the background of my frame to make the silver branch pop.
Hand sawing to remove the gate & runner from my cast parts
Silver pendant finished with patina
