The beginnings of a new piece

I’m working on a new silver metal clay piece. All the parts of the design puzzle must come together to get this stone to fit within the frame I am creating. I scanned the stone & made an enlarged photo of it to use as a template. The template became the focal piece to design the frame around. The frame is coming together, as it’s the first time I’ve done a somewhat hollow construction.  I measured the depth of the stone and hopefully, with my handy ancient proportion wheel, I have determined that shrinkage as well.  From sketch, to templates, to molding the clay, to construction, soon we’ll see a finished piece of art jewelry.