FERN Fine Art Silver Wet Plate Collodion Ambrotype Pendant, Photographed on Domed Glass in Custom Handmade Sterling Setting w/Oxidized Chain

I've had such good feedback on this piece from folks online, friends and fellow artists! A single fern ambrotype, lovingly captured on the underside of domed glass using the queen of alternative photographic processes, wet plate collodion.

I've been working on the wet plate collodion process (aka 'tinype') for the best part of 2023. Coming from a 20 year + background in portrait photography, all modern and digital, but with a hankering for some of the filmic qualities of photography that I learned in my younger days, I was looking for something more organic. I found working with this process yielded such incredibly ethereal images, I knew I was onto something special and unique!

A real labor of love, the process involves equipment and techniques that are centuries old. From wet plate chemistry to ancient lenses and cameras, you'd be mistaken for wandering into a time slip if you observed me create these images.

Luckily, you can own a piece of this historic process, without having to mess with any of the plethora of chemicals needed to make such a gem. I'll do the brown stained hands, sweat under a dark cloth in the Texas sun, clean glass domes until they squeak, and pass to you the joy of wearable art that is truly one-of-a-kind.

The setting is all 925 Sterling Silver, including the 18" chain. The total piece measures 2" x 1.2" (47mm x 31mm). The pendant and chain have been lightly oxidized. I am a self-taught/still learning silversmith and this is genuinely one of the first pieces I have been happy with, and although I'll be sad to see it go, I do have to fund my obsession, to continue making more. It is made entirely from scratch, using Sheet Sterling Silver and Sterling Silver Wire. I like to recycle any unused silver when making a piece, so I've added a small flattened silver disc to the base of the pendant with the leftovers from the backplate.

This wears beautifully and will draw lots of compliments. The silver particles in the image catch the light depending on angle of view. It has a three-dimensional, shimmering quality that is hard to capture in a 2D image.