Poppies on a string

I cast dried poppy heads from the allotment in silver to make these pendants.

With sand casting you use an object – such as a poppy head – to create a hollow in very dense sand. Then you cut a hole through the sand into the hollow. Finally, you fill the hollow with molten silver.

You have to be quick. The silver must remain the correct, very high temperature all the way to the sand, and you never remove the flame to achieve that.

Every piece you make this way is unique because the hollow is filled with silver and therefore the mold is destroyed and can never be repeated.