A silver spindle I made out of silver clay. Silver clay is neat stuff: it shapes and molds just like clay; then you fire it at 1100-1650F and you get a 99.9% solid silver piece. This can be done over a gas range, or with a mini butane torch--though you get the best results with an electric kiln, which I don't have. For more information, see http://www.pmcguild.com.

This piece is silver with a little filigree, set with cubic zirconia.

My most recent spindle whorl, using the same pattern but without the delicate ("breakable") filigree. The "stones" are blue paua shell cabochons, bezel-set (my first attempt at bezel setting). The bezels are fired into the clay; silver findings can be set directly into the clay, and sinters to the silver clay during firing.

Unlike cubic zirconia, paua shell won't survive firing (it burns), so they were set in afterwards. Silver clay is fun stuff!

For my next spindle whorl, I plan to play with textures; smooth is fun, but I think something textured would be pretty, too. There are some cool techniques for polymer clay that can be applied to silver clay. I've also got some 24K gold "paint" which I want to try.