I made this little (well, not so little!) beasty on consignment. Never have I come against so many consecutive challenges as I did while making it (the wrong silver hardness, refusal to solder, my own transient despair in coming to the conclusion that it really ought to have been a piece cast using the lost wax process instead of hand-forging…), and never have I come so close to giving up on something. But with Ken Raffe’s deft hand, wonderful wit, and both of us at either end of a vice, a dragon ouroboros pendant came into being.

A bit Tyrannosaurus-Rex-skull-ish, quite different to what I had initially designed. I recognise the basic form of my design, but as the head has been built by fusing recycled silver offcuts and then removing it to form the dragon features, it has resulted in a far more abstract, ‘ad-libbed’ head than I had drawn.

I’ve learnt a lot through this process and I’m fond of the ouroboros, especially as it is the very first piece out of my own studio and, in spite of some angst-ridden moments, I had fun making it.

Would I do it again by hand, however? Hmmm? No. This is most certainly a one-off; I’m happy with the result…happier still to set it free.