In mid-year 2015 I started making new miniature orrery pieces again after taking a two year break. I opened an Etsy store that I have tried to stock with a several pieces at once, but thanks to you fine folks who have been buying them the inventory has remained very low most of the time.
I'm always looking for ways to
vary or improve my pieces. The most noticeable change I've made with the 2015 Etsy series is the way I've done the sun. In the past I had sculpted the sun from gold polymer clay, then pressed a fine powdered gold coating. I decided to give these newer pieces a more realistic look by using real gold ball for the sun. I acquired a quantity of 8mm gold ball earrings, which are just the right size and look exactly like miniature versions of vintage metal "sun" balls used in orreries.
Another thing I've done to give them a more metallic feel is to incorporate tiny brass washers to serve as the planet Saturn's "rings"-- not an easy task, by the way.
The designs shown here have already been sold, but show the type of work I'm currently doing. Creating miniature orreries is a very intuitive process for me, though, so I cannot say exactly where I'll go with them in the future.
