Trish:

The hair and body are one piece. In the middle of the back of the silver is a long rivet. It goes through a hole drilled through the black jade. That hole was belled out on the back, and the silver rivet was sawn in quarters. I forced open the rivet on the back side of the jade. The hair was supposed to be a perfect fit for the face (it was until it warped a little in the enameling process) and the halo to hold them flush against the jade. I used 2 stage epoxy to make sure the face and halo didn't slip. At the bottom of the body there is an interior frame made of copper and silver. I cast a fine silver piece that conformed to that shape which was soldered to the frame; although the rivet holds her to the jade, she could spin a little if it wasn't held down somewhere else.

Hope that answers you question; it's hard to explain without pictures. The challenge with enamel pieces (and stone, also) is that you can't solder. You have to come up with ingenous mechanical connections. Someone should write a book on the subject.

Debbie

Just finished this piece in time to use it for explanation of using multiple media to make a project. The face is ivory translucent chalcedony, behind her face is a small piece of copper (to give her face a flesh tone) with a fine silver with 23.5K gold overlay halo. Her hair, robe and shirt are fine silver with the hair and robe enameled. That piece was cast and tumbled for many hours before enameling. I had a little problem with warpage, as the back wasn't counterenameled (if it had been, then the face wouldn't fit). The background is black jade, and the interior frame and back and outer frame are copper. This is my first champleve piece, and it was a little messier than I wanted it to be; the acid broke through some of the resist. The etched copper frame warped a little too, despite the fact that it's nearly 1/8" thick and was put on a piece of flat steel with irons when it came out of the kiln. It's held together with garnet studded screws.

Debbie