All jewelry designers find inspiration somewhere. For Taiwanese metal smith, Iona Liu of Iona Silver, it is her two beloved cats, Rourou and Pidan.  She does have other designs but cat pieces predominate her shop.

Iona uses the lost wax casting method of making her sterling silver designs. See my past post which explains the process.   She explains before she does that, "I would do many design sketches and pick the best one among them. Sometimes I would directly carve on the wax. After, wax models are sent to casting workshops, all of my creation are cast in 925 sterling silver as I love the tender and soft sparkle of this metal. Finally, I would polish them in detail, to enhance that sparkle."  She also solders jump rings and so on if necessary.


What I love about her designs is how she manages to capture the different postures of cats.


Iona started her cat themed silver jewelry business back in 2012.  She still had a white collar day job. Making her designs was merely a hobby which she pursued in her free time. She did publish pictures of her work on her blog and received good responses.  Two years ago, she took the plunge and quit her day job to concentrate on Iona Silver!  How inspiring!



Anyone who has ever had cats will appreciate Iona's caption for the design photo below which appeared on her Facebook :  "Good bye my kitty, you will have a new servant."


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She also has cat silhouette design pendants :









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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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