Abbi Marie’s Leaf Bug Neckpiece

What started out as a hobby piece to keep her busy while she was waiting for some waxes to be cast turned into a real passion project for Abbi Marie of Moth to a Flame Jewelry in Savannah, Georgia.

“It really ended up taking over my focus,” says Marie. “I wanted to see how accurately I could capture the personality and anatomy of a leaf bug.”
Initially designed as a brooch, this sterling silver neckpiece features keum-boo, the ancient Korean technique of heating the silver and applying thin sheets of 24k gold to the surface. According to Marie, part of the charm of the leaf bug is that it camouflages itself, so she wanted to create the neckpiece as the environment it could hide in.