16 ga brass and 2 pieces of tempered masonite cut into shield silhouette die by Pat Accorinti, thinnest red urethane sheet, and 24 ga copper sheet pressed in 20 ton hydraulic press

While she filed the edges of the silhouette smooth, I annealed some 24 ga copper sheet. We placed the copper in the press with the stiffest urethane, per the guidance of Susan Kingsley’s Hydraulic Press book “Hydraulic Die Forming for Jewelers and Metalsmiths” We pressed the metal and there was hardly any deformation.

Second attempt with thicker yellow urethane sheet. 24 ga copper sheet pressed in 20 ton hydraulic press.

We switched to a thicker softer urethane and pressed again. Voila! A nice first press result for the 20 ton hydraulic press.

(left) 16 ga brass and 2 pieces of tempered masonite cut into shield silhouette die by Pat Accorinti, (center) yellow urethane sheet , (right) 24 ga copper sheet pressed in 20 ton hydraulic press

As I was taking video of the coral encrusted lava surfaces underwater, a fish swam very closely past my left shoulder chased by a moray eel. Luckily the camera was already recording video.

Slowing the video down and looking carefully, I see the white line on the tail of the moray and the bars on the side of the fish, leading me to surmise that these creatures are a Whitemouth Moray Eeel and a Manybar Goatfish.

The still picture in the beginning of the video is from the first part of the chase, and is there to give you an idea of what you are looking for once the action starts.

Drilling starter holes in the brass sheet

The scrap metal yard was a great place to find 16 gauge brass sheet for the top of a silhouette mold. And, they cut it into squares for us with their massive digitally controlled brake.

Jigsaw ready to cut general shape in tempered masonite

The lumber store cut the tempered masonite into squares for us.

Now it’s up to us to cut negative space into all the pieces so we have molds to use with the hydraulic press.

Oxygen Free Copper: Before and After Electrolytic Anodization

I had some oxygen free copper and fine silver parts that a friend’s local company deemed scrap. While I waited for clear nail polish (a masking method) to dry on my niobium bracelets, I decided to electrolytically anodize the oxygen free copper and silver parts. I kept part of the fine silver piece out of the process so I could compare the finishes to the raw material.

Fine silver anodized electrolytically

The beautiful blue oxide layers that developed on both metals was easily wiped off with a paper towel.

Oxygen Free Copper: Before (top) and After Electrolytic Anodization

The raw materials: cotton lace and cork clay

My friend Susan Shahinian was kind enough to demonstrate how to create fine silver lace using silver metal clay paste.

Susan cuts the greenware fine silver lace

With great weather, a nice local farmer’s market nearby, and views of the Golden Gate Bridge from the meeting room, members of our local guild watched and learned from Susan. She started with cloth lace and finished by placing ‘greenware’ metal clay lace onto a hollow form.

Susan creates a fine silver lace bead using greenware lace

You can see more of Susan’s work, including her handmade glass beads, at her website.

Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu

2010 marks the bicentennial of the unification of the Hawaiian Islands by King Kamehameha, and the de Young museum in San Francisco hosted a celebration on June 11th. A chorus sang Hawaiian songs, a photographer showed pictures taken on the islands, and the highlight of the event was a performance by a Hawaiian dance group.

de Young Museum Oceanic Art Collection

Before attending the Hawaiian celebration, I enjoyed the “Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay” exhibit and browsed the de Young museum’s Oceanic Art collection

Dusk over San Francisco, Sutro Tower, and The California Academy of Sciences

Turquoise prospector and metalsmith Dayton Simmons

In the past, I rarely bought turquoise because it’s so hard to know if the turquoise is natural. Dayton told us about the different processes for enhancing turquiose and how to tell some of them apart from natural turquoise.

Natural turquoise from Nevada, Arizona, and Persia

A simple way to tell acrylic or epoxy impregnated turquoise from natural is to run your finger across it. The finger catches a little just as it does on plastic. A finger run across a piece of natural turquoise goes very smoothly. With a jeweler’s loop, one can look at the item in question and look for parallel lines versus random scratch lines. Parallel lines imply that the piece was shaped with lapidary equipment. Random scratch lines occur on “stabilized” pieces. A third way to tell is to run a knife blade across the piece. “Stabilized” pieces will scratch. The knife blade will leave carbon on the surface of a natural stone.

The finger test was enough to tell that these turquoise beads has been “stabilized” with acrylic.

"Stabilized" turquoise and sterling silver necklace that I created years ago

If stabilization with acrylic or epoxy was the only method, that’s be easy. The Foutz Process, also called the Zachery Process, and the Eljen Process both modify natural turquoise to be harder than natural turquoise, so the knife test gives the same result for all three. Luckily, for now, sellers of Foutz / Zachery and Eljen turquoise are proud of their process and often label the pieces they are selling.

Natural turquoise, chrysocolla and sugilite from US Mines

One other way to tell if a piece is processed is to ask for the source mine. Dayton Simmons shared that any turquoise coming out of China is treated without first determining if the turquoise would have been strong enough on its own. Sad. Certain US mine names imply certain treatment processes, and some stones are not from the mine they are being sold as coming from. For example, Valley Blue is often sold as coming from Dry Creek. Blue material coming out of southern China mimics Sleeping Beauty material coming out of the Kingman mine east of Phoenix. Certain turquoise look-a-likes, such as White Buffalo, are in reality a different stone. White Buffalo is calcite + quartz. Elat stone is Chrysicola.  Hubblite sold in the past was Czech glass made to look like turquoise.

Dayton only sells natural turquoise, so I bought some pieces to use in future art jewelry pieces. I have a vague idea about combining some turquoise with orange sapphires.

Natural turquoise from US and Persian Mines

Above are pieces of natural turquoise I purchased from Dayton which come from different mines in the US along with some Persian pieces. One of the pieces looks like the ocean, although someone else said it looks like the sky. The silver colored matrix material in some of the pieces is pyrite.

I spent a week learning the new hardware scene and then ordered parts. I waited for them to arrive while using another computer in the house and missing having my own.

First I gutted the old computer to salvage some parts that still work with the new hardware formats released over the last 4.5 years

Gutting an old PC for re-usable parts

Now an empty case stared me in the face.

Inside of the new case waiting to be filled with parts

Even the power supplies are different now; in a good way; it went in first followed closely by the motherboard.

Motherboard and power supply in computer case

Many more parts later, and the computer ran quickly and very quietly. A quiet computer was a big part of the reason to build my own: I listened to a really loud computer for far too long.

Inside the computer as seen from the case window

Over time all the remaining software should be installed; for now I have installed enough so I can begin recreating my website and post blog entries again. After building the computer, WordPress for Android was fixed for my phone. Now all technical posting hurdles are gone.

finished computer: screaming fast and delightfully quiet

Digging in my jewelry box for turquoise pieces, I came across this recycled glass and sterling silver pendant.

The pendant is the first piece where I combined the silver directly with the glass. After this piece, I created the process to combine recycled fine silver directly to recycled glass.

The sterling in this piece is connected with like tiny cotter pins through holes I drilled into the glass, seen best in the bottom two pieces of silver in the second photo.