Category: processes
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Eyes traveling off the top
I recently attended a lecture by a photographer who specializes in art jewelry and other art photography. Someone asked him about the graded backgrounds popular in the US. When he pointed out that the dark part of the graded background is always at the top of the picture, I began to wonder if I’d ever…
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Hands Free Polishing
Combine all ingredients into the pan or dish with foil. Mix until salt and soda dissolve. Place silver jewelry into pan/dish. Wait 2 to 3 minutes. Rinse the jewelry thoroughly in water. Dry the jewelry thoroughly with a soft cloth. Do NOT dry the jewelry with any paper product as this will scratch the silver.…
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Reclaiming Silver
After I don’t know how many years (more than four; less than ten???) it was time to change the water in the tumbler. I knew the stainless steel shot was fine. Each time I reached into the tumbler my hand came out all sparkle-y silver. The pieces came out of the tumbler fine unless I…
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Creation from Inspiration
On a recent SCUBA dive, bottlenose dolphins kept a very large school of sardines swirling around us for the entire dive. The school moved around circling at different levels in the water and changed direction in all three dimensions. The amazing experience is something I wanted to capture in a jewelry design. Sitting on a…
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Earrings that Grew on a Tree
After setting oval white topaz stones in a new earring design, I decided to also set blue topaz and garnets in the same design; and to make a pendant with one of those stones in the ‘same’ design. So, I treed up some waxes after adding more of the little ball features onto the wax…
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Tools Being Created and Modified
In order to finish my piranha and woodpecker wire sculptures, I need to modify some pliers so they don’t scratch up the steel wire. Pliers before modification Pliers after the teeth were filed off the inside the the jaws. And, while I’m taking pictures of tools, here’s a look at my chasing and…
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Stone Setting Rings: Flush, prong, channel
Three rings set with three different stone setting techniques: flush, channel, and prong. The steel part was made from a spent flex shaft mandrel. The business end of the steel is the part closest to the handle. Below is the tool put together. The first ring with flush set stones was made by carving wax…
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Custom Tools
As mentioned on May 18th, the flush setting technique for setting large oval stones requires quite a bit of strength compared to setting round stones in the 2 to 4 mm size range. And, it also requires these special tools made from a finish nail or a flexshaft tool mandrel.