Category: Tools
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The First Press
Pat Accorinti came over to spend the afternoon making silhouette dies. She created a shield shape and cut it out of brass and masonite. 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…
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Electroforming – Part 1
My friend Susan Shahinian was kind enough to give an in depth demonstration of electroforming to the local metal clay guild, her second time doing so. When I saw the first demo I didn’t take many pictures; this time I did. And, I took note of the equipment needed to electroform, so this first post…
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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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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.