Metalsmithing 101 - Class Three

During the third class we selected bezel wire for our stone, then soldered the bezel, then soldered the bezel wire onto sterling silver sheet. I'm doing a frame around my stone. Some students chose smaller stones so they're setting their stones right onto the ring shanks. They selected thicker bezel wire that they can file in a half moon shape to go around their ring bands. I've been watching what they're doing so when I make a ring like that I won't be totally unaware of how to do it.



My intent was to leave enough space around the triangular bezel so that I could add some little balls. BUT, when the torch flame hit my pieces it moved the bezel wire up the sheet. You'll notice how little sheet there is at the smallest end of the triangle. Oh well. Maybe I can add another larger triangle underneath and have a 'stepped' effect with enough room to add little balls.



I also paid off some of my tab and bought some extra bezel wire, some sterling silver sheet, and a small oval charoite cab. I was originally going to use the charoite for my Mom's pendant, but I decided it was too small for that so next class I'm buying a bigger oval charoite cab, and a small amethyst round cab to use in the design for my Mom's pendant. The two cabs will be set on a larger soft rectangular sheet backing with two silver balls on either side of the amethyst. I'm doing a wire swirl bail. The bail will have an extra curly tail on the back of the pendant. I think it will be really pretty.

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

I Enjoy Thinking

In fact, I enjoy thinking so much that occasionally I have to remind myself that actualizing thoughts and dreams into reality requires some leg work. As in, it's nice to dream and sketch layouts for my studio, but I am going to have to get off my butt at some point and actually move some boxes and sort through everything before I can make any changes. So yeah, that's what I told myself last night while sitting on the porch last night sipping decaf looking at the sky and dreaming about how my studio is going to look by the end of this month.

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Shopping Spree - Tools & Supplies

Yes, I am a tool junkie. I admit it. I LOVE tools. I love the feeling of a brand new shiny tool in my hands. I recently discovered I have a 'thing' for hammers. I didn't know this about me. Last weekend my roomie and I went shopping at Princess Auto out in Langley, and at the cash register as he was putting all my new hammers up on the counter he dryly commented "I guess you plan on doing A LOT of hammering eh?" I responded with "Just you nevermind what I do with my hammers! Not the household's hammers...not your hammers, but MY hammers buddy!" Yes, I even like roofer's hammers. Weird looking things that they are.

So here's the list of things I've purchased in the past two weeks:

Hammers (10 of them)

- plannishing (square/round head)
- brass mallet
- dead blow
- 2 ball peins
- german style chasing hammer with pistol handle
- double headed texturing hammer
- rubber/acrylic head
- small brass/acrylic head
- leather mallet

(I still want a couple of riveting hammers)

Other items not related to hammers:

- steel ring mandrel
- metal ring sizer
- dapping set
- silquar board (like a fire brick)
- charcoal block
- 2 ceramic tiles
- digital caliper
- swiss file (4 cut)
- swiss file (2 cut)
- titanium diamond file set (5 pieces)
- jeweler's saw frame
- blades for the above
- bees wax (for the above)
- slicone polishing wheels for my dremel
- 3 new pairs of pliers (another thing I have a 'thing' for)
- tweezers (several pairs - copper, metal, AA, locking, insulated)
- third hand
- bib apron with pockets
- safety glasses
- respirator
- 2 auto dollies (excellent substitude for the typical 4" X 4" steel block)
- emery paper (several grades from 80 to 600 grit)
- solder chips (easy, medium, hard)
- containers for solder chips
- sterling silver sheet
- fine silver bezel wire
- butane micro torch
- PH Down (sodium bisulphate - used as pickling agent)
- mini crock pot (for pickling)
- Dandix flux
- ring clamp
- bench vise
- bench pin
- adjustable C clamp
- metal shears (only 7 inches! Fits perfectly in my tiny hand)
- brass brush
- file card (for cleaning files)
- bezel roller
- burnisher
- center punch
- oak leaf stamp (need more design stamps)
- bead baking tray (for polymer clay)
- Word texture plate (for polymer clay)
- Liquid Liver of Sulphur
- Tim McCreight's Complete Metalsmithing - Professional Edition

Purchased items unrelated to tools:

- 30 ft of 22g sterling silver wire (for wire wrapped pearl rings)
- oxidized copper wire
- oxidized brass wire
- green and brown glass leaves
- strand of 8mm dark green jade rounds
- 15 1/2 inch strand of 9mm turquoise rondelles
- serephrinite cabachon
- turitella cabachon
- turquoise cabachon
- light blue pau shell cabachon
- ammolite cabachon
- jasper cabachon
- 9mm brown, green, and gold faceted glass rondelles
- a whole whack of silver plated and brass balled head pins
- several different styles of toggles
- brass chain
- silver plated chain
- solid brass lobster claws (I love these!)
- 1000 business cards
- and a large custom supply order for one of my customers

Next item to be purchased is my Whale Torch! Yay! I'm so excited I can hardly wait!

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Pantone Fall Colors 2010

I don't usually follow seasonal color trends when I make jewelry. I order most of my supplies from the US and it often takes 3 weeks for shipments to arrive at my doorstep here in Canada. So, following trends isn't practical for my situation. For this Autumn most of my pieces are in shades of brown and golden colors with a few pieces including green as in my 'Enchanted Forest' themed pieces. And, of course, turquoise. My turquoise pieces ALWAYS sell well no matter what time of year I offer them.

My first solo piece I plan to make in my studio when I get my own torch at the end of November will be a turquoise pendant for my daughter. It's her 30th birthday on December 4th. The cab color fits into the Lagoon blue color scheme from Pantone. It will be embellished with 'water' elements which will further fit into the Lagoon theme. =) Here's the turquoise cabs I'll select her's from:



Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Stone Talk - Turritella Fossil

Turritella 'Agate' is a chalcedony rich sedimentary rock from Wyoming which hosts the fossil shells of Elimia tenera was originally incorrectly called Turritella agate. It was named after the sea snail genus Turritella because of the resemblance of the freshwater snail shells to the Turritella fossils that are found in agate in Texas and California. The Wyoming fossil shells, however, are in a freshwater sedimentary deposit and identifiable as the genus Elimia which is an extinct species of freshwater snails. These fossilized and less-silicified Elimia tenera occur in a region which is now southern Wyoming, northern Colorado and northeastern Utah.

The fossil beds are approximately 46 to 51 million years old and occur in the Laney Member of the Green River Formation. Evidence suggests that the Elimia tenera were deposited nearshore in a series of shallow lakes, which geologists have named the Fossil, Uinta and Gosiute Lakes. The climate was subtropical and there were intermittent volcanic eruptions. The best preserved Elimia tenera are from Lake Gosiute which fossils occur in the Fort Laclede Bed of the Laney Member at outcrops in Sweetwater County, in southwestern Wyoming.

I find this stone fascinating. The one in the picture will be made into a pendant. During the past several years of my rock collecting I've realized that I'm very drawn to fossils. I think it's amazing that extinct species are preserved for future generations to study.

[Source: Wikipedia]

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Metalsmithing 101 - Classes One & Two

For our first class we learned about tools and safety precautions. We also selected stones for our projects, and used our jeweller's saw to practice cutting in copper sheet.

During our second class we hammered and soldered our ring shanks for our first project. I was surprised by how quickly the whole process happened. Heat, quench, pickle, hammer, form, heat, flux, solder, quench, pickle, file and we were done. I was also very surprised by how short the flame was from the torch. Filing takes the longest amount of time, and that's only if you're as meticulous as I am. I think I can do this!

I selected a triangular piece of brown jasper for my first ring. I forget what type of jasper, but I'll ask again on Tuesday. The instructor's husband cut the stone. Here it is:



And here's what my ring band looks like before I add the bezel set stone. I will be adding a larger backing around the bezel with some sterling balls as decoration.



And as promised eariler here's a picture of my pretty ammolite. I will be making this into a pendant with decorative elements representing vines and buds. It's a fairly significant sized cabachon at 31mm X 14mm. I will be posting this picture again in another entry in a series I'm calling Stone Talk. I love stones so there will be a lot of talk about them. =)




Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Trying Not To Sweat The Small Stuff

I had a little rethink about the issues surrounding my previous post and decided to take my own advice. Whenever one of my children is having a challenging time dealing with a "life doesn't always go your way" issue I ask them if there is anything they think they can actually DO about the problem. Sometimes the answer is simply "No." Sometimes we can't really do anything about a problem except change the way we react to it.

That might seem like a passive thing to do, but once you accept the 'do nothing' approach things start to shift inside. To me that's action. It's movement toward a better understanding of what's important. What's important to me is learning, and expressing creativity. The process of creative expression is healing. So, I'm going to continue to learn, and create.

Later this morning when the daylight arrives I'll take a picture of my pretty little piece of ammolite and show you =)

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Metalsmithing 101 - first class

I decided to edit this post because I'm not pleased with myself for sounding ungrateful or grumpy. My first impression was wrong. The instructor is very sweet, and very passionate about sharing her knowledge.

I'm really happy to finally be taking a silversmithing class taught by someone willing to show us students short-cuts and give us tips to help save us money. Feeling blessed about this opportunity is all that matters.

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.