Module 3

PROJECT 39

This is the 9 crown cluster project. We could either attach it to a ring or make a bale and have it as a pendant. I obviously went the route of ring. Anyway, to begin we were given 9 crowns. I can't find a picture of the tool we used, mostly because I don't know what it's called- but we were given a tool that holds the crowns in place upside down so we can solder them together. Started off with soldering 3 rows of 3 crowns. The shape of this holder is concave. When held right side up, the crowns then look curved, center crown being taller than the one on either side. Placed the 3 rows of crowns back on the tool and soldered them together. Rolled out a simple band, added lines that wrapped around the band so it wasn't entirely plain. Soldered the cluster of crowns to the band. The prongs that we were given had seats pre-cut into them. So, I put all my stones in, and, because of some imperfections in how I soldered the crowns together, some of the stones looked crooked and awkward. Then, while setting, broke half a prong. Salvaged it by using a ton of soft solder to build the tip back up. Because of the awkward sitting of some stones, had to take them out, cut the seats in certain prongs down a bit, reset, gave a final polish, and called it done. Didn't think I would like such a bling-y ring, but it's kind of awesome.

PROJECT 40

This is another exercise in channel setting, this time using baguette czs. For this one in particular, one side wall was filed to about half its thickness. The other untouched wall had the notches cut into it for each stone. Because of the shape of a baguette we had to cut a sort of v-shaped channel into the metal for the stones' tapered edges to rest in. Like the other channel setting, popped the stones into place. I kind of broke a few when trying to get them in... That's the other thing- each stone is sliiiiiiiiightly different in size and you need to put the larger ones in the center. You break it, you need to find another stone similar in size, and we are talking fractions of a mm. But it actually makes a huuuuuuge difference. Also, in real world situations, I would not have the benefit of a whole slew of stones to pick from to set. I might be given stones by a client to set, and I had better NOT break them. Yeh. Going to need a little more practice obviously. After putting the stones in place very carefully used a hammer and tool to tap the thinned wall over the stones so that they would now be held in place. If set well, the stones will not wobble (mine didn't wobble. Woot!! God, now wobble is in my head and sounds weird. Wobble wobble wobble...). Next, filed away any scratch marks, and made sure that metal looked straight from a front view. Final polish and call it done. This ring in particular, although the stones are set nicely and actually sit straight, the band kinda sucks. The casting of this metal was not such a great casting- too much porosity in the metal, porosity meaning little tiny bubbles of air in the metal. In some cases when it's only one or two bubbles and they're not too deep, you can file them away. There is also a tool that can be used with the flex shaft that pushes metal into the holes- you'd still need to be careful in burnishing because burnishing takes metal away and not much is pushed into the holes in the metal. In this case, nearly the entire ring has little tiny air bubbles.



So, after this I started project 41 which had the same casting shape as project 36. This time though we are to use triangular stones. I cleaned up the ring all nice and shiny but suspended work on the ring to complete a commissioned necklace:

This, I'm really proud of. I recycled old jewelry. Took the metal, melted it all down into 3 pieces. Took longer than you would think to roll them flat to the thickness I wanted- about .5 mm, a little larger. Need to constantly reheat the metal or else it gets too hard to work with. The pieces on the end are actually one piece of metal rather than cutting 3 small ovals and soldering them together. I hammered them so each oval would be convex. The 3 individual pieces that hold stones took also a lot of work. There is filigree work in there as well which can be time consuming. All in all it was 41 hours of work from start to finish.
Basically, this is the reason why I decided to go down this path. To be able to take silver that was an ingot, roll out, cut, and pound it into submission- and have this come out of it, there is immense satisfaction. Even though I'm an amateur, I consider myself a jeweler now. I love my design, but I can't see the piece without seeing its flaws. It drives me a little crazy. Can't work on it anymore though- it's been shipped off and hopefully they will love it as much as I cared about making it. To get a better look, click on the picture.

Finishing Up Module 2 and a Little Something Special

So, I finally have some good pictures up of my jewelry. Thank the macro setting on my digital camera for that. And thank Ginger for telling me about it! Some pieces I couldn't redo, like the ring with the 4 stone crown settings. That and my first copper band, which has been totally transformed. This was its in between stage:

PROJECT 32

This project was creating a bypass ring with a marquise setting. We had to create the shank ourselves. First step was creating the actual band, then we hammered flat the half of the band that had the solder seam. After that we had to saw the band back open. I decided to change the design we were given and folded the arms of the band in opposite directions and filed into points. I was kind of inspired by the letter alef. This was the first piece I actually sat and drew out a few designs finally coming up with this one before actually making it. A lot of what I've done before has just been organic as I go. Next step was soldering the marquise setting between the arms. Polish and set. Definitely proud of this one.

PROJECT 33

This little number is called a gypsy setting. It was pretty awesome. Check out the mirror finish! Anyway, we were given a raw casting to work on. File off the sprue, give it a good cleaning up. In order to make it appear as if the stone is embedded in the metal: we filed around the edge of the setting to create something like a built in bezel wire. Very carefully tap the metal over the edge of stone. After that we filed to make everything smooth, and then polishing galore. Short but sweet project.

PROJECT 34

With this one we had to learn how to create a plain band to match an existing one and solder them together without soldering them completely together. We also had to solder in the crown and set the stone after polishing.

PROJECT 35

I'm not sure why Frank my teacher had me do this project instead of setting the crowns onto the free-form butterfly/flower ring thing. But in any case, rather than do that I had to make my own band and solder on the 3 crowns and then set. There was some repronging and retipping done. Sizing up and then reshanking as well. With all the heating up of the band after setting the stones, because of resizing, etc, they got a little frosty. Meh.

PROJECT 36

This was another wax casting we had to work with. I had fun working on the band. It was originally flat all the way around but instead I filed into the band to continue that curving indentation leaving a rim about the same thickness as the top of the ring. I also added texture to give it that frosted look. The next part of our task was to set the stones in what is called a channel setting. Had to carve notches into each side of the insides of the ring and pop the stones in. Totally had issues with it, mostly with creating the notches. But after finally setting the stones in, the rest was easier. Carefully tapped the metal around the stones so that they overlapped the tiniest bit with the stones. Filed the edges even. Was fairly pleased with the final product.

PROJECT 37

This one I'm also proud of. Wax casting that we were given to clean up and polish just like the other. This time we had to set these itty bitty stones. Applied the same notching principle from the straight channel to the bar channel setting. It's really pretty and simple. One of the few castings we've been given that I actually like as is, no alterations on my part.
Hardly worth mentioning but we had 2 chain repairs. Simple cable and curb link chains. I believe the curb link I worked on was a bit smaller.

PROJECT 38

This final project for module 2 was to do another cabochon bezel set pendent. I was given a second stone by a fellow student since she was using one of her own real stones for setting as opposed to the one they supply us with. I traded hers in so I could get one that matched with mine. Simple design. To get the texture I used what's called a ball bur. You just let it grind into the metal to create the hammered/dimpled look. I used two sizes, one larger and one much smaller. The head of the tool looks like a little pencil marking it's so small.

Here's something a little extra. We had a filigree workshop that was optional. People who've paid for modules 1-6 don't need to pay extra so I signed up. Amazing amazing class. I've always loved filigree but even more so now that I know how to make it. Not going to give descriptions on how they were made, just enjoy the pics: