HOW it's done.



Fine Silver Imperfect Circle Necklace



Over the next several days, I'll be putting together a tutorial for my Imperfect Ring fine silver necklace. 

If you'd like to create a pendant along with me, here is your tools and materials list:

Materials:

1. Fine silver wire, 10 gauge, about 6".
2. Neckchain of your choice, hand fabricated or conventional.
3. Small beads, gemstones, or crystals (optional).
4. 22 gauge Argentium sterling silver wire, about 6".
5. 2 sturdy Argentium sterling silver headpins, 2" long.
6. Clasp of your choice, hand fabricated or conventional.

Tools:

1. Torch
2. Heat-proof surface (solderite pad, charcoal brick, etc.)
3. Cross-lock tweezers
4. Small quenching bowl
5. Jeweler's saw with blades
6. Bench pin (optional)
7. Wooden dowel (optional)
8. Steel ring mandrel
9. Vise
10. Flush cutters
11. Planishing or ball pein hammer
12. Bee's wax or Burr Life
13. Rotary tumbler with 1LB mixed shot
14. Blue Dawn dishwashing liquid
15. Assorted hand files
16. Center punch
17. Flexshaft or Dremel-like tool
18. Texturing wheel (optional)
19. Assorted drill bits
20. Steel bench block
21. Rawhide hammer
22. Safety glasses

New TOOLS! New GEMSTONES! New DESIGNS!!

So, what have I been doing for the past few months??  Well, I've purchased a few new and totally cool tools. I went on a gemstone buying trip and bought some amazing stones.  I've been experimenting with my new tools and gemstones to create a few new designs. 

This is a sneak peek at my latest design. 

This design was created with nearly 140 carats of amazingly beautiful rhodolite garnets and a gorgeous fine silver "love letter" pendant. 

The pendant was created by passing a piece of fine silver sheet through my rolling mill with a section of a low-relief paper pattern.  The rolling mill compresses the pattern onto the fine silver, destroying the original paper pattern in the process.  The pendant is then shaped, drilled, filed, buffed, polished and work-hardened* in my rotary tumbler for about 10 hours.

*Fine silver is 99.9% pure silver and is a very soft metal that must be properly work-hardened to make the metal more durable and less prone to bending and warping.

CLEANING day

Like most artists and crafters, I live in a constant state of creative chaos.  I don't know why my brain loves the messiness, but somehow it's inspiring.  I often find a beautiful gemstone and will leave it on the corner of the workbench, just waiting for it to speak to me.  Waiting for it to tell me how it wants to be presented to the world.  And there it will stay, until I can hear it's request.  I suppose my workbench wouldn't be such a mess if I only had one gemstone just lying about.  But, I must have ten or more gemstones, a dozen or more crystals, bits of silver in every size and shape, just sitting there, silent.  Oh, and let's not forget the five or six works-in-progress. 

However, the chaos need to be calmed.  Just a little.

And, since I have a few new and incredibly awesome tools arriving for the studio tomorrow, I must clean.  All those bits of silver, miscellaneous beads and gemstones will need to be put back in their proper place.  The scattered tools will need to be put back too.  Finally, the workbench will get a good cleaning with a damp cloth.

A clean slate.  Well, a temporarily clean slate anyhow.  It will be just a day or two before the bench will look like it's pre-cleaning self.  Perhaps with a new gemstone waiting on the corner, getting ready to speak.

I'm such a TOOL nerd.

I love tools.  The more the merrier!  I'll admit, I can spend hours, no, days in a home improvement store or hardware store.  But, I wasn't always like that.

As a child I loathed hardware stores.  How boring.  Just walking around with Dad, surrounded by things I wasn't allowed to touch.  And that weird smell...somewhere between rubber, dirt, and machinery grease.  Yuck.

That all changed the day I picked up my husband's "good" hammer and struck a piece of sterling silver.  Ooooh, the beautiful and reflective dimple it left behind!

I couldn't get enough!  I bought my first set of metalsmithing tools.  A few hammers, a steel block, various pliers, a wireworking jig, tumbler, disc cutter, files, and more.  I was fairly content with my tool collection, but every once in a while itched for more.  Various jewelry making companies would send their yearly catalog and I would drool over the pages and pages of tools!  It's like when you were a child and the Sears Catalog would arrive in the mail and you and your siblings would flip through the pages circling all your Christmas wishes.  Well, I didn't circle things, but I did have a notepad with the item numbers, page numbers and prices tucked into each catalog. 

At one time, I didn't have a dedicated studio space, so some tools were off limits because of the space needed or the "mess" they created.  Hooray to day I got my own studio space!  On the top of the then-forbidden tool list was a flexshaft, torch and rolling mill.  Big tools. Expensive tools.  Messy tools.  I purchased a flexshaft and torch first.  Oh, what a difference they have made in my designs!  The flexshaft saves so much labor and can create textures on metals that were previously impossible.  And the torch allows me to fuse metals and create rings, bangle bracelets and more.  And the rolling mill??  Well, that is on it's way and should arrive at the studio next week!!

My tool fantasies have been filled....for now.  But, I know I'll feel that itch sooner or later and the hunt for more tools will be on again.