Workshop Wednesday

Following on from last week's Workshop Wednesday where I sawpierced, textured and soldered a lovely ring band with elements taken from my Hungarian Folk Art and Ruffled Series of rings.

I think I'll call this one an 'Embrace Ring',

so lovely it is to wear as it wraps around and embraces the wearer.

I soldered a high walled bezel for the mookaite stone, this allows for the curve of the ring band which I file into the bottom of the bezel using a half round bench file. The bezel is resting on the bench file, you can see the curve in the bezel taking shape.

The ring band is quite large, so the curve left on the bezel from the bench file does not match up with the ring band. To overcome this problem, and to make sure the bezel touches the ring band perfectly for the solder join, I taped some rough emery paper to my ring mandrel and moved the bezel from side to side until the curve in the bezel was perfectly matched to the curve of the ring band.

As you can see, my ring mandrel has Australian sizing, which uses letters instead of numbers.

The bezel is ready for soldering onto the ring band. The base of the bezel is touching the ring band perfectly, making for a good solder join.

I use steel binding wire to hold it in place.

I like to twist little kinks in the binding wire using pliers. Binding wire tends to move with heat, so this helps to keep it locked in place nice and tight during soldering.

 

Yellow Ochre gouache paint is applied to any previous solder joins. It stops solder from running during soldering. Here, I've applied it to the solder join on the ring band.

I've soldered the bezel onto the ring band, soldering from the inside of the bezel so the outside remains free from solder smears. Little silver buds have been carefully filed away so they sit flat and are ready for soldering onto the scalloped edges of the ring band for decoration.

 

I'm using the yellow ochre gouache paint again on the inside of the bezel so the solder doesn't run whilst soldering the little silver buds. It's best to keep the yellow ochre away from any areas where you do wish to solder, as the flux will be contaminated and the solder won't join the metal in the place where you need it most. The yellow ochre on the inside of the bezel should be enough to keep the bezel in place during soldering.

I hope you've enjoyed the progress!

I'll be back before the week is done to show you more.

What have you been working on feverishly this week?

--- Mariann ---

xoxo

Workshop Wednesday

I made some beautiful rings as part of

a new series a few weeks ago.

It's called the 'Ruffled Ring' series,

and here's how they were made...

Bezels and surrounding feature wires formed and soldered

Baseplate sawpierced from sterling silver sheet

Bezel and feature surround soldered. Ring bands formed and stamps cut out ready for soldering onto the base, along with the ring bands.

I use a flat head screwdriver for patterning the ruffled edges.

Ring bands and stamps soldered onto base. Ready for a dip in oxidizing solution to add dimension to the ruffled edges. I then set the stones into the bezels.

Below are the pretty rings from the 'Ruffled Rings' series:

Sterling silver and chrysoprase

Sterling silver and labradorite

Sterling silver and dendritic opal

Sterling silver and purple jadeite

Available from my Etsy shop here,

and my Madeit shop here.

The labradorite ruffled ring will be listed this evening.

I hope you enjoyed my Workshop Wednesday!

--- Mariann ---

xoxo

Little Ideas

Whilst working on my Pollen Series earrings...

...I kept breaking sawblades when trying to cut the looped wire.

Being a jeweller means:

-:- Constantly finding solutions to problems,

-:- Committing the solutions to memory

(I should really use that leather-bound notebook for this)

-:- And jumping for joy when experimenting

and it all goes to plan

(and adding to your silver scraps box

when it all goes horribly wrong)

On this particular day...

(which was hot and sunny, then hot and rainy, then hot and sunny again)

...the problem aforementioned was solved once and for all.

You see, when sterling wire is wrapped in large loops on a mandrel,and especially when it is quite thin,it doesn't hold its shape very well when one decides to saw-pierce them into separate little circles.

Thus, sawblades are broken, other loops below the one being cut are gouged by the sawblade, and Mariann gets very upset.

So the solution was to hold the looped silver in place,

and hold it there with masking tape at opposite sides.

With the sterling silver loops held in place...

... saw-piercing them was a breeze!

I hope this helps you too!

What tips have you learned along the way?

- Mariann -

xoxo