Preparation for jewellery making in Scotland

 

When at the cottage Scotland I hope to make some pendants and earrings from the rolled recycled silver that I rescued from one of my batches of melting silver offcuts and objects that folk had given to me for recycling. See this blog post about melting the salvaged and gifted silver.

As you can see from the photo below of a couple of pages of my journal I had sketched out some ideas for making saw pierced jewellery. 

And as you can see from the opening photo I have scribed images onto the metal and drilled the starter holes at relevant points through which the saw blade will be threaded. I also gave the metal a bit of a trim and ground the sharp edges off. You can see the rough metal in the image below.

So the plan is that I should be able to saw the image lines either in the micro Scotland workshop (aka garden shed); or if it is too cold the work might get done at the kitchen table. At least I have prepared the metal to give this idea a go.

More preparation for the jewellery workshop

 

As you can see from the image above I had completed some examples of the type of jewellery participants in my Scotland workshop could make.

The following images enable one to see a bit more of the detail; including where I have cropped the image of the flower pendant and the slightly hull shaped earrings. 

The cropped images show how the pieces could look if participants use the hard nail polish to colour the pieces. I particularly like how the design on the silver-plate shows through the red polish!!!

I have also developed a two page document that introduces the participants to the tools they will use. As part of the workshop I will talk the participants through the two pages and demonstrate how the tools are used. Some edits yet to be done on the document!!!

I am pretty close to finishing the preparation for this workshop.

Testing tools and making examples

 

Preparation for my Simple Stylish Jewellery Workshop in Scotland in August is proceeding. We will be using salvaged silver-plated brass. Having done a plan and a design options sheet, I am now testing basic hand tools I can take with me on the next trip and making some examples based on the design options sheet and with the hand tools.

The opening and following photos shows the examples I made today

As the following photo shows I have cut most of the metal for the workshop. 

I'm testing a wooden dapping tool, metal punch pliers, a micro eyelet setting tool, diamond file for make the flower form and a vintage jeweller's  hand held vice - see photos below.

Over the weekend I hope to complete and assemble the examples including putting the pendants on necklaces and the earrings on earwigs.

Clearing the decks - repurposing materials

 

Over the last month I have been sorting and clearing materials I have collected and in some cases even cut and drilled - but not assembled - see below. 

Whilst some metal and bits and pieces have made their way into recycling I decided to assemble all the jewellery related bits - making earrings and pendants. 

A couple of process photos follow. A couple of delicate earring blanks cut from Scottish slate - ground and drilled!! Earring drops cut from vintage tea-spoons etc

Photos of assembled earrings and pendants appear in the photos below. I love the combination of the rusty washers, riveted silver plated band and a solid silver chain - gorgeous contrasts.

The sorting, clearing and assembling processes in both the workshop and on the jewellery assembling desk now means I can get on with other metal work tasks I have planned including: another Memory Keeper Bowl; another Meditation Incense Bowl; a few more Daily Leaf Word Sets; some small metal books with stamped words; and some patinated copper leaves.  These things will appear on the blog over the next couple of months. 

Repurposing a bracelet

 

I was given a bracelet that was made from Mexican silver. I had been acquired many years ago; had some memories attached to it; but was not being used; and was also broken in some parts.

After a quick on the spot assessment I indicated to the giftee that I would deconstruct the bracelet and use parts to make earrings and maybe a pendant. I indicated that I would gift a pair or two of the earrings back to the giftee if she wanted to pass the history and memory of the bracelet on.

The opening photo and the two following photos show the 'dismantling' process.

I set aside pieces that would come together as pairs or earrings and a pendant - again in the opening photo. Sharp edges of pieces were filed off and the pieces given a polish. Photos of the assembled pendant and earring appear below.

The earrings and pendant will be for sale. The bracelet has been repurposed and given a new life.

Slight new direction

 

Given we are in the cottage I have been inspired to try to make some solid silver wee cottage earrings - see the initial designs in the sketches below. This work will include quite a bit of delicate sawing with a jewellers saw. Two hand cut cottages on slate are in the opening photo - bit of filing and sanding yet to be done. The wee cottages are about 10-11mm wide.

I needed to mark up the silver with a very fine pen but was not sure what would work - needs to be permanent and not smudge when cutting. I tested a range of pens on one of our stainless steel kitchen knives as you can see below.

In the end I thought Fiona's Uni pin .05 pen below would work best. It did mark up ok but did also smudge a bit. The cutting this time was done at the kitchen table - cutting vee clamped to the table. I think I will try a Copic pen next.

Fiona asked if our kitchen knife would ever be the same - after a bit of a scrub with stainless steel cleaner it was as good as.

Over the next while I will make some stamps out of nails to use to create the windows, doors and texture on the roof - all part of a work in progress????

A master class

 

During the week Fiona and I were fortunate to do a private master class with a renowned local silversmith. We wanted to learn the skill of bezel setting stones. 

Several months ago we had been gifted some polished opal stones. I thought it would be nice if I was able to learn the skills required to turn a couple of the stones into pendants - I thought the first one could be gifted back to the woman who gave us the stones.

You can see the outcome of this class in the opening photo. 

Process-progress images follow - starting with the original stone - about 18mm long.

Calculating the length of the flat soft silver ribbon that would encircle the stone.

Soldering the ribbon of metal to form a circle; ensuring the edges are flat; and testing it over the stone.

Cutting a piece of flat silver plate for the base - photo of Fiona cutting flat silver plate; and soldering the circle of metal to the base plate.

Trimming and then grinding and polishing the dish form that hold the stone when the edges were folded onto the stone.

Obviously there were many more process-progress steps but one forgets to get photos; and of course the professional looking outcome was achieved because of input by the teacher including soldering the ring to the top.  I'm sure Fiona will blog on her work - a ring.