I picked up some garnet cabochons a while back for accents on more complicated pieces, but I have a few extra. One went into this simple pendant! Working on soldering small things and also not melting tube sterling. The tube hinge makes for a nice little fidget!
10mm hessonite garnet round, 18g wire, 24g sheet, fine silver bezel.
I’m a hobbyist silversmith, and like everyone else, thoroughly enjoyed learning about Jimothy. I finished this sterling silver charm yesterday!
I still love jimothy tho. Left him as a silhouette because i don’t actually know how to engrave and I don’t want to ruin it 🤪
I’m in the prototyping stage of a commission, which requires mirrored, symmetrical tendrils to be shaped and filed on half round wire.
Is there a glue that’s strong enough to attach two pieces of half round back-to-back and flexible enough to withstand some hammering/bending with pliers?
Thanks for your time!
My partner and I like the idea of me making our ring bands (I’m not confident about making engagement rings and also I don’t want to make my own engagement ring lol). I just got in some crazy 8 wire for a commission, and I had extra to give it a go before I eventually buy white gold for the real thing.
Sizing took a while - just hammering and checking on the mandrel and fighting with the small tolerances! But otherwise way less fuss than other projects I’ve already made, so the only thing I’m concerned about is the working difference between sterling and 10-14kt white gold.
when will my professional photography skills return from the war (override the convenience of my phone for non-work/portfolio documentation)
anyway this is a sterling, fine silver, and citrine pendant I made for a retiring coworker who is one of my favorite people. they worked here for thirty years, so the divots represent each decade. First time using los - subtle here but I really like it. Smell wasn’t as bad as I thought. Kind of like rotten eggs a la la croix.
swipe through to see it be unmade, benjamin button style.
I’ve been picking away at this pietersite necklace and have gotten to the prepolish stage before I patina and set. Polishing the chain with my dremel was a bit dicey, although I managed it by holding it tight in a sort of crochet yarn grip. It still tried to tangle around my dremel several times.
Do any of yall have methods that don’t involve a tumbler and also maybe are less nerve-wracking than holding it in hand?
I'm curious about the difference in cost for things like sheet and wire when you have a normal consumer account vs a business account. I'm starting to look into craft fairs for selling some of my work, and the local one I'm looking into will require me to set up a business/EIN/etc, so there's an opportunity to update my account to a "proper" business one.
In general terms, about how much do you realistically save? For reference, 1ozt of dead-soft 20g sterling today is around $82 if you're on a consumer-level account.
My scrap jars so far - separated into sterling and fine (bezel). I grab any useable pieces from the scrap pile before going to fresh metal, so the pieces are getting pretty small.
It’s gonna take me a million years for it to be worth sending to a refinery 🤪
Fine and sterling silver. Not sure what the pear stone is - I pulled it from a ring I bought at a market. The freeform rose cut is moss agate, and the kyanite earrings I shared a few days ago (before adding findings - I got sick so haven’t gifted them to my SIL yet)
Soon to be drop earrings for my sister in law, as soon as the craft store opens and I can get the prefab ear wires. I figure everyone else will be getting stuff for the baby, but moms deserve a little gift at the baby shower too.
Sterling, fine silver, and rose-cut kyanite stones.
My custom stamp turned out super neat tho. I’m really happy with it!
So anyway I’ll be harvesting the plate and maybe the granules for the remake. Live and learn!
I have a habit of starting several projects and working on whichever one strikes my fancy (or whichever one matches the materials I have in supply) at my dedicated "hobby hour." Organizing the projects, with the separate pieces, templates, and stones, is getting to be kind of a hassle.
How do you organize multiple ongoing projects at your bench? Containers? Bags? What do you find most convenient?
Moss agate, sterling, and fine silver.
I’m proud of the bezel on this one - I sanded it down a lot, and it covers much less of the stone than my first bezel projects. Also glad that the bail worked out. Before I put it on this wheat chain, I thought it might have been too big, but it feels reasonably proportional to me.
Someday I’ll set up proper, non-phone photos, but probably not for anything I keep 🤪
I picked this up at a flea market this weekend and am curious about how to identify it! My guess is Victorian mourning ring, but I am not remotely an expert, and would welcome other suggestions!
There is a worn “STERLING” mark on the inside band that does not photograph with my phone. The black center stone is bezel set, and I don’t see any obvious glue marks. There’s what might be a cast line or repair line along the underside of the ring.
I think the surrounding beads are steel-cut rivets(?). One side of the bottom of the ring has four clear pinpoints that match the location of the “stones,” and I see some indication of others underneath the others (mostly worn away and difficult to see on camera).
The stone I would usually think onyx, but the underside makes me question that - the center bulges slightly and there appear to be some kind of flow lines. It doesn’t feel especially cool to the touch, either. I know early semi-synthetic plastics were available in the 1840s, and based on the surface I think it’s softer than onyx, but I haven’t done any scratch testing.
What other info could I get y’all to help identify it? Thank you very much.
I used a bit of scrap to freehand the bail. Eventually I’m going to be down to teeny tiny scraps I can’t use. Hopefully by then I’ll learn to properly melt it down and recycle it!
I’m reaching the limits of my patience with my Dremel + flex attachment. No matter what I do, I can’t get my bits to spin centered, so there’s a lot of chatter and wandering along my sheet when I try to drill. The Dremel itself is too big for me to comfortably hold for this kind of work, so I’m looking at an upgrade.
I know Foredom is the main name for flex shafts, but are there other brands I should be looking at? What about micromotors? Bench space is a bit cramped, but I have room for either device.
I’m a semi-serious hobbyist (10h per week or so on the high end), not a full-time bench jeweler, so I’d also be fine with a lesser grade tool that works well but doesn’t necessarily meet the rigor requirements of fulltime work.
Thanks for any advice or recommendations on either!
Third time’s the charm with my first prong setting - I overdid the heat and melted through my first two attempts. I eyeballed everything and accidentally clipped a prong a bit too short, but it holds!
17g sterling silver and aquamarine.
Haven’t been able to sit down and do much silver stuff, and I’ve been down lately, and when I got the chance tonight I melted through my first prong setting. Again. So I dug out an orbicular jasper cab I bought in February and went back to bezels.
She’s rough, and the solder on the decorative wire went walkabout at some point, but I really like this cab and making this pendant made me happy. I’m going to wear it to work tomorrow.
Make bad art yall 🫡
PS shoutout to the chopstick that played the part of my bezel pusher and burnisher, because those went walkabout too.