Fun New Tool

This lazy Susan soldering pad is new to me and I really like it. I discovered it watching Revere On Goldsmithing: Project 2: Reticulated Wedding Band. Revere used it when soldering three bands together to make a two tone wedding band. I decided to buy this as soon as I saw it. What is nice is that I have already used it and am really happy with it. I hate it when I buy tools and then find out that I really don't need them. I found this soldering pad really helpful when I was fabricating the under gallery for the Hope Diamond Pendant that is in my last post. I learned something else really cool from that Revere video too. I learned how to make a tripod with the tails of my binding wire. It was a really nice trick. It sure helped me out putting that large piece together. I get so excited when I discover news tricks! Just so you know, that lazy Susan soldering pad was around $19.00.

The Hope Diamond Pendant Replica

I finished my replica of the Hope Diamond Pendant! This is a piece that I was commissioned to make. I am very happy with how it turned out. It ended up being a lot of fun to put together. I cast the center head and fabricated the rest of it together. It is made of sterling silver and the white stones are pear and asher cut czs.

Oregon Sunstone Pendant

I just finished this pendant for a friend. It has been on my bench for a while now, and I am very pleased that it is finally finished! One more week until Spring break. I am really hopeful that I will get a lot of new pieces made over the break!

Jewelry CAD

My husband is currently taking a semester long Jewelry CAD course at the Texas Institute of Jewelry Technology! In this class they use Gem Visions Matrix program to create their designs. After they create their designs on the computer they can send them to the wax mill to become finished wax models. I am really excited about this process. I love hand carving wax models, and think I will always have many designs that I choose to carve by hand, but it is nice to have this option for difficult designs. For example, there are some pieces that I make by hand piercing designs out of silver sheet. The and piercing is really time consuming so to eliminate that step my husband used Jewelry CAD to make me some models. He made them on the heavy side so we can cast them in brass and make rubber molds. Then I can make as many pieces as I want in any metal in the future. I can still hand engrave the finished pieces to give them that extra special hand made feel that I like to have in all of my work.

Great Jewelry Design Book!

A friend showed me this really neat jewelry design book and I just love it! It is called "Jewelry Making and Design," by Augustus F. Rose and Antonio Cirino. What I love about this book is that it has 325 illustrations!!! It is an excellent resource for design ideas and inspiration! The other thing I love is the price, I got mine for around $6.00 on Amazon!

Momo is so great at helping me grade my students projects! The only thing is that he always falls asleep!!!

The Hope Diamond!!

Here is one crazy project that I am working on right now. It is a replica of the Hope Diamond Pendant. I am using a lab created stone that was faceted to be the same size and proportions as the Hope diamond. I carved a very large head for the stone and am going to fabricate the rest of the elements around the head. It is going to be made out of Sterling Silver to cut costs. Can't wait to finish this project!!!!

How I fixed that smashed ring:

My last post included pictures of a smashed ring that I repaired. I wanted to share the steps I took to make that ring wearable again.

1.) I Inspected the ring to see if there are any cracks. Metal will only bend so much before it breaks so I wanted to make sure that there where not any cracks or breaks.
2.) Next, I used an ultra sonic cleaner and steam cleaner to make sure the ring was really clean before working on it.
3.) Before trying to bend and shape the ring to make it round, I annealed the metal to relax it and make it easier to bend. This could prevent the ring from breaking or cracking when rounding it out. I was really careful not to over heat the areas of the ring that had been soldered.
4.) After the ring was annealed I used nylon ring-bending pliers to shape the ring so it would start to slide over the ring mandrel.
5.) I didn't want the metal to crack from too much stress so I annealed often.
6.) I slid the ring on the mandrel and tapped it with a raw hide mallet to round it out. I was very careful not to hit the diamonds with the mallet.
7.) After the ring was as round as possible I worked on getting all the dents out. I used a file to get all of the rough scratchy parts off first. Some of the dents were so deep that I new I couldn't get them out with out removing too much metal. To solve the problem I added a view cosmetic dents to make them look intentional. I used a diamond bur to texture the ring.
8.) One of the diamonds was set really off level so I took it out, adjusted the seat, and reset it so it was level.
9.) There was one or two large dents in the white gold bright cut plate. I used my gravers to re-cut and blend in the dented areas. I re-millgrained the edge to make it look finished.
10.) Then I used soft wheel brushes with rouge to give the ring a light polish. It didn't need too much polishing because it was mostly textured. I did polish the inside of the ring to smooth it out.

I am really happy with how the ring turned out! I hope that the customer is happy too. I imagine they never thought they would be able to wear it again.

Jewelry Repair

One of my favorite things about being a jeweler is having the ability to transform something that looks terrible into something that looks great! Here is a good example of the kind of transformation that I am talking about. Sometimes people have tragic accidents with their jewelry. This belongs to a friend of my fathers. It is wedding ring, and when I got it he had not been able to wear it for a long time because it had been run over by a car. He thought he would never be able to wear his ring again. When my Dad brought this ring to me I rolled my eyes and thought WOW! But I agreed to give it a try because I knew I couldn't make it any worse.

I am very fortunate to be a jewelry instructor at the Texas Institute of Jewelry Technology. This Spring break we are having Remy Rotenier come teach a Master Class on Jewelry Rendering and Counter Sketching! It will be March 16th through the 19th! I know I told everyone how much fun I had when I took a class from him last summer! If you don't have plans Spring Break come to Paris, Tx. for this class! You won't be sorry!!! Here is a rendering I did while in Remy's class. If you are interested in this class please visit the TIJT website, www.parisjc.edu/TIJT or send me a comment.

Wax Model of Oregon Sunstone Pendant

I love to carve wax! I really enjoy the freedom of carving wax models, there is no pressure because it is just wax. It is not valuable and even if I make a mistake I can always go back and add more wax. Here are some pictures of a wax that I just carved for a fancy cut Oregon Sunstone.

New Custom Design

Here is a ring I just finished for a friends mom. It is 18kw gold with diamonds. The three main stones where from my friend and I got the smaller side stones to make it extra sparkly. I really like the way it turned out.

New Addition

We now have a new addition to our family! His name is Momo and he is the smaller black cat in these pictures. His name was inspired by the word Monster, he is an adorable and cute monster though. He has been really good for our older cat Buddy. They play a lot and seem to like each other quite a bit. The first week was difficult, but now they are friends. Buddy is awake more now days and I am expecting him to loose some weight.

Ruby Mokume Gane Earrings

I am really excited about these earrings. We made this mokume in the Jewelry Arts class at TIJT. It was nice to make it as a group because everyone could take turns rolling and annealing it. We all got a piece of it, and I made sure not to waste a single bit.