Night time water...

Took this shot down in Abilene, Kansas at Eisenhower Park. This fountain is surrounded by a gorgeous little garden, full of hollyhocks, sunflowers, and other wildflowers. As the sunset, the lights on this fountain came on, and the colors were pretty cool.

Garden Fountain at Night
Eisenhower Park, Abilene, Kansas

Sunset from the other night...

Saw this and thought it looked pretty cool...

Silver work and random thoughts

I think I am suffering form the effects of the dog days of summer... I really have a deep desire to take lots of lazy siestas and sit around with a cool drink. Heck I don't even feel like cooking, and I love to cook. Thankfully the wife is a former culinary professional, and at this very moment is putting those skills to good use and making what smells to be a fabulous dinner! Man how spoiled am I?

I also think I am suffering a bit from vacationitis, with my first real vacation in about 3 or 4 years only a week away. We are planning on heading up to the cool Colorado mountains for a week, and I fully plan on just getting my mind of work, kicking back and enjoying the scenery and savoring the feeling of complete uselessness!

Made a bit more jewelry this past week (actually I am quite a bit behind posting on the jewelry front too, as I have failed to update this weekly as I should have been, and am about four or five pieces behind!) but I figure on skipping ahead and posting a set of simple earrings that made last night.

This set started out as a copy of a set my Grandmother made quite a few years ago. She found them in a box of projects she had not completed, and decided to finish them up, and have me make something similar. I started to make an exact replica of her set, but felt I preferred a little different shape so started deviating from the original pattern. As this set is made as a free form shape cut from sheet silver, it is very difficult to make both pieces match. The solution to this is to use a nifty piece of modern technology called double sided carpet tape. You cut out a square slightly larger then the size of the finished piece and tape them together so you are able to cut thru the two pieces at the same time. I had to saw the shape out, cut the hole in the middle of the pieces, and then file the edges smooth. After I get the one set smooth, I had to peel the two sections apart, remove all the tape, and do my polishing work. This polishing is very easy, as there is no firescale as I have not exposed any of the pieces to heat.

Once I finished the initial polish work and removed the majority of the tool scratches, I made two matching jump rings, and soldered those onto the top side of the part. With this completed, I again polished, removing the very small amount of firescale that formed in the soldering step. I next formed the curve shape of the two pieces using a shallow wooden dapping block and dapper to form the curve.

Once I was satisfied with the shape of the curve, I once again polished the piece this time with the rouge (finish polish) and attached the inner silver bead on a earring end post.

Sterling silver with twisted silver bead

Angle showing curve...

Detail view.

P.S. Mom these are for you, although you might have to fight Leah for them, as she really likes them! I guess I know what I am making next week!

Bangle Part 2

I have to add that I also made a second bangle bracelet so the first one would be able to "bangle" against it. Made this one out of straight square wire, twisted and annealed. Very straight forward, very simple, yet very elegant...

I used the leftover pieces into another set of earrings, but that is a story for another day...

Oh and by the way... If any of you are interested in having something made for you, or are interested in something you have seen here on this blog, please let me know... I believe I will be taking orders!

More silver...

I seem to have missed updating the blog the last few weeks with my various silver projects. Leah and I have been very busy with lots of trips, weddings, and relatives, and I kind of got out of the habit of updating this blog...

Anyway, the next project I worked on was a set of bangle bracelets. For those of you that are not familiar with bangle bracelets, they are solid ring bracelets, usually fairly thin and made of metal so they will "bangle" as they move. Leah really likes bracelets, but is not able to wear the typical tight cuff style of bracelet, as it tends to make her feel quite claustrophobic. Bangle bracelets tend to be more loose, allowing the bracelet to move freely around the wrist.

I started out with a long strand of 20 gauge round silver wire, which i then folded in half. After folding it in half, I flattened two spots at the end of each wire for areas to attach tools. I put one end into the vice, and used a pair of vice grips on the other end. While pulling the wire away from the vice, i began to twist the metal so the two strands of wire began to interlace. I had to occasionally stop and anneal the wire, as the twisting motion can strain the metal causing it to break. After twisting the wire to a point where I was satisfied with the amount of twist, I annealed the wire one final time to relieve the stain, and set it aside. I next took a half dome 8 gauge wire that matched the length of my previously twisted wire, and flattened both ends. I then put the half dome wire and the twisted wire together into the vice, so the flat ends would be held together, and again began to twist. If done correctly, the half dome wire will twist around the twisted wire, creating a very nice pattern. Again there is a great deal of annealing and twisting, until I was satisfied with the result.

I next had to cut the flattened ends off of the twisted wires, and cut the combined twist into the length needed for the bangle. I formed the bracelet into a ring, and soldered the two ends together. This is difficult, as you want to match the ends together to make a seamless transition.

Anyway, enough talk, lets look at the final result.

Sterling Silver Bangle Bracelet

Detail of Bracelet

I had a little extra combo twist leftover, so i decided to make a set of matching earrings.

The final result is a set of earrings with matching bangle bracelet.