more work on the ebony and aluminum brooch

My goal is to finish all my unfinished pieces this winter, but I ended up starting something new last night. It's a lock pick. I make so many lock picks, but they are all the same couple designs. I'm sick of doing these same designs cause I could do so much more with custom lock picks, but most of my customers don't want to try anything new. So I started on one that's totally different from the other designs I have done. Lock picks don't normally take too long to make, but this one's going to be much more time consuming.

I also worked on the ebony and aluminum brooch. I haven't worked on it much since I wrote about it last cause I had other things to do. Last time I worked on it I finished shaping the aluminum part and put a texture on it with files.


Last night I made the sterling back plate for the ebony.


I also drilled the holes for the pins (or screws, I haven't decided yet) that will help hold the aluminum part. I will also use epoxy to hold the aluminum part. The pins will make it stronger and also hold it in place so I don't need to worry as much about the aluminum piece shifting before the epoxy dries.


The plate on the back will be attached with either pins or screws. Which ever I use I will also use some epoxy on them.


Since you cannot solder to aluminum, I have to use screws to attach the top part of the pin back. It was kind of difficult getting the little sterling plate to conform to the shape of the aluminum. The larger diamond shape drawn on the aluminum is a tracing of the sterling plate. After taking the photo below I burred away the area inside the smaller diamond. Burring away that lump made it easier to fit the silver to the curve of the aluminum.


After getting the sterling to fit a little better I drilled holes in it and the aluminum, then tapped the holes in the aluminum. Then I screwed the sterling piece to the aluminum and hammered the sterling directly on the aluminum until there were no gaps between the silver and the aluminum.


Next time I work on this piece I will finish making the pin back, make the screws to hold everything together and maybe anodize the aluminum. I still don't know what color to make it.