Aluminum and sterling brooch part 4

I drilled and tapped the holes to hold the silver piece on...


...and started working on the pin back.


In the next photo the pin back part is super glued in place. I like to super glue things together to make sure they will be in exactly the position I want them and then scribe a line to mark where I want it. You can use other things like wax to stick parts together, but I like super glue cause the part will not move at all.

The commercial screws in this photo are temporary. I will fabricate screws out of sterling when I am finishing the piece.


The other piece of the pinback is finished, but I forgot to take a picture. Friday I noticed that I was almost out of oxygen for my torch so I decided to get a disposable oxygen tank at Home Depot so I would have something to use till I got my big cylinder filled. After I ran out of oxygen I started using the little tank, but its not providing a steady flow of oxygen, so my torch flame keeps changing. I don't know if it's the tank or the regulator, cause I have only used this regulator once before several years ago. I have never had anything like this happen before.

designing

I am trying to resist the urge to start on another brooch I have been thinking of till I finish the one I started last week. I don't have much more to do on it and I don't have any commissions due for a little while so I should finish soon while I have time.

I am also working on a design for another folded vessel I want to make in silver. I would like to make one that is significantly different from the last few I have done. I have some ideas in my head, but it is difficult and time consuming to work the design out. Making these folded pieces is different from my other work because I can't just do a drawing, I need to make a paper model to see how it will fold up. Using CAD has sped up the process, but still I need to print them, cut out the shapes and fold and tape them. Most of the time I see the design is a failure as soon as I finish the model.

(I got this one back from CraftForms today.)


I thought I had decided last year to make this teapot, I even bought metal for it.


But now I am having second thoughts. I was working on some more designs, but haven't come up with anything else I like. I need to hurry up with it because what ever I decide to make I want to have it finished in time to enter in the Cheongju International Craft Competition. Entries probably won't be due till June or July, but a teapot will take a while and I will have a lot of other things to make.

publications

Someone told me my Bubble Ring was used in the announcement for the 2009 Jewelry Artist magazine Jewelry Arts Awards in the Feb issue. I went to Barnes & Noble tonight to get that magazine and while I was there I looked at the book The Jeweler's Studio Handbook by Brandon Holschuh which was recently released. Brandon contacted me last year for images of my work to use in his book, so I wanted to see which ones, if any, he used. There is a photo of my Bubble Ring in the gallery section. I love seeing my work in print. Unfortunately in the artist listing my website is listed as jonryan.com, without my middle initial, which is not my website.

Entries for the 2009 Jewelry Arts Awards are due March 1st. The entry form will be here, but as of today it is still showing the info for 2008. I will enter 2 or 3 pieces. I haven't decided which yet. It's $25 per entry. Its kind of expensive considering there's no actual prize other than having your work published.

Mountain Ring #3

I made this ring for some one a couple weeks ago. I think the color came out awesome.

Aluminum and sterling brooch part 3

I did a bit more forming and it is ready to be cut.


Cut, filed and sanded, drilled and soldered.






This is where I am at right now. The pieces are still separate. I have not yet drilled the holes to attach the silver and I have not made the pin back. After I do those things I will finish sanding the aluminum and anodize it.


I really liked the drawing in my sketch book, but looking at the mostly finished piece I don't like it so much. I think it's the holes in the silver, they looked much better on paper. Oh well. I will finish the piece and see how it looks. I might like it more once the aluminum is anodized. I am thinking I will dye it green, but I have not decided yet.

Aluminum and sterling brooch part 2

I didn't take any photos till I got to this stage. It's ok, there wasn't much to see, I cut it out of 1/2" aluminum with the band saw, and then shaped it with a belt sander till I got to where its at in this photo.


I continued shaping it with a rotary tool and 1/2" cylinder bur. The burs seem to be the best way to shape aluminum, but I am really starting to get sick of getting covered with aluminum and getting aluminum everywhere. Something about aluminum chips I just don't like.


This is the silver piece. Most of the forming has been done. I used something like 22 gauge I think.


I was getting ready to cut the silver, but decided to bring the sides of the silver in a bit more. I have the aluminum piece covered with tape to see how it fits in the silver piece while keeping a space between the silver and aluminum.

Aluminum and sterling brooch part 1

I started a new brooch the other day. I was looking through my sketch book and saw this little drawing I had copied from my old sketch book into my new sketch book in August 2008, the original drawing was from August 4, 2005. It popped out and me and I knew I had to make it next. Rarely do I copy the designs in my sketch book as exactly as I did with this piece. Usually I change some things when I start making the piece. About the only change I have made in this is I have made the top part slightly skinnier.

Aug 2008 copy


Aug 4, 2005 drawing