Well the job box looks a little daunting and so far I have managed to restrain myself from being too distracted and jumping ahead. Jobs 1,2 and 3 are underway…
Picture above shows the two stg.silver belt buckle’s in progress -forming the designs using the repousse’ and chasing techniques.
Above I am setting lilac amethyst cabochons into a pair of 9ct yellow gold and sterling silver drop earrings. The cone shapes will hold drop shape quartz crystals.
The gallery is booked, the deposit is paid so there is no backing down now……………
Yes I, along with two jeweller friends and a painter friend are going to exhibit at the Graydon Gallery in New Farm (Brisbane) next december 2012.
Soooooo planning is underway because even tho’ a year sounds a long time it means producing a piece a week!!!!
Having lunch with the others this week to work on our Gantt chart (my students will be familiar with that term) to plan the year ahead.
I will update the progress.
The photo above are my 50 thumbnail drawings of pieces I plan to produce. It took me at least a week to put this together from my brainstorming working drawings. I now have 50 job packets and aim to begin at number 1.
This ring was fabricated using old 18ct gold rings given to me by Alex’s mother, including a ring which belonged to Alex’s late father. This gold was melted into an ingot and then rolled to suitable thicknesses to make the outer band with the cut out pattern and the inner sleeve. Next all the off-cuts were again melted into a bar which was then rolled into the square wire which became the outer bands.
Step 1- Work out the design using graph paper- taking into consideration the finger size, thickness of each component and pattern matching
Step 2- Scribe the pattern onto a strip of gold
Step 3- Pierce out the pattern with a jewellers saw then refine with small files and emery paper
Step 4- Form into a ring
Step 5- Make the inner sleeve- stamp with appropriate hallmarking
Step 6- Form the outer square bands
Step 7- Slide the top sections onto the sleeve. This must be a snug fit and the ring size must be correct as this ring cannot be re-sized, then solder into place
Step 8- File, emery then polish.