Up coming jewelry show...

I haven't been on lately to post. I have been getting ready for my first jewelry show! It's been very time consuming pricing and staging to make sure everything is just right. I'm still waiting on a few displays and a large banner! I can't wait to see my set up when I have everything up and ready to go. I want it to be professional as possible.

Riveting and Grinding

Today, I just worked on a bracelet which is similar in concept to the steel retro ring I made last week with the snaps riveted into the steel. Someone mentioned that the steel retro ring would make a great bracelet. I first thought a bangle bracelet would be cool and then I thought of this idea. I'm still going to do one in a cuff too, but I wanted to see what this would look like. I think it turned out nice.

I'm getting alot more comfortable working with the tools needed to make jewelry. I'm finally getting used to the dremel tool that I bought and some of the attachments.

My husband has a little torch that attachs to a propane tank. I might try that to solder rings. So you'll have to check back later this week, to see how that went! I'm sure I'll have all kinds of stories to tell!

Thanks to my parents, I was able to buy some tools needed to make my job a little bit easier. I put an order in tonight and I should get them by the end of the week. I'll be waiting next to the door with anticipation. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Polishing

I was like a kid waiting for Christmas to come..... I had placed an order for some jeweler's rouge and had been waiting for it to arrive. Finally, a box was delivered last night. Seeing that is was so late, I decided to wait until today.

Well, I just got done running out to the garage to try out my new polishing compounds and demel polishing attachments. I only had a few minutes to work for now. I first used the wire brush attachment for my dremel. It worked really well to clean it up a bit. Then I used the buffing attachment with a little of the green rouge compound and holy tomoly! What a nice shine. Not too bad for not knowing what the heck I'm doing, but that is what experimentation is all about. I'm sure I can polish a little more to refine it, but it looks so nice.

Here is a picture after the polishing.

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Piddling in the Garage

Today, I made a few more rings. Nothing totally different, just added slight variations to the ones I already made.

But have no fear, I did discover something while piddling on jewelry in the garage! If you don't have a steel ring mandrel, just use your husband's Craftsman Socket Set!!! Oh, yeah. He will love you for that one, but seriously, it worked great. I had been using wooden dowels. So I searched the garage trying to find that perfect fit for the ring I was working on and underneath all the junk on the shelf..... I found something that would work. I found the right size socket, locked it in my vise and pounded away on the ring, perfect! You would have thought I hit the lottery.

I will still invest in getting a steel ring mandrel, but in the time being, I will use my Husband's prized socket set!! Amen.

More rings!

Well, today I attemped to make the sterling silver daisy and copper ring, but it just didn't work out. I might have to break down and buy a soldering torch. That is the only way the flowers will stay on the band after bending. I will have to come up with plan B, on that one.

Instead, I made a copper ring with a silver flower. On one side of the band, I hand-stamped, "take time 2" and on the other side, "smell the flowers". It really turned out nice. I think the next time I make it, I will put steel underneath the copper. I like that look. I attached the metal flower with a copper nail and riveted the other side. Not too bad for an newbie!

I was on a roll and made a few more. I made a couple of steel ones. One plain and the other I used snaps, of all things. I like the bold look of the solid snaps on the silver. They were copper colored at first, but then I grinded them down to reveal the brass.

First Project: Making a Ring!

Well, as part of the aspiring metalsmiths team we just started, our first project is to make a ring. The entries are due Feb 19th. So in this blog, I will keep you posted on my ventures in doing just that. I don't have alot of the tools needed, so I will try to be creative and accomplish my goal without spending a fortune. I will keep you posted and show you my progress.

These rings are just at the first stage of fabrication. I still need to refine and polish them. Seeing that I don't have a soldering torch as of yet, I had to make these adjustable. Which is ok too, I guess.

I used steel scraps and eyelets for the plain silver one. I've learned that you need to make sure your eyelets are very secure and flat. I can see a little bit under them, but they are attached. I attemped to do one similar to this one with a smaller band and the eyelets closer together, but it didn't work too well. Most of the eyelets weren't attached correctly and I could pull themout. It's all about trial and error. That's how we learn....lol.

I really like the steel and copper one. I think it turned out quite well. The saying on the copper is "Never Ending Love." I secured it with eyelets also. It is really comfortable and stylish. I'm pretty pround of myself for getting these done. Tomorrow is another day. I will be working on a copper and sterling silver flower ring. It seems to be much more challenging than these two I did.