That long hanging thing in the middle of this picture? That’s my flex drive. The first flexible shaft was invented by the famous Scottish engineer James Hall Nasmyth (1808-1890), who is best known for his later development of the steam hammer.
The motor is this part the top, which, through a long spiral shaft, drives the little piece at the end. If you’re thinking ‘dentist’, you’re absolutely right! These are used by dentists, too. They’re like a tiny drill at the end of a long hose.
There are endless variations of bits you can use with your flex drive.
My favourites are a particular diamond burr, kindly given to me by the lovely Bill from my Goldsmithing class (I use it all the time!) and my slotted mandrels (for emery paper – that’s one you see on the flex drive head in the picture above this one). I have so many other very useful attachments for this great device! I use my flex drive on just about every piece I make. Thanks, Mr Nasmyth!
Lapis Lazuli has been mined in Afghanistan for over 6,000 years.
(image credit Philippe Giabbanelli)
Lapis is the Latin word for ‘stone’, and lazuli comes from the Latin ‘lazulum’ which was derived the name of the stone in Persian. The name of the stone came to be associated with its color – the word azure comes from lapis lazuli.
(image credit Parent Géry)
Lapis was long ground up to make the pigment ultramarine, which was widely used during the Renaissance in frescoes and oil painting (this method was replaced in the 19th century with a synthetic compound.)
(image credit Walters Art Museum)
Because of its amazing blue colouring, Lapis has been prized; carved and worn throughout antiquity, in pieces like this Roman Imperial Eagle. I saw quite a lot of it in precious pieces in museums while travelling in Egypt.
Lapis is believed to be good for communications and good judgement, for enhancing memory, and to attract success.
Lapis is gorgeous – and I have these pieces in my gemstone collection just waiting to be made into something fabulous!
Following on from my previous post in which you’ll find the first batch of workshop shots, and bringing us up to the minute, I’m visiting my workshop space in space and time. You can sometimes catch me posting more of these snaps on my Instagram page and my FaceBook page – I’d love to see you there!
Here, I’ve come along further with some of those previous pieces, and added this rest of the faceted onyx set and green mojave turquoise ring to the mix. That is my pair of nylon jaw flat nose parallel pliers on the right – fabulous for holding components that are too tiny to be held with fingers while I saw or file or emery, without leaving marks on the metal! Also, a little batch of jellyfish earrings in the making on my soldering block.
6 Nov 2014
The storage expansion continues.. and while it has been there for a while, I draw your attention to my tree stump, kindly provided by a neighbour. It is extremely useful as an ‘anvil’ base, and I’m pleased that even though a tree had to be chopped down, I could salvage a piece of it for a good purpose!
9 Nov 2014
Bead obsessed, much?
21 Nov 2014
Amongst that mass of tools, I see this pendant on my bench peg, and I am still working on that crazy creation underneath!
8 Feb 2015
A couple of repair jobs in the front, some pairs of earrings, a shattuckite pendant and this mojave green ring are all works in progress here! It’s so satisfying to have a number of jobs on the go at once – there is a fair amount of downtime while you’re waiting for things to cool and pickle after soldering.
4 Mar 2015
I quite often have things on my bench waiting for inspiration or the right time to strike – some seaglass is in the process here! Also a bunch of forget-me-nots, which I will post more about another time.
1 Apr 2015
Beads for the beginnings of my Ceramic collection are on my bench this day, as well as a number of stones waiting to be set – including this rhodochrosite pendant! The forget-me-nots are all on my soldering block. Stay tuned.
For a while now, I’ve been taking random pictures of my workspace. Sometimes I post these on my Instagram page, and sometimes on my FaceBook page; but I thought it was time I posted them here for you to see. Look how clean my workspace was only a few months after I first got my jeweller’s bench set up! Look at that nice new engraving ball.
2 Jul 2013
A year later, and I’ve achieved the more lived in look. All clean work in progress mess of course! I spy the beginnings of the Elementals collection.
24 Jan 2014
As time goes on, storage becomes more of an issue, as you can see by the stacks of boxes full of Czech glass.
That’s a wax stick for stone setting you see there amongst the tools and bits and pieces. I was working on this chrysocolla pendant amongst other things here!
Besser brick is not very exciting, but I brighten up my space with a fabulous piece painted by a three year old, and I love my beautiful Granny’s landscape oil painting of the cliffs at Fairlight – it is calming and inspirational. And yes, I do drink a lot of tea!
I’m now sending out a quick weekly email which lets you know of new products as soon as I release them. If you love to know stuff first, and would like an easy way to see what’s new at The Silver Forge shop, you can sign up right here!
The latest fashion release from Pantone is their autumn colours for 2015. As always, I like to do a little match with my gemstone collection!
If you see a gemstone you like the look of, and you’d like me to create you a custom piece, let me know.
A quick note about the 5th colour from the left – it is Marsala, which Pantone selected as their colour of the year for 2015. I am underwhelmed. 🙁 Happily though, there are many other colours that we can enjoy! 🙂
One of the useful pieces of equipment in my workshop is my tumbler.
It can be hard to get a shiny finish on small pieces and pieces made from wire, so popping them into the tumbler with some steel shot, water and a tiny bit of dish soap does the trick!
The lid is cleverly made to seal completely, and bolted on tightly.
The base of the tumbler rotates the pot around and around, which rubs the shot against whatever you place inside, polishing it beautifully.
The tumbler I have is actually sold as a gemstone tumbler, but works beautifully for silver as well. Not that you can see in this last picture, but twenty minutes sees the finished product looking shiny and great!
Mookaite is a type of silicified porcelanite, which forms in silt-stone from the lower Cretaceous period that is found over much of the Carnarvon Basin in Western Australia.
(photo credit Michelle Pemberton)
The name Mookaite is derived from Mooka Creek, where the rock is mined. According to locals, the Aboriginal word “mooka” means “running waters”.
(photo credit Creative Crystals)
Mookaite is believed to be a healing stone that bestows strength. It is said to shield the wearer from difficult situations and to connect us to loved ones who have passed away. It is thought to assist with assessing problems and making decisions. Mookaite is used to treat glandular or stomach disorders, hernias, ruptures and water retention.
Mookaite comes in many lovely colourways. I have these pieces in my gemstone collection just waiting to be made into something fabulous!
I love seeing other people’s processes, and I thought it was time to give you all another look into what goes on in my workshop. I have blogged before about how I create one of my signature big chunky rings, and I thought it was time to examine that process again. Here’s how I do it!
Firstly, an appropriate width strip of sterling silver sheet .6mm thick is selected.
This is curved by hand using a pair of half round pliers to fit the gemstone.
Next, the strip is cut to approximately the right length on my bench peg using my jeweller’s saw, leaving a small extension for soldering against.
In this video, you see me prepare and apply the borax, position the solder (not usually quite so fumbly, I had a bit of stage fright!) and solder the bezel together.
Once the metal is cool, it goes into the pickle to be cleaned. An explanation of pickle can be found in my previous blog post.
I trim the excess bezel metal away from the solder join.
I check to make sure the bezel is a good fit.
I emery the bottom of the bezel so that it is completely flat and will make a good join with the base plate.
I select a piece of 1mm thick sterling silver sheet to fit the bezel.
I solder the bezel to the backing plate. Here you see me applying the paillons of solder with borax, and soldering the join. Then it’s back to the pickle.
After rinsing and drying, a bit of a check to see how it’s looking!
Now, I saw the excess metal from around the bezel setting.
After filing the edges of the bezel setting, I start creating the ring shank.
Using the appropriate width of 1.2mm thick sterling silver plate, I bend the shank to the right shape and size.
I trim the shank to the right length.
I hammer the shank with a mallet to get it perfectly round (this shot is for explanation only, I actually have the mandrel hard up against the bench to absorb the force when I’m really hammering the ring!).
Emerying the inside of the shank with my flex drive makes life easier.
After more filing and emerying, I stamp the inside of the shank with my maker’s mark and 925, which marks the metal as being sterling silver (the 92.5% is the fine silver content).
I solder the shank to the bezel setting assembly.
Then it’s time for plenty more filing, and coarse to fine emerying to bring the ring close to it’s finished state. (Zen or tedium, you decide!)
Next, I head over to my trusty engraving ball to set the stone.
Plenty of gentle hammering with my setting hammer later…
And my work, bar some tidying up, is done!
There it is, a beautiful drusy agate ring. I do so love what I do!
