Category Archives: Interesting Information

Puddingstone

Puddingstone (photo credit Andrea Jaeger Miehls)

Puddingstone is the popular name for an agate conglomerate, so called because of the plum pudding-like appearance of the rounded pebbles whose colours contrast with the matrix which surrounds them.

Puddingstone Slice (photo credit East Herts Geology Club)

There are different types of puddingstone, with different composition, origin, and geographical distribution. Examples of different types of puddingstones include the Hertfordshire, Schunemunk, Roxbury and St. Joseph Island puddingstones.

Remains of a stone circle of pudding stone incorporated into the structure of St Mary’s Church, Chesham, Buckinghamshire (Photo credit Iridescent)

Puddingstone has been used since at least Roman times as a building material, and also for grinding corn shaped into a device called a quern.

Puddingstone Quern (Photo credit St Albans Museums)

Puddingstone is believed to be useful in assisting with anxiety or stress.

Large Puddingstone (photo credit DI Showshoe)

Puddingstone is used to prevent tissue deterioration of internal organs and muscles, to strengthen immune system and to promote body balance. It is supposed to help alleviate any pain or disorder.

Puddinstone Sphere (Phot0 credit The Rock Shed)

This gorgeous Puddingstone cabochon at the top of this post, which comes from Agate Creek right here in Queensland, Australia, was snapped up by a lovely client of mine. I made this ring for her.

Contact me if you’d like me to create a custom piece for you!

Tool of the Month – Pump Drill

I was all set this month to write about what I was taught is called an Archimedes drill. While researching it online, I discovered that this tool is actually called a pump drill and an Archimedes drill is something different! So, no interesting information on Archimedes to be found here today. He was pretty amazing, though, worth researching if you can find the time.

The pump drill is composed of a long drill shaft with a collet on one end, a handle with a hole through the centre, a weighted flywheel, and a length of cord. The flywheel is attached near the bottom of the shaft and the handle slides over the top. The cord is run through a hole near the top of the shaft and affixed to either end of the handle so that it hangs just above the flywheel. To use it, the correct size drill bit is inserted in the collet, one hand is placed on the handle while the other hand turns the shaft to wind the cord around its length, raising the handle near to the top of the shaft, where the cord becomes tight. Holding the drill upright and placing the drill tip against the material to be drilled, a smooth downward pressure is exerted on the handle causing the drill to rapidly spin. Once the bottom is reached, the weight is relieved and the drill allowed to rebound re-winding the cord around the shaft and the process is repeated. It is a simple concept but a skill that takes practice to master.

The pump drill is a variation of the bow drill, which has been in use for at least seven thousand years. As well as drilling holes, the bow drill can be used to start a fire using friction. My occasionally burnt fingers can attest to the heat that can be generated by a drill spinning – silver is a great conductor of heat, and I have not only heated my fingers but made burn marks in my bench peg by drilling a piece of silver before now! As well as my pump drill, I sometimes use my flex-drive with a drill bit attached for drilling holes – there is something far more satisfying about using the lovely, simple, ancient pump drill though!

BrisStyle indie Markets – October 2013

Whoo hoo! The Silver Forge is off to market!

Do come along and check out all the divine handcrafted goodness, and make sure you stop by The Silver Forge stand and say hello. Saturday 12th October from 9am to 3pm at the Brisbane City Hall, Ann Street, Brisbane. A beautiful venue, too!

Rhyolite

Rhyolite – Closeup (photo credit Outback Mining)

Rhyolite is a volcanic rock, and is known as the volcanic equivalent of granite. It is sometimes known as Rainforest Jasper. Its occurrence is quite widespread throughout the world.

Flow-banded Rhyolite (photo credit Angela Walker)

Pre-historic quarries of rhyolite have been discovered in the location of east Pennsylvania, USA. Rhyolite was given its name by the German traveller and geologist Ferdinand von Richthofen after his explorations in the Rocky Mountains in the 1860s.

Rhyolite – Slab (photo credit GemrockAuctions)

Rhyolite is supposed to spark creativity in individuals who are ready to move forward and make things happen in their life. It apparently helps to break through the mental barriers.

Rhyolite – Polished Stone (photo credit GreenEarthStones)

This stone is used for meditation, progression in life, focusing on the present moment and resolving issues not yet complete.

Rhyolite – Sphere (photo credit Crystalarium)

I had the lovely piece of rhyolite in cab form shown at the top of this post,which I made into a pendant. If you’d like a pendant of your own, just contact me and let me know!

smithing – handcrafting a sterling silver and gemstone ring

I love seeing other people’s processes, so I thought it was time I shared the process that goes into creating one of my gemstone rings with you!

First, I cut a strip of .6mm sterling silver sheet to form the bezel for the gemstone.

I file one end of the strip flat.

I heat the strip to the point that the metal ‘relaxes’ and the molecules line up so that the metal is malleable. This is known as annealing.

After it cools, I immerse the strip into a slightly heated 1/10 sulphuric acid/water mixture. This mixture is known as pickle, and cleans any oxidisation, dirt, or flux from the metal.

After a good rinse and dry, I bend the strip to conform to the shape of the stone.

I cut the strip to the correct length.

I file the other end of the strip flat, so that there is a seamless join where the two ends meet.

I solder the strip together to form the bezel.

After another bath in the pickle, I hammer the bezel on a mandrel to form the correct shape, and flatten the join.

I check that the gemstone fits well inside the bezel.

I emery the bottom of the bezel flat.

From a sheet of 1.0mm sterling silver, I cut a plate to form the base of the bezel.

I make sure the bezel and plate fit smoothly together.

I coat the silver with flux (borax), and place paillons of solder inside the bezel.

I solder the bezel to the plate.

After it cools, the soldered parts go through the pickle procedure again.

Once the bezel setting is clean and dry, I cut the excess material from the base.

I file most of the excess metal from the bezel setting.

I anneal a strip of metal around 1.0mm-1.2mm thick to form the ring shank.

I bend the ring shank to the correct size and shape.

I cut the excess metal from the shank.

I file the top of the shank to fit snugly against the bezel plate.

I solder the shank to the bezel plate, and pickle again.

I stamp 925 and my maker’s mark into the shank.

I file the remaining excess material flush with the bezel base.

I mark the bezel.

I file the bezel down to fit the stone.

I emery the top of the bezel.

I emery the entire ring with coarse emery.

I emery the entire ring with fine emery.

I place the gemstone inside the setting.

I place the ring in my engraver’s block.

Using my setting hammer and a punch, I set the stone.

A final cleanup and a polish with tripoli and then rouge using my flex drive (which I haven’t shown you here), and the ring is ready to go to a new home!

Tool of the Month – Jeweller’s Files

This month, I thought I’d show you my jeweller’s files. As with most smithing equipment, there are a vast array of files, and I have just a few.

The largest file I have is a good old half round file, and the smaller files are barette, half round, pillar, round, three square & square needle files.

Files are mostly used to shape and remove excess metal, so you can imagine there’s a lot of that going on! The larger files move more metal, of course, and the smaller needle files are more delicate and precise.

After you’ve filed a piece, there will be file marks left in the metal. That’s where emery paper comes in. With each stage, you remove the marks that the last stage left, so the file marks are taken away with a coarser emery paper first.

Emery, not to be confused with sandpaper, is mostly corundum, which is a crystalline form of aluminium oxide with traces of iron, titanium and chromium.

I use two grades of emery: a coarser 400 grade, and a finer 1200 grade. I use it wrapped around a metal stick, or a needle file, or just by itself in a small sheet, depending on what I’m emerying! Sometimes a piece looks great just left at this stage – it can provide a lovely matte surface. Most often, though, I brass brush after the emery stage to leave a great satin finish, as you can see on these butterflies. I really love the softer shine this gives the silver.

There are more steps after this used to create a polished finish, but that’s for another day!

Pantone – 2014 Spring Colours

Spring has sprung.. and with it, the release of the latest Pantone colour trends! Some of you will recall my longstanding love of the whole idea of Pantone colour from my previous blog posts here and here. The ambitious and slightly crazy idea that you could catalogue and name the entire universe’s colours is pretty cool!

You’ll see I’ve taken some small liberties with colour matching my gemstone collection here (poor Freesia, I totally love the smell of you, but don’t have a gemstone to completely match that colour – nor for you, Sand!), but on the whole I think I’ve got Spring 2014 pretty well covered. If any of these lovelies appeal to you, and you’d like a custom ring or pendant, let me know and I can create you something beautiful!

By the way, I think I need one of these:

‘The Rubitone’ (credit ~ and kudos ~ to Ignacio Pilotto)

Surely this cube belongs in Geek paradise!

Australian Marine Conservation Society

This month’s worthy cause is the Australian Marine Conservation Society. AMCS is an independent charity. It is staffed by a committed group of professional and passionate scientists, educators and advocates. It has defended Australia’s oceans for over 45 years. AMCS work tirelessly to create sustainable fisheries, protect threatened species, tackle threats to our oceans and to create marine sanctuaries.

I love the sea, and it is such a source of inspiration to me, so I like to help protect and save our beautiful ocean habitat! Therefore, I will be giving 10% of all sales for the month to the Australian Marine Conservation Society to support their good works. Head over to The Silver Forge Shop now and do your bit. The threat to our environment is getting worse by the day. Without clean healthy oceans, we are nothing!

Gemstone of the Month – Blue Chalcedony

Blue chalcedony is a form of silica, comprised of quartz and moganite. It was in use as early as the bronze age, for important items and jewellery. It comes primarily from Africa and Turkey.

Blue chalcedony is believed to be an excellent crystal for public speakers and those who speak for a living, such as lawyers, actors and singers.

Blue Chalcedony Crystals (photo credit PristineMinerals)

It is thought to generate peace, encourage stillness and calm in the home, and be good for daily journeys to work, or stressful trips involving children.

{Fluorite Spheroids on Blue-gray Chalcedony – Image Rob Lavinsky}

I created this ring using some blue chalcedony drops. You can see more about it here.

I have these lovely blue chalcedony cabochons in my gemstone collection, available to be custom made into a pendant or ring for you!

Tool of the Month – Mandrels

Mandrels are tapered steel rods, which come in various shapes and sizes. I have three round ones, which go from a millimetre or so up to maybe 40mm in diameter.

Using either my wooden mallet, which will reshape silver but not stretch or resize it, or my bench hammer, which will both shape and stretch the silver to a different size, I use my mandrels to shape bezels, shanks and various other things as I am creating a piece. I even bend my round hoop earrings on my mandrel!

You can get oval mandrels, square mandrels, teardrop shaped mandrels, hexagonal mandrels.. I do have another one or two on my wish list, but for now I love my round mandrels!

the silver forge

jewellery handcrafted by ruthie gray