Matthew was looking for a gift for his wife, and he got in touch to see if I could create a bangle similar to this one, but with some gemstones included.
He got their small daughter to choose the gemstones from my collection. She picked garnet and lapis lazuli.
Natasha contacted me after she saw my work on FaceBook, to ask if I could make her partner a ring.
After some lovely email chat, I sourced a stone for her partner, and Natasha asked if I could also turn the piece of charoite I had in my gemstone collection into a ring for her mum.
I’m so pleased with the way this turned out; I think it’s gorgeous, and Natasha and her mum do too. I’m working on Natasha’s next ring now. I love my job!
It’s always a joy to see other people’s creative techniques. I have written before here and here about the process of silversmithing, and I thought you might like another little insight into this world.
First, the drusy gemstone (from my never-ending collection!) and a rough design sketch. I’ve already created the bezel (the metal that wraps around the stone) in this picture, bending a straight strip of metal (like the one pictured) around the stone.
The next step is preparing the backing plate. He’s some sawing and filing in action.
After filing, comes emerying.
And laying out the component parts to see how it will look. The balls of silver are made by heating some little pieces of silver until they melt – the molten silver naturally gathers up into a sphere. It’s fun stuff!
I emery the back of the bezel flat, so that the join between the two pieces of metal will be exact and the solder will flow correctly.
Then it’s time for a bit of heat.
I love how from this dirty blackened thing comes an object of beauty!
Into a solution of sulphuric acid to remove all the oxidization etc.
While the piece is pickling, I create the bail (the part from which the pendant will hang), and a little plate stamped with my maker’s mark and ‘925’ to show the piece is made from sterling silver.
Those are soldered onto the piece, then it’s back in the pickle and after that, a rinse off.
After a good clean-up, with lots of emerying down to a fine grade, I mount the piece on a wax dop so that i can set the stone.
After seeing the twins pendant I created for my gorgeous sister, Leslie got in touch with me to ask if I could create a small version for her. She wanted to surprise her twin sister for their 70th birthday!
I was very happy to help. It really is quite tiny!
Thanks, Leslie, and happy birthday to you and your twin!
Reticulation is a texturing which occurs when silver is heated almost to melting point. The surface of the silver shimmers and moves. It’s a fine balance between a molten surface and an unrecognisable lump! The process is very satisfying when you get it right. I created this pendant (and also the base of this ring) at the school I attended, starting with a flat straight rectangle of silver. I added the silver spheres and some stippling, with a chenier bail, et voila! 🙂
A comment was left on a picture of a custom ring I posted on Facebook that I had created. The commenter said she had seen someone wearing the ring in the place where she works! I was so surprised and pleased.
That lovely commenter went on to arrange for me to create her a couple of custom pieces, one of which is this gorgeous titanium drusy agate ring.
The drusy has been treated (see my blog posts about treatments here), and I think it is just stunning. Maybe you’d like your own ring made with a similar stone? Let me know!