gold banana peel

     So I've started on the gold banana.  When it comes to forming, gold is a lot like brass, including in appearance.  Forming involves annealing, which is when you heat up metal to make it soft (literally you are re-aligning molecules in the metal), and hammering of course, both of which tend to get a little dirty.  The thing about metal is even when its beat up and discolored, it's only skin deep.  When you polish it, the metal will get all shiny and pretty again.  The images are of the gold peel and the silver band.  I am planning on removing the hammer texture from the band, however, I do not want to invest any more time into it until the client tries on the band to make sure the fit is good.  Wide bands tend to hug fingers a little differently, and for me, I will get a larger size if the band is wide so I can wear it comfortably.  Also the band is a little wider than it needs to be.  I plan on trimming it after soldering the banana in place.  You might be wondering where is the banana?  All I see is the peel!  Well, I did not forget.  The peel will probably be adjusted a little more, especially after the client tries on the band.  Once the band is good, then the peel can be perfected, then the banana will be made to fit snug to ensure a good solder joint.

Banana ring Part 2

       So I did a mock up in silver and copper to play with making the banana form.  It turned out pretty well.  Bare in mind that I did not nor will be polishing file or even sand the silver so it is very rough.

     Shown here are several different views of the mock up.  There are some things to be said up front.... The copper part is too thick, and the point of the peel is sloppy.  My goal with this was to make sure the spiculum shape was big enough and long enough to give the peel the right shape.  I'm pretty happy with it and furthermore, the process gave me the information I needed to proceed with the gold.  The gold one will definately take a little longer since it's much harder than silver.  That means a few more hours of hammering versus the silver.

Banana Ring Project

So I met a nice lady at the Lemon Festival in Downtown Upland and am now working on a project for her. She loves bananas, especially if they are partially peeled. She want a banana on a ring, to go with her other banana oriented jewelry. I drew up some design over the past weeks (which is always the easy part) and meet with her to approve the design.

(beginning sketches)

(final sketch)

After racking my brain as to how to make it and going through my options I determined it would be better to raise it from sheet rather than cast it. For those of you who don't know "raising" is smithing terminology describing the process of stretching sheet metal into 3D forms by use of hammer.  The specific form to be made is called a spiculum (not sure of my spelling on that one) refering to the conical shape with a seam running the length.  (As shown below.)

 

So my plan is a squat fatter version of this. I'm going to do a mock-up first in silver to get the proportions right before diving into the gold. Will report back when I'm done.

As the water falls...

So I have some in progress photos of Dr. Sue's fire opal and water pendant.  I did a second round of sketches because the first set wasn't quite on the mark.  I landed a design that had both the tribal hand-made style that appeals to the doc, but toned down to a more every-day wearable piece with feminine elegence.  Then I plunged into making the pendant.

So the sketches show these lines going across a shape.  The lines are a symbolic way to illustrate water and the shape would be the shape of the pendant.  I thought a tear-drop shape would be best not only for the literal symbolism but because it best fits the shape of the stone. The teardrop will be "puffed" in a press so that it has a dome to it.  (there are actually 2 puffed teardrops-a front and a back.  the stone is really thick and have the shapes puffed will allow it to hold and protect more of the stone.) The lines are pieces of silver and/or copper wire that will be soldered to the surface.  I say copper, because I think it goes so well with the opal, and brings out the colors in the stone, and I love the idea of copper and silver combined in general.

So you can see the two puffy pieces holding the stone (one in front and one underneath).  Note that the inside is hollow.  The problem with bigger pieces like this is usually the comfort is lacking because of things like weight.  Opal is actually pretty light so combined with the hollow construction it will look heavy but should be rather enjoyable to wear.  More updates to follow.

Lee's pendant: finished project

So heres the finished piece.  Againg the stones are torquoise (at the top),amethyst (in the middle), and carnelian (at the bottom).  All hand fabricated in sterling silver.

Lee's pendant final run

Shown here is the basic bezels soldered on flat sheet.  I have done a rudimentary cut around the outside to give the pendant it's shape and you can see the beginning of the bail happening at the top.  From here on out its just a matter of refining the silhouette, sanding, polishing, and setting the stones.  (Right now the stones are resting on top of their respective settings for the visual effect)  Oh- and the ring around the bottom setting will be hammered to add nice little texture detail around that stone, to give the piece a more hand-crafted look.  (Albeit, it's entirely hand crafted all ready.)  Lee, if you're reading this, know that the pendant will be well under budget.  Stay tuned for the finished piece (tonight or tomorrow).

Multi Stone Pendant Project

I figured this would be the best way to present this project, so I have posted pictures of the stones in my arsenal and then following with pics of the stones laid out in different ways.  All of the layouts here are within the clients budget, however some much less than others.  Should the client not see a layout they like, they can create their own, or we can go through this process until satisfaction is reached.  So here goes.

The stones are listed below with their names, level of transparency, and written description of color:

These two stones are both turquoise of a intense robin's egg blue (opaque).

These are the various red stones available: the two larger ovals on the left are orangy-red carnelian: translucent (not quite see-through).  The small ovals at the top are rubies, they are translucent and a bright pinky-red or violet red.  The three triangles on the right are garnets.  They are completely transparent and are a dark true red color.

Lets start with the opaque stone at the top in the middle of the picture.  That is sugalite, and a warm red-purple with some black specks (very typical of this stone) and again, opaque.  To the right of that are two blue-purple Iolite stones, which are transparent.  These are sometimes called water-saphires, because they look like watery saphires.  The reset of the stones are all amethyst, which is a transparent true purple color.  the marquis shaped one (large stone at bottom center) is rather dark, almost a transparent black- purple.

These are the oranges.  The stone on the bottom right is a spessartine garnet also known as spessartite garnet.  This type of garnet is a bit more rare and has a great warm orange-honey hue.  It is transparent, and this stone has a few visable fractures and inclusions (which is why it fits into the budget).  The other stones shown are all carnelian.  These are translucent- and the two large ovals are really milky.  The four small stones are a red-orange, whereas the two large ones are a true orange color.

Now for the layouts.  These are merely images of the stones placed together.  My aim was to mix different geometric shapes together.  These can be made as one piece, or a top piece with a smaller dangle coming off (a pendant for the pendant, if you will). 

My apologies for the pictures being so dark.  These are some ideas.  If you notice the bottom two are the same, just with a different orange stone in the center (carnelian on the left and garnet on the right).  In the picture which the client provided me of a pendant in the style she liked, there was a rope design around the center stone to augment it.  I was planning on doing that as well, either on the center stone or the orange stone, since the orange is a requirement to match the clients favorite pair of earrings:)  I do have a lot of other stones available in a wide range of colors, but was imagining these colors would suit the client best.