Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Happy New Year 2010

It's been a long time since I posted anything here. I noticed that I have had a few new subscribers so WELCOME to my blog. I hope in the future there will be more interaction, that is questions, comments, discussion, whatever you want.
I already know how to make jewelry and I am interested in helping other people, so let me know how I can help. My typical style involves a lot of soldering. Some of my chains require 500 individual solders. There are some pieces I made in this style on this webpage.

Here's a photo of a piece I made a while back using parts created with an interesting technique that I first discovered about 15 years ago. Recently I saw an article in a jewelry mag about how to do this. I can tell you here. The parts are cast using water.
I was reprocessing some silver for future castings into small pieces by filling my crucible and slowly pouring the molten metal into water. I noticed I was getting these cool little dome shaped pieces sometimes. I started paying more attention to the way I was pouring and my success rate got pretty good.
Once I had a little pile of the pieces I just incorporated them into other designs. What is really neat is they required no mold and no finishing!!
I like casting a lot and it requires a lot less tools than some other techniques, plus it is very immediate. Once a piece is cast it can be cooled and in your hands within minutes. Casting is great way to make parts to use later. Besides water casting, unique pieces can be attained casting onto wet-straw, ice, sand and lots of other mediums. Hope you like this tip. Happy 2010!!

No comments: