Bead set

Here are the finished horseshoe earrings. I think the settings turned out pretty good considering this is only the second time I have done bead setting.

The first earring went fine. The top of the stone's girdle was even with the surface of the metal. I used number 52 round graver to cut burrs which would act like prongs. The graver glided through the metal easily and lifting it towards the end of the cut; brought the burr up over the stone. After cutting each burr I used a small beading tool to round them off.

The second earring was a bit of a challenge. I had not paid close enough attention to which stone went in which earring. Despite using machine cut stones, the stone that was left would not fit in the seat. Fortunately I had plenty of others and after trying several I found one that fit but it sat with the top of the girdle just a bit below the surface of the metal. Ignorently, I thought it would not be a problem. But, with the first pass with the graver; I cut the burr completely off! Evidently, the girdle acts like a dam causing the metal to pile up as the graver is being pushed. Without this dam creating resistance, it was harder to control the graver. Fortunately, I was able to recut the burr without any difficulty.

Horseshoes and forget-me-nots

These earrings were somewhat of an artistic challenge for me. A request from my niece, who is an equestrian jumper, they needed to be post type and not too big. She also wanted horse shoes and garnets. I generally do not care for commissions because of the constraints and this was similar. I played with several concepts, most of which had roses in various places, before settling on this one with forget-me-nots. Putting the flower in the center provided a place to attach the post so the opening on the shoe is up (I'm told if they are upside down the "luck falls out" and no true equestrian would wear them...thanks to one of my students I did not make that mistake). Anyway, after depletion gilding, I put them in the tumbler with some burnishing shot. I will set the stones with bead settings.

Ginkgo choker and earring

I cast the components to this many, many...many years ago. As is so often the case, necessity forced me to finish it when I needed a piece to wear to a semi formal wedding. Sadly, after the event, I lost one of the earrings somewhere between here and Seattle.

I made the leaves out of modeler's wax, each one is individually carved. I folded back the stem of each leaf to form bails. After casting the leaves in sterling, I attached jump rings to the bails to link the leaves together.

I used 22 gage wire on the earrings for the ear wire (special thanks to my advanced students for their help in the design of the ear wire.

I then raised the fine silver (depletion gilded) and used a plannishing brush to create a satin finish.

Steel

Here is my latest. Steel, 14k gold and raw sapphire. I had a lot of fun working with the steel and it was especially fun using one of the raw sapphires that we found this past summer.

I used vinegar and hydrogen peroxide as a pickle and Grifflux for flux. The piece that looks like barb wire and the clasp are very old pieces of wire we found buried on our property.

This is also the first time I am using my iPhone 5 to blog.