Ring

Here is one of the rings I cast last week. The casting did not turn out (it has a lot of voids) but I wanted to set it any way. I like the way it looks set with the spinal but the design is technically not very good. I should have allowed for a way to access the stones from under them. Without this, it is impossible to clean the lubricant (used during setting) from under them. It also does not allow me to thoroughly test the tightness of the settings.

I have some ideas on how to fix the other waxes that I made from the same mold; but I think I will just carve a knew one and be done with it.

Bunny tree

I have had a productive spring break. Here are some bunnies ready to be cast in bronze. The larger ones will be little figures de art and the smaller ones zipper pulls.

I made the small ones using a product called Reduce-it. It is pretty cool but I wish it would shrink a bit more than it does (maybe 2/3 dimensionally). I made one more reduction, which will be for charms) but I did not make a mold of it yet.

I also cast some rings last week but did not get them finished yet.

More rocks, less time

While visiting my sister and brother-in-law in Palm Desert this past week,we took a day and drove out to the Himalaya Mine's (www.highdesertgemsandminerals.com) fee dig site.  It was a beautiful drive over the Pines to Palms highway which winds serpentinesly up to the high desert.

At the dig site we met Terry and his dog Jackass. Terry, showed us samples of the different gems and minerals we might come across; tourmaline, quartz and crystallized mica (which has a pretty lavender hew) and how to screen for them. While we searched the tailings for treasures, Terry entertained us with stories about mining.

We had a great time an found lots of tourmaline (including an awesome blue one) a couple of quartz points and a water clear, gem quality piece of quartz. We also found a couple of egg sized pieces of quartz with tourmaline inclusions. serpentine

Rough cast

This is the rough casting of a bunny I did as a quick demonstration for my lost wax casting class. I used sticky wax and it was so sticky I could not be my usual obsessive perfectionist, which is a good thing, as it freed me up to be spontaneous. I think it turned out pretty cute. It is cast in bronze.

Betty's toddler spoon

This is a copy of a spoon one of my students designed for her grandson. Hers is sterling silver, as it should be; utensils made from copper are a bad idea.

The blank was cut out of 20 gage sheet.

To raise the bowl I used a spoon mandrel that I made out of a railroad spike that she had. Then I plannished it smooth.

I used a doming punch to do the synclastic raising on the handle.

Clean bench :)

I made myself this bench-top organizer today...took the time to clean my bench while I was at it.

Celebration

Here is my latest. I came up with the concept a few weeks ago and made the prototype yesterday. I am calling it celebration. I really like the simplicity of it and the balloons can be done in a variety of gemstones making it adaptable to any celebration...birthdays, anniversaries, Forth of July, etc. This one is done in garnets and sterling silver. The stones are flush set and the strings are pierced.