If there's a serious market for these salvation cock rings, I might like where this is going too.

Finished the pendant!


(with an 18 inch round sterling silver Omega necklace)

top stone - Dinosaur bone
bottom stone - Serpentine
beads (on the left) - Carnelian









Hallmarked on the back. Not thrilled with the size of the "S" (my intial), so I'll be looking for a micro "S" instead.


It was hard to photograph because the silver plate has a highly reflective finish:




Started on a sterling ring yesterday too. It's not finished. It needs quite a bit more work.
The band was hammered to shape. Size 6 1/4

Thanks Charles.

Two people signed up for classes after they saw my pendant.


In other news: I got a parking ticket in Denver.

Spoiler: show

Not the best photo by any means..

The sterling band I posted last time with a little embellishment on it.


I rolled out (using a mill) some square wire from an ingot, and then worked it into a swirly design, hammered it to shape, then soldered it to the ring and then stopped to have my huge by large greek salad and cheese pizza slice for lunch. While I masticated I also took this horrible photo. I wish I had brought my other camera along with me today.

So after lunch and about 2 hours worth of bullshitting with my teacher I set to finish my ring. I'll post photos tomorrow evening.

The content of the bullshitting? Life in general. And basically how fucked up relationships could get over a period of time. Then we talked about 2012 and ancient aliens. Oh, and also about how my swirly design looked lik ea sperm on paper, but not so spermy once the wire was soldered down.

OH! and then!!! and then!!! We talked about a bracelet (in the studio) that was designed by my teacher's studio mate. And laughed about how it resembled what a Tyrannosaurus Rex sperm would look like if it was designed in silver.

I'll photograph that "T-Rex sperm" bracelet for Release show and tell if it hasn't been sold by next Tuesday.


[/chatty cathy pxie]

I took photos from a few angles.

















Two pieces of Royston turquoise (hand cut to fit the space). One piece of Mediterranean coral.


Next project is a bracelet. w00t! Can't wait!

first one on the right should be about right...

I'm pretty sure that's comparable to a children's size pinky ring, Charlie.

I graduated from class yesterday.

Bracelet cuff with chinese turquoise cabochon in a bezel setting, with silver Celtic knotwork.
This bracelet cuff was fabricated from a sterling silver spoon and fork.

nice stuff shawna.

moar cock ring talk though.

thanks Matt!

cock rings, huh? You guys are still on those?

Ok,...I need sizes.

Matty...

That looks big

yeah, I have to admit that at second glance it's probably too big.

This week I tried a new approach to silversmithing. Thanks be to the Japanese. (Mitsubishi)

Art Clay Silver.

Prior to firing via acetylene torch:



10 gram practice package of Art Clay Silver
(NaT, you should try this stuff!!!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_clay


.999 silver is great. No firescale!



rough looking upside down clay canoe with two leak holes


mending the cracks with slip




sanding before firing



rough draft; clay pea pod with green fresh water pearls as the "peas."


I fired this thing with an acetylene torch. It's amazing. In less than 60 seconds the binder burned off and it became fine silver. I'll post a photo of the finished piece soon. Too tired to do it tonight.

MacGuyver'd myself a light box + bought a tripod to take better photos.

Fired pea pod. It's now considered .999 (fine) silver.

Not much new on the silver front lately. Sort of sidelined for a bit.

I had some things in the works for Valentine's day but the torch I used to finish some pieces was a bit too hot for the projects.
Started out badly, then went from bad to worse.

clay pieces drying. Used a new product in the art clay market; embeddable eyelettes for bails.



the acetylene torch was an overkill for these. The eyelettes heated up too quickly and burned through the back end of the piece.



the piece is salvageable in one of two ways:
I can solder it to a piece of sheet and upcycle my design. Or I can melt it down and use the silver to make bezel.



Took some time to play with the medium after the FAIL fire. Learned a few properties of fine silver.


It rolls out extremely thin. Nearly like paper here ^
And it has a lot more memory than sterling. (note the curling)

the heart with wings is looking good

It needs a 'do over.'

This afternoon I fired a few more pieces with a micro-torch (butane) and it worked out a lot better. Lower firing temperature, ftw.

New hearts with wings currently in progress.

Not having any luck with these hearts with wings at all. It's terrible.



just sold this last night tho






got a question for you men:
Would you wear something like this? ^

For a men's pendant, what is too big? This medallion measures about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Is the swirly texture too girly?