Closing Projects and Prongs

In my previous post, you saw my rough pendant that I'd been working on in silver. Recently I got a shipment of white sapphires from Thailand to finish up this project.

Before the jewels came, I also received a very nice silver box chain for the pendant. After some very careful setup to make sure if I dropped a gem it wouldn't bounce away to Never Neverland, I took one sapphire out of the bag and set it into the prongs. After much drilling, scraping, squeezing, bending, sanding, filing, and polishing it is done.

The gem seems to have been darkened. That's either because the prongs are too large or because there's some polish or dirt behind the stone that the ultrasonic bath didn't remove. For now, I'm happy with it and excited to do more with the sapphires.

"The Lord has turned my mourning into dancing!"

If you've seen previous postings here, you'll have seen some of my casting attempts. Sad to say I've been working on casting metal for approximately two or three years and only recently have I had any substantial success. I wear a silver ring on my right hand I made a number of years ago. It was one of my first really good castings. The model was a wooden year I'd made and posted on this blog (you can see some below or on previous pages). The ring cracked and I wanted a more substantial replacement. So I used Delft clay to cast the piece after watching some videos for it on YouTube. This gentleman was absolutely crucial in my completion of my ring.

Other than sand casting as Delft clay casting is (despite the name), there is a process called lost wax casting. LWC is ancient. The earliest archaeological finds of this process are around 5700 years old from the region known as Palestine/Israel. The idea is simple enough. Take a wax such as beeswax, carve or mold it into the shape you want, attach some wax channels, cover in clay or similar material, burn the wax out, pour in liquid metal. Although that sounds easy enough, the process is quite laborious and time consuming. I've been trying to cast with this method for two years but with little to show for it. The closest I came to a success is documented on this blog further back in time.

Nowadays, LWC is done with a variety or different kinds of waxes. Just like Inspector Clouseau said "Wax is not just wax." I've used a form or wax commonly known as jeweler's wax or jewelry wax. It is blue, hard, and contains amounts of plastic to make it harder. Some wax compositions are hard enough to be put onto lathes or CNC machines. I prefer beeswax though. The easy of modeling and melting of this wax means it is very simple to reuse. To carve, one needs sharp tools and perhaps a freeze nearby. The freezer helps keep the wax cool and hard after handling in your warm hands.

I'd recently done some of this work to make a solitaire style ring. I had set my sights on jewel setting a long time ago, but now I could finally see a representation of what I was going to do. I took about two or three days making the model. Then the model sat in the freezer overnight and was set into plaster of Paris. I use DAP professional quality style plaster you can get at the hardware store. The reason is availability and pricing mostly, but the composition of it is different from others, containing calcium carbonate and crushed silica. This increases strength and heat resistance.

After making the mold, I had to wait for a new crucible to come, but as soon as it came, I fired up the forge. I set the mold in there to burn it out. After it stopped smoking, I grabbed it with tongs I'd modified to hold the crucible. I held it upside down over the quench bucket to see if any wax would pour out, but SPLASH! I dropped the mold I'd been waiting a week to cast into my quench bucket. Plaster is water resistant, but when it reaches 392 degrees Fahrenheit it will revert back to the form before water was added. Needless to say I was mad. Thankfully when I threw the tongs, they missed the car.

Round two of ring making went better, but I stupidly sprued the model incorrectly so I ended up with this.

A complete disaster. The silver was cold, spruing led to air pockets, and the casting was porous. Not to be defeated I tried again. This time I went for a single stone pendant idea I'd had on the back burner. I sprued it up and set about putting three plaster coats as well as wire reinforcement.

I used a new set of tongs better suited to picking this up, set it in the forge, and watched it burn. Placing the mold in sand, I set about melting the silver, this time running the forge extra hot. I poured and held my breath. The side sprue erupted with silver out the side. I felt triumphant pouring out the last of the silver, but previous experience had taught me to expect defeat again.

I pulled it out of the sand and left the mold to cool for a few and went inside to share my worries with anyone who'd listen. I then went outside, picked up the mold in my tongs, and quenched it. After the bubbles subsided, I saw that it had worked! I had a casting from LWC method for the first time!

After cleaning it looked like this.

I then set about getting it ready for a jewel. After ordering a chain, I looked to see if I could set some grooves in the tines to make them more like this video. Files wouldn't work so I had to check through my Dremel tools. Unfortunately, I had no such tool. So, I made one.

Then I made the grooves.

The chain comes Friday so I'll drill the whole when it arrives. The hard part now is to get a gem for this. For economic reasons, I can't just get one this size so I'll have to get something on the order of twenty. I just don't know what color or type of stone to get since I'll be using them for the rest of the project with stones. I'll see if I can do an update soon with the finished project.

Knot What You Were Expecting, Hmm?

I just finished up this little box. I don't quite recall where I got the original from. Probably my sisters. It was a simple jewelry box with a glass top. The glass cracked in two and the outer frame that had just been glued popped apart. I drilled, pinned, and glued that back. To replace the glass, I carved up a poplar board with these Celtic knots. I'll admit, I'm annoyed with myself for gluing the lid slightly crooked, but I like it. Ran into quite a bit of trouble with the copper makers tag. Four homemade stamp attempts later, I just used tape to mask the copper for etching, hence the fuzzy edges of the etch. Next step, make some dividers and ring holders.

Black-Hearted Blaggard

It's been a bit since I posted last, but I thought I'd share a bit with you guys. I've always loved the claddagh rings. They're essentially a pairs of hands holding a crowned heart like this.

My sisters all have claddagh rings so when my youngest sister's cracked, she got a new one. I asked for the original and got to work on it. The ring was small, probably a size 6 or 7, so no way I could just repair it and wear it, but I thought, "Why not do something different?

I'd had the idea of making a claddagh necklace for some time. I'd see them and thought it'd be a nice gift for someone since you didn't have to worry about the size of the ring.

To start, I cut off the band and left the cuffs, hands, heart, and crown.

Next, I took it and put it in the forge to anneal the metal for flattening.

Then I hammered out the edges

Then on to some cleaning and filing

Then I formed, cut, and selected two loops for the sides.

I forgot to photograph the next few things, but I soldered those loops on the ends and then did something quite interesting. I filled the void that used to be filled with glass (it shattered in the forge) with a complex metallic compound called niello. Niello is a compound formed from copper, silver, lead, and sulfur. The substance is a metallic bluish grey-black. Here's what the final product looks like.

Hope you enjoyed.

Cheers!

Newest Success

Hey y'all! I've just finished this. It's coin silver (or thereabouts) from old Washington quarters and a Franklin half dollar. Nice little finished product. It's got some pitting from casting (not visible) and the bottom is slightly narrower in width, but overall it's the best casting I've done yet! I'm so happy about this one. I hope to have more rings done soon, including a wood and metal combination ring. Wish me luck.

A Little Bit I've Done Lately

Just an update with my latest knife and a shillelagh. The knife's a sawzall blade that I annealed, ground, filed, quenched and tempered. It has a spalted maple handle. I love it personally. It cuts very well, has an excellent edge, and is flexible too. It's light too; only weighs 24.5 grams. I can't wait to get it a sheath and make it into an EDC (everyday carry) or camp knife.

My particular favorite is this; my shillelagh. Being the grandson of an Irishman from Limerick, I hold very close to my Celtic heritage. I enjoy the culture, art, history, and values. I wear a silver Celtic knot on my left index finger at all times. I know I'm probably as Irish as the Notre Dame football team, but I  identify strongly with that heritage anyway. Enough of that though. On to the shillelagh.

The shillelagh is basically a war club. The name comes from the village they originated in. When the English invaded Ireland, they cracked down heavily on Catholics, especially during the reign of James VI eventually banning the ownership of weapons for Catholics. The shillelagh served the purpose of a cladestine weapon in the upheaval between Ireland and England in the years that followed.

The English needed wood for their navy and subsequently set about deforesting Ireland's great oak forests. The oak clubs of old were replaced quickly with a new tough wood called sloe. Sloe is a relative to Hawthorn, a thorny, dense shrub. The sticks would be cut from the shrubs in such a way as to allow for more to be harvested every year. The sticks were cut, covered in lard, and left in a chimney to cure.This typically gave them a black appearance. These were disguised as walking sticks, but many had lead in the head to weight it for impact. Even without the given weight, a shillelagh will crack a skull if swung hard enough. They were sometimes used to settle legal disputes and as a gentlemanly way of solving personal arguments, similar to pistols in America.

Since the end of English rule in Ireland, the need for the shillelagh has disappeared. They may be found around Ireland occasionally, but enterprising craftsmen this side of the Pond have made a good bundle selling them to Irish-Americans, especially around March. It's even carried by NCOs of the New York National Guard Regiment, The Fighting 69th (though I can't find any information as to whether they carried it to Iraq or used it when stationed there XD).

I really don't know what the wood is. My art teacher Mr. Black gave it to me. He teaches Sculpture and I'm his office aide that period which just means I get out the supplies, put them away at the end of the period, and help out where I can. One project for the class was a walking staff, just to get the city kids used to carving wood before the launched into a sculpture in it. I did it for the class last semester, but this semester I'm the aide, so I do what I want, when I want, and don't worry about a grade. He said it might be walnut, which is possible, but like I said, I don't know. Enough talk, here it is.

Hope you've enjoyed. Cheers!

Red Dawn

I found this buried in my picture folder. It's probably four years old. I remember it was a Sunday morning and we had just gone outside to get in the car to go to Mass, when I saw it. I ran to get my camera and snapped this. No editing. Nothing fancy. Just point and shoot.