03.14.2024 March Madness

My basket set pendants

Those of you who follow my Instagram account might remember that on Monday I put up this cute photo of my pendants, with the message that internet goblins ate the blog post I had all ready to go for March, 

My CR-V post impact

and THEN later that day I posted THIS photo of my car, after getting hit on the way home from running errands and stated there would be no blog post this month.

Today, after hours on the phone dealing with insurance, I changed my mind and decided I needed to write.

Originally, I had titled the post "A tisket, A tasket" because I was writing about making basket settings, and couldn't figure out how to tie that to basketBALL. I had considered "Slam Dunk" or "Nothing But Net" but those didn't work at all

Then Monday happened, and I decided that this week has, in fact, been madness...so that's the title I'm going to use...and now I will attempt to reconstruct my story about making basket settings for pendants.

I put a fair number of progress pictures up on my IG account, but I thought you might find a narration of the process interesting...so here goes.

An early - and still favorite
bezel set turquoise

I have set a lot of stones along my jewelry making journey, but they have all been bezel set - which means a piece of sheet metal was fitted tightly around a cabochon (flat backed stone) and soldered (or fused) to a backplate (another piece of sheet metal) to create the setting for the pendant.  

Bezel and basket settings use the same materials - sheet metal and wire (they can also be carved in wax and cast in metal) - to create the framework for the pendant, but that's pretty much where the similarity ends.

Beginnings of the basket

As with bezel setting, geometry and order of operations are critical for creating basket settings - maybe even more so.

For a basket setting you do shape the metal to match the shape of the stone - but these stones are faceted on the back - so instead of fitting inside the metal, the stone sits on top of the setting.

Instead of adding pieces to make the setting - as you do with a bezel pendant - you cut metal away to open up the basket.

I started with the turquoise because it's much easier to build a setting - any setting - for a round or oval stone than for one with corners like the tourmaline.

First set of prongs

After forming the sheet metal, and making sure the stone sits properly on top of it, you begin to cut away the center portion of the metal - leaving two thin bands.  

It's important that you only cut halfway around the setting at first, otherwise you will have two completely separate wire-thin pieces and completely eliminated the advantage of fabricating the basket from sheet.

Once the basket is half open, you attach the first set of prongs - which gives your piece stability while you open the other side - and then attach the other set of prongs.

Oops

The process is essentially the same for a square or rectangular stone, but there are corners - and those are tricky.  The base has to have 90 degree angles; to achieve those you create mitered corners by filing into the sheet metal before you bend it, and then you solder the corners to reinforce the metal.

If you file too deep - or get your metal too hot - your box will fall apart and you get to make it again...all part of the learning process.

Using 3rd arms to hold the piece in place

The second attempt at the rectangular setting went better, and faster, than the first...and turned out quite well.  Same process once I had the base constructed - cut out one side, solder carefully, cut out the other side, and finally attach a bail.

When making a pendant, you do need to leave a small piece of solid metal at the top of the basket so you have a place to anchor the bail.

A word about adding the bail.  That went much better on the second pendant as well - and had nothing to do with the shape of the basket.

Ready to polish and set

For the turquoise pendant, I got everything set up and attached the bail using pick soldering (picking up the solder with a special tool and placing it where it will flow and attach pieces together).  That works great, except when it doesn't, and because my solder didn't flow on the back side of the bail, I ended up melting it off and doing it twice.

For the tourmaline, I opted to sweat (melting the solder on to the frame before placing the bail down) solder the pieces together - learning from my mistake - and it went beautifully.

None of these setbacks were particularly frustrating or problematic - they were simply opportunities to learn - which is why I signed up for classes in the first place.  I went back to the bench with a desire not so much to make more of what I had done before, but to challenge myself to make new and different things.

Cookie - keeping me company

ACC is on spring break this week - but I'm excited to go back and fabricate another basket setting, or two, before the end of the semester. One of the truly wonderful things about being a continuing education student is that I can sign up for the same class more than once - so it's my intention to take Jewelry Technique 1 again, and continue to learn from master goldsmith Steve Kriechbaum.

Watch this space - there's definitely more to come!

Until next time.

09.30.19 Matchmaker, matchmaker make me a match...

Ever since I started taking classes and making jewelry - going on five years ago - I've had people ask me if I could repair or rework old pieces for them.  My answer was always no, and after repairing one pair of earrings, the answer remains, no. While I have achieved some level of mastery with silver pendants, and I am happy to make custom pieces for folks, the last thing I want to do is mess up something that is important to someone else.

Photo credit: Snooze Eatery

So, when a dear friend came to me earlier this year and asked for my thoughts on pulling diamonds and emeralds out of old pieces, and doing something new with them - I said I'd be happy to look at them with her - but then I was going to refer her to someone else to do the work.

We met for breakfast at Snooze (the food is all good - but I think my favorite is the Spuds Deluxe), got caught up on lives and kids, and started talking about what she wanted to do with all those stones.

There were some inexpensive diamond earrings she had bought for herself, some emerald earrings, and a ring with a large emerald and some fabulous baguette diamonds.  She was no longer wearing any of it - and she wanted some new pieces that she would wear!

Photo credit: De Pastel

I knew before we had finished our conversation that I was going to put her in touch with De Pastel. You'll recognize De's name from lots of posts - she was my instructor for Fabrication 201, and both kinetic jewelry classes.  She's an amazing metalsmith, and has become a great friend.

Not long after we had breakfast De was in possession of my friend's jewelry, and the process of deconstruction began in earnest.  I also got to be a virtual fly on the wall as the new designs began to take shape.

Photo credit: gift recipient

The first piece was a three stone ring, that I knew was going to be a gift for my friend's daughter's birthday.  I got a message from my friend - along with a photograph - when she delivered the finished ring.  Everyone was thrilled!

The remaining stones were set into new earrings, and two more gorgeous rings that my friend kept for herself.

It can be frustrating to have jewelry that you never wear hanging out on your dresser or languishing in a drawer - and it is so satisfying to see great stones in unworn pieces take on new life.

Photo credit: De Pastel

It's also incredibly satisfying when I can connect people in a way that is beneficial to both of them - and strengthens my bond to the jewelry community.  It has been such a joy to watch the process involving two wonderful friends.

I'm excited to get caught up with my friend later this summer - and see all her updated bling in person!

Photo credit: De Pastel

Until next time.

02.25.19 Once in a Blue Moon(stone)

I had coveted a pair of these dangle drop earrings from Metalsgirl for a long time, and when I saw them at Blue Genie, last December I snapped 'em up. Then I posted them on Instagram, and my sister in law loved them, so I snagged a bright colored pair for her, too (which made her very happy).

As my new earrings went into heavy rotation (as in they never really got put away) I started thinking, "I need a faceted moonstone pendant to go with these"

Not too long after having that thought, one of the lapidary artists I follow on Instagram, posted a lovely faceted moonstone cabochon, and I ordered it.

Once the stone arrived, I had some time to think about what to put on the back, because I was still almost a month from returning to the bench.  I decided to put a "D" on the reverse, and call it..."Facets of Myself".

When I finally went back to the studio, late in January, my friend and wonderful instructor, Rita Marie Ross, said "that's a pretty stone - and look at how the blue comes out when you put it on a black background".

This kind of interaction is why I love working in a communal studio. In that moment of serendipity, I learned a new trick - and it makes the stone look AMAZING!  On my own, I never would have thought to put the stone on something black (in this case, it was a dark phone screen).  To achieve this effect, I decided to darken the inside of the setting with Black Max (my favorite patina).  

I love the end result - and as always, I'm excited to have learned something new.  I imagine I'll be wearing these pieces a lot, and using this technique in the future.

Until next time. 

07.09.18 Down the tube...ok, not really. Kinetic Jewelry, Part 3

On the last day of class, De wanted me to think about things that move in multiple directions...and told me to look online at more examples of kinetic jewelry. 

After a couple of rounds of me asking "what about this" and being met with a response of "nope, too simple", I decided to start doodling as I looked...

...what I came up with was a pair of earrings with tube set stones that spin on a wire, inside a ring that hangs on the same wire.  I got a nod - it was an acceptably complex project.

First, I had to decide how big I wanted the circles to be, then I had to calculate the sizes for the pieces of tube.  The horizontal tube needed to be long enough to set the stones, and short enough that it still turned inside the ring.

The vertical pieces had to fit between the top and bottom of the ring so that the wire could thread all the way through (essentially a very long tube rivet) and hold the pieces together.

The horizontal tubes had to be marked and drilled so that the smaller, vertical tubes could be soldered into place, creating the setting for the stones inside the circle.  Then the circles needed to be drilled so that the rivet wire could be fed through them (De did that for me.)

After that, it was frankly, a pretty straightforward process to assemble them - although there was still a fair amount of work to do...like setting the stones in the tubes before threading the wire through them.

I hadn't expected to revisit tube setting stones (another 201 skill) but I'm really glad I did...and like so many of the other techniques that seemed difficult the first time, I was surprised at the ease with which I could do them now.

I chose 4mm blue and white CZs - one in each earring - and used a vice to hold the tubes in place while I drilled them and set the stones.

I decided to use my first day back in the studio after class to try my hand at using my new skills without the benefit of having De around.  I had a good day - tube setting a small opal on a riveted bail - with the stone covering the front rivet.

I don't expect to add riveted bails or tube settings to all my work going forward, but it's fun and very satisfying to know that if I want to, I certainly can.



Until next time.