This week Harold Studio hosted its first ever birthday party! It was the perfect day to have one too. Everyone was able to make personalized charms. Many created charms with their own names or baby's names on them. Both kids and adults loved them! It was a fun and positive experience, celebrating a birthday through creativity and everyone coming out of it with a charm they made themselves.
Ring Clamp 03/04/2011
One of the cheaper and most useful tools I own. I use the ring clamp for almost every piece of jewelry I make. Having control over what I'm making is so important, this tool helps me file straighter, pierce better, and polish quicker. One of my favorite things to do with it is clamp my piece and anchor it against the bench pin. Doing this makes everything I do more accurate. Try it and you'll see just how more effective it is than holding whatever you're filing in your fingers. I almost forgot, less chattering of the file! Need I say more? Use your ring clamp!
Using a mixture of 1 part Alum spice to 2 parts water. It works quickest if you heat the solution up(I use my studio crock pot). After about 30 minutes the drill bit should be completely gone! Alum is a spice commonly found in grocery stores. The great thing about using alum is that it is natural and safe. Something you can use to spice up your food as well as create jewelry? That's a no brainer to me.
How-to make your own wire Part I 02/27/2011
Metal prices are very expensive right now and I have more scrap metal than I know what to do with. So today I made some sterling silver wire at the studio. What you need to make your own wire is a crucible, ingot mold(mine is a reversible so I can do sheet as well), torch and draw plate.
First step is to choke the torch(acetylene) by wrapping your hand around the turn on valve so that no oxygen can come out. This creates a sooty substance which floats out of the torch. I use the soot to coat the inside of the ingot where I plan on pouring my silver. You will know if you are choking the torch right if black substance starts coming off the flame and if the flame is mostly yellow(as opposed to blue).
Secure the ingot so that the wire will be even by tapping the top of it with a hammer after you have tightened the two ends together. Then heat up the ingot. This secures that when you pour in the metal it will not splatter back at you out of shock from going to molten hot to cold. The ingot and the metal need to be roughly the same temperature.
Heat up the crucible then put your scrap silver into it.
Wait until your silver is like a liquid round puddle. If the metal is dirty or taking longer than expected, adding a pinch of borax helps to clean it off. Pour the metal down the hole in the ingot.
OK, that was the easy part. Next post I'll go over drawing it down.
Gemstone of the day: Fire agate 02/24/2011
Fire agate. My favorite gemstone. Not sure if it has anything to do with my penchant for all things brown. But this stone is absolutely beautiful. Don't let my mention of the color brown fool you. There is much more to fire agate than brown, which is more of a backdrop to the other beautiful colors which give it its "fire". In many ways, fire agate is like opal. Do you ever notice how when moving a piece of opal, flashes of red or green usually come up? This is similar to fire agate. Usually, when cut right, the fire will appear as bubbles coming up to the surface in green, yellows, reds, and more rarely purples and blues. It is most commonly found in Mexico, California and the great state of Arizona.
Karat value 02/17/2011
It can be difficult understanding about gold and its value when it comes to karat. Especially when it
comes to those places that pay cash for gold. Karat, not to be confused with carat(which is a unit of weight for diamonds), is a unit of purity for metal.It can be a surprise to find out that the money offered for
a heavy 14 karat gold chain is only a fraction of what one thought they would get for it. The karat value
(usually 14k, 18k, 22 and 24k) is a mark given to indicate the purity of the metal. It can be measured by
dividing the karat by 24. 24 karat gold is 100% pure gold. There aren’t any other alloys (metals) mixed
in with the gold to dilute it. So, something stamped 14k would mean that it is 58% gold with 42% other
metals mixed in. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing that the gold is diluted down. Sometimes different alloys
are added to make the gold easier to work with or even to change the color of the gold.
comes to those places that pay cash for gold. Karat, not to be confused with carat(which is a unit of weight for diamonds), is a unit of purity for metal.It can be a surprise to find out that the money offered for
a heavy 14 karat gold chain is only a fraction of what one thought they would get for it. The karat value
(usually 14k, 18k, 22 and 24k) is a mark given to indicate the purity of the metal. It can be measured by
dividing the karat by 24. 24 karat gold is 100% pure gold. There aren’t any other alloys (metals) mixed
in with the gold to dilute it. So, something stamped 14k would mean that it is 58% gold with 42% other
metals mixed in. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing that the gold is diluted down. Sometimes different alloys
are added to make the gold easier to work with or even to change the color of the gold.
Buying an engagement ring 02/15/2011
One of the favorite pieces of jewelry is the engagement ring. Watching future grooms and brides dive
into the world of diamond rings trying to find the perfect symbol of their love. As romantic as that
sounds the thought of endless glass cases and an overwhelming number of choices is enough to bring
the average individual to tears.
A male friend of mine asked me to address the basics he should consider when looking at a ring for
his future bride. In this blog, I will address the two very basic characteristics of a diamond ring that
someone should consider when looking into this lifelong investment.
Starting to look for an engagement ring? That's exciting! The first place I would start looking for a
diamond is http://www.bluenile.com/diamond-search. Especially if you are here locally in Phoenix,
Arizona.
You can start getting an idea of what kind of stone you want and they are an amazing place to buy from
because you can get all of the stones GIA certified, which is something you will want to do. You would
be getting a huge markup if you buy your stone from a store or jeweler in town and can always have
the ring made with a diamond you already buy. In my opinion, a SI1 grade with a color of G will get you
the best looking stone for the best price. Anything above G(D-F) and SI1(VS2-FL) would only be visible to
someone like me who looks at them everyday under a microscope.
The next most important thing, if you're looking for a round stone especially is the girdle thickness.
This is in line with how the cut is rated. Thin to thick is ok, ideal would be medium. DON'T get a stone
with a very thin girdle-it will have issues down the road, and if you pay for a stone with a thick to very
thick girdle, it will look like a smaller stone than you are paying for because a lot of weight goes into
that thickness. Fluorescence as long as it isn't yellow isn't important. Yellow fluorescence can make the
diamond color look yellow, and if you're buying a ring set in a white metal (platinum or white gold) the
diamond wouldn't look great against the color of the metal. If the cut of the stone is very good or above,
the symmetry of the stone will be what you want. You could get a slightly smaller carat stone that would
look the same size of a slightly bigger stone (with a thick girdle and a depth percentage of more than
64%) because it has the correct proportions. Blue Nile is a great company with a good reputation. If you
look at places in town that don't have as good a deal, I wouldn't hesitate to go there and have the stone
set with a jeweler in town.
into the world of diamond rings trying to find the perfect symbol of their love. As romantic as that
sounds the thought of endless glass cases and an overwhelming number of choices is enough to bring
the average individual to tears.
A male friend of mine asked me to address the basics he should consider when looking at a ring for
his future bride. In this blog, I will address the two very basic characteristics of a diamond ring that
someone should consider when looking into this lifelong investment.
Starting to look for an engagement ring? That's exciting! The first place I would start looking for a
diamond is http://www.bluenile.com/diamond-search. Especially if you are here locally in Phoenix,
Arizona.
You can start getting an idea of what kind of stone you want and they are an amazing place to buy from
because you can get all of the stones GIA certified, which is something you will want to do. You would
be getting a huge markup if you buy your stone from a store or jeweler in town and can always have
the ring made with a diamond you already buy. In my opinion, a SI1 grade with a color of G will get you
the best looking stone for the best price. Anything above G(D-F) and SI1(VS2-FL) would only be visible to
someone like me who looks at them everyday under a microscope.
The next most important thing, if you're looking for a round stone especially is the girdle thickness.
This is in line with how the cut is rated. Thin to thick is ok, ideal would be medium. DON'T get a stone
with a very thin girdle-it will have issues down the road, and if you pay for a stone with a thick to very
thick girdle, it will look like a smaller stone than you are paying for because a lot of weight goes into
that thickness. Fluorescence as long as it isn't yellow isn't important. Yellow fluorescence can make the
diamond color look yellow, and if you're buying a ring set in a white metal (platinum or white gold) the
diamond wouldn't look great against the color of the metal. If the cut of the stone is very good or above,
the symmetry of the stone will be what you want. You could get a slightly smaller carat stone that would
look the same size of a slightly bigger stone (with a thick girdle and a depth percentage of more than
64%) because it has the correct proportions. Blue Nile is a great company with a good reputation. If you
look at places in town that don't have as good a deal, I wouldn't hesitate to go there and have the stone
set with a jeweler in town.
Johanna, Thanks for a wonderful Jewelry 1 class. Not only was it informative, creative, well planned, it was a ton of fun. Can't wait until I take Jewelry 2! See you around the studio. Jane
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