Zoran
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2005
Posts: 880
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Post by Zoran on Mar 24, 2007 19:58:52 GMT -5
;D ;D ;D ;D Yes I am happy. I tried it today and it worked just fine, for the first time, I mean. Flux, solder chips, torch, soldering bezel wire, pickle, soldering bezel to silver sheet, pickle... It worked. Actually I managed to make my first silver setting, without soldering, yesterday. Here is the result. Stone is Lavander Agate I got from KD (20x15mm cab). Today, I planed to only practice soldering since I didn't have enough good silver sheet, and no bezel wire. But I managed to make bezel wire out of some old broken prefabricated silver mountings (one of those round ones). Finally, all worked fine and here I was wit new piece of jewelery. My wife likes it. Don't ask me if she is going to have it. ;D Thanks for looking. Zoran
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Post by Bikerrandy on Mar 24, 2007 20:07:08 GMT -5
That's your first? Wow, keep posting pics!! I can only imagine the stuff that you'll be turning out in a month from now. Great job! How did you get started? Did you have a book with some instruction? It looks like something that I'd really like to try sometime.
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Zoran
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2005
Posts: 880
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Post by Zoran on Mar 24, 2007 20:26:58 GMT -5
Thanks, Randy. I was planing long time to do this, but since I didn't have all the necessary equipment I had to wait. Finally, yesterday I managed to complete list of necessary stuffs and today I tried. I also have a book, and I can only recommend it. Very good book — Jewellery: Fundamentals of Metalsmithing by Tim McCreight. Hey Randy, if I can do it, you can do it, too. It is sure real fun. You are right, I am going to try it in future, but not so near future. I need to order silver sheets and silver bezel wire... So, until it gets here - let's just say it is going to be long month of waiting.
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Post by Cher on Mar 24, 2007 20:51:28 GMT -5
Those are really nice Zoran, that's a beautiful agate. Can someone explain the use of "pickle" please. I know how to make pickles and how to get pickled but don't know what it means to pickle silver.
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Post by sandsman1 on Mar 24, 2007 22:06:38 GMT -5
hey zot there both great man ---- you got alotta talent my friend
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Post by sandsman1 on Mar 24, 2007 22:08:12 GMT -5
cher after you hit it with the torch it leaves a heat scale on the silver and it looks realy bad when you let it sit in the stuff it cleans the scale off and it looks new again and very shiny
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Post by NM Stone Supply on Mar 24, 2007 22:16:58 GMT -5
Zoran, I have found it to be a little cheaper to pratice with Nickle Silver and then try some .925 silver. You seem to have done great for a first time. Looks good. I have fun when I have the time to do silver work. Boy when you go to buy supplies, you can run up a bill over $100 pretty quick. I hope you don't mind I added a picture to your post. Here are some rings I soldered. Jason
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Post by Cher on Mar 24, 2007 22:18:05 GMT -5
Ahhh ok, so you soak it in some solution that cleans it up. Now why on earth do they call that pickling instead of cleaning? ;D Whoever came up with that must have been enjoying a barley pop or 10.
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Zoran
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2005
Posts: 880
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Post by Zoran on Mar 25, 2007 6:34:03 GMT -5
Thank you, guys and gals. As you can see I was really thrilled with my first soldering attempt. Susan your pictures are welcome. I think that your rings are great. I need to practice more to get to that level. I do have problems even finding nickel silver here. I also need to order it over the net. So, more waiting, but I agree, it would be less expensive to practice with. Cher, I also had the same problem when tried to translate the term pickle myself. Though I had even bigger problem when I found jewelery supply shop (on my enormous satisfaction) in Belgrade, and since I use terms from that book written in English I am not familiar with terms in Serbian. Weird isn't it. Imagine how I try to explain to the guy at the shop what I want. "Pickle, hmm, we don't sell it." After my short explanation he figure it - "oh of course, you need bleacher". Bleacher, that makes sense. ;D
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Post by NM Stone Supply on Mar 25, 2007 8:10:14 GMT -5
NMrocks = Susan nmonyx = Jason I think a lot of people get mixed up from time to time. As you can tell we are both from NM. If you can make stone settings that good you will make rings easy. I have a hard time making large settings like that. You have done a nice job. Here is a source for Everything needed to silversmith. I am not sure if they will ship out of the US. It is a nice site to look at anyway. Jason www.thunderbirdsupply.com/category.aspx?cat=0
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Zoran
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2005
Posts: 880
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Post by Zoran on Mar 25, 2007 8:32:18 GMT -5
Oh, I am really sorry, Jason. I am not going to make that mistake again. That link of yours is very useful, unfortunately they don't ship out of US. I think that I'll be ordering from Santa Fe Jewelers Supply www.sfjssantafe.com/. Prices seem fair. Anybody have some experience with them?
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Post by NM Stone Supply on Mar 25, 2007 8:38:49 GMT -5
No need to be sorry. I think a lot of other members use Santa Fe. I use Thunderbird because they are 1/2 hour away.
Jason
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Mar 25, 2007 9:49:15 GMT -5
I use Santa Fe for my lapidary stuff- I have had pretty positive dealings with them- They were out of some stuff last time and I waited over a month (hehe guess you always wait that long huh?) but they made good on the deal and I am still comfotable using and recommending them. Oh and Nice job on the silversmithing!!!! That is one area that I don't see myself venturing into- Expensive metal and torches and fire and such do not fit my talents (or lack of talents!!!)
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Post by beefjello on Mar 25, 2007 12:04:24 GMT -5
Very VERY nice Zotika!!!
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,777
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Post by adrian65 on Mar 25, 2007 12:59:48 GMT -5
Very nice jewelery, Zoran! Very professional and, in the same time, with a beautiful hand-made look.
Adrian
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181lizard
Cave Dweller
Still lurking :)
Member since December 2005
Posts: 2,171
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Post by 181lizard on Mar 25, 2007 13:00:58 GMT -5
You done GOOD Zoran!
So...why do companies not like to ship to other countries? Is it because shipping costs go too high?
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Post by stonesthatrock on Mar 26, 2007 1:17:28 GMT -5
Zotika, I have some nickle silver that i will ship to you and all you have to do is pay the postage for me to send it. I have about 6 to 8 lbs. If you pm me your address I will go to the post office and check to see how much it would cost. When I find out i will give you the price and you can decide if you want it or not.
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Post by rocklicker on Mar 26, 2007 3:30:38 GMT -5
Great work on those Zot. I like them both. Nice stones too. Good thing you have a jewelry supply store in Belgrade you can go to. I can vouch for that book. It was used as a textbook in a class I took many years ago. It has so many different techniques. You know, the edition I used was all hand written text. Is it still like that? It was cool but you had to get used to his handwriting. Steve
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Post by krazydiamond on Mar 26, 2007 14:57:23 GMT -5
way to go, Zotika!!!! i took a silver soldering class a few years back, bought most of the necessary tools and chemicals. then found out my husband was convinced i'd burn the house down..... needless to say, it really put a damper on my silver soldering. but i still can do the solderless settings, though they tend to be so labor intensive that i find i have much more fun playing with rocks. now that you are started, i'm sure we will see even more impressive work from you!!! KD
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