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Post by texaswoodie on Sept 27, 2007 14:44:41 GMT -5
Hey, I don't see anything wrong with that. :-)
Curt
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Post by BuiltonRock on Sept 27, 2007 15:00:32 GMT -5
I like it Conn and the story too! john
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Post by beefjello on Sept 27, 2007 22:15:11 GMT -5
Certainly nothing to be ashamed of! I think it looks great Tom! Practice makes perfect, and for being your first I'd say you got a damn good head start! ;D
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Post by connrock on Sept 28, 2007 5:13:35 GMT -5
Well again I'm in shock with all your kind words and helping hints n tricks! I'm not much of a "book learner" person so it's difficult to learn the how to's and don't do's.Right now I'm learning the how to's by doing ALL the don't do's!! LOL
I've never heard of the "jewelers prayer" but it's a hoot! At this rate I'll bet my bottom dollar that there are more jewelers in Heaven then any other trade or hobby!!!!!! LOL Maybe Saint Peter will just let my knees through the Golden Gates!!! LOL I think the rest of me will begetting barbecued! LOL
I was asked by a facetious RTH member in a private email if my next project would be the Crown Jewels! Does anyone have the layout for them??? LOL
From here on in it's gunna be slow,easy and VERY simple!!!Oh yeah,,,,and a Velcro apron too!!!
Thanks all,,,,,,,,,,You're the B E S T !!
connrock
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blarneystone
spending too much on rocks
Rocks in my head
Member since March 2010
Posts: 307
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Post by blarneystone on Sept 28, 2007 6:59:15 GMT -5
So that's your first attempt? Impressive for a first try I would think. It's fairly ambitious too! You just jumped right in huh? ;D Thanks for posting this Connrock, I've been thinking about getting into SilverSmithing and it's nice to see how others do when just starting out.
BTW - I think it looks really nice.. even with the meltdowns..
Thanks, Dan
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Post by Lady B on Sept 28, 2007 16:32:00 GMT -5
Hey Connrock, I missed the start of this thread but now I'm glad I did because I got to read all of the stories and great posts and helpful hints. When you get past the shock of everyone's positive support, take a long slow look at what you achieved. A beautiful, lasting gift made with Love, true grit, and sheer determination for a very special someone. And if by some really hard-to-believe chance your daughter doesn't love this incredible first attempt, I think there will be a long line of us queing up to take her place. Butterflies hold special meaning for my family. I am keeping a copy of the picture of your butterflies for my "RTH keepsake" album. Thank you for sharing your artistry and all that went into the making of this lovely gift. Now, how does that "jeweler's prayer" begin?... God- dear, I lost my dear cab again? Lady B
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Post by connrock on Sept 28, 2007 18:09:37 GMT -5
Dan, Yeah I jumped right in but I've been soldering/brazing/welding most of my life.My problem was the tiny pieces.Trying to get the joints to match perfectly for a good soldered joint is tough.Getting them where you want them and keeping them there while you solder is another story.Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! LOL
I hope you at least give it a try and if I can help I'd be glad to.
connrock
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Post by connrock on Sept 28, 2007 18:12:00 GMT -5
Kate, Thanks for the kind words.
My daughter is a butterfly nut so she really liked the bracelet.
My son asked me to make him a cross so that's what I'm working on now.It's MUCH easier then the bracelet!
connrock
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raqy
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2007
Posts: 799
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Post by raqy on Sept 28, 2007 20:55:16 GMT -5
I think its pretty.. I too like the handcrafted jewelry best. So keep up the good work. Raquel
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Post by connrock on Sept 30, 2007 5:00:39 GMT -5
raqy, Thanks! I've always wanted to get into this but never had enough time to devote to learning it.I now have all the time in the world and hope to get a lot better at it.
connrock
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Post by Jack ( Yorkshire) on Oct 1, 2007 3:19:10 GMT -5
Hi Tom, I like it too ! as you say we all have to start some where the trouble with you Tom is you start half way up the ladder to the rest of us,
If only I could do something like that I would be very happy
I think it is great
And Thanks for showing it
Have a good day
Jack
Yorkshire UK
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Post by connrock on Oct 1, 2007 15:08:17 GMT -5
Thanks Jack! Well I stepped down a few rungs on that ladder but I didn't go far enough!Some of us never learn! LOL
I've been melting a silver cross and I finally finished it just about 1 hr ago!
I started another but with a cross made of blue quartz which (I hope) will have a silver "frame" around it.
connrock
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Zoran
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2005
Posts: 880
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Post by Zoran on Oct 1, 2007 16:27:21 GMT -5
I also like your first silverwork and looking forward to see your next projects. If the first one was this complicated next are going to be - I do not dare to imagine.
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Post by docone31 on Oct 1, 2007 20:13:00 GMT -5
Jewelers Prayer, First off, it must be hot, humid, with a lot of screaming customers pressing for time. That is a recquirement. Second, bloodshot eyes, bulging veins, blurry vision. That is most important, it is especially helpful to do the prayer 20minutes before the market closes, with 1hrs work immediately needed. Picture a Geezer, toddling past the wife who is holding guard for me. I am working on a "priceless" handmade ring that was made wrong to begin with. Heavily focused on trying to set the original crappy stone, into the original setting that was really way too small to fit the stone. The reason for the work in the first place. Almost actually making it work. The Geezer shoves the work with his cane, snapping the too small setting, and sending the "diamond" flying. Original customer watching as if her life depended on me doing the impossible. She had not worn the ring in ten years, BUT, her brother the big shot jeweler who passed on ten years ago had made it for her, especailly for her. If only Rio did not have the same design in their catalogue. The ring busts apart, stone goes BINGO!, she freaks out, the Geezer is mumbling. They do that it is like a rite of passage into Geezerdom. Toddling, mumbling, just being in the way. Wife freaking out. Customer in hysterics. I quickly stand up and say "What the #$*& do you want you son of a #$&@$? After struggling to hear, and many attempts to understand, the Geezer wants me to give him gold as he is retired. Big deal. I wish I was retired. I calmly proclaim at the top of my voice, they sue if you look at them right, GET THE #$@% OUT OF HERE YOU DUMB !$$ SON OF A %^!. TAKE YOUR PIECE OF #$&^ CANE AND #&%* OFF. @$^% OFF AND DIE! That is the overture, the preperation for the Jewelers Prayer. Putting on the big eyes, wife standing at the portal, shaking, customer crying and threatening to sue, getting ready to look for a stone that was not what she thought it was, making sure to be absolutely calm, the clock ticking, down on all fours, on bended knees, face close to the rug. The smell of last weeks ketchup, the dust, ants, a spider or two, let alone the many years of being an old persons rug. She was very incontenant. A reference, jewelers rugs do not get vaccumed, they get refined. A simple pass of an Hoover could equal one years salary for a working man. Saying the jewelers Rosary, " THAT DUMB SON OF A @#*(^!, THAT STUPID #$@%&%!#! THAT CRAPPY RING, WHO WOULD SET THAT STONE IN THAT RING! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING! GET ME THE #$@@ OUT OF HERE! LET ME FIND THE STONE, OH PLEASE, OH PLEASE." Meantime, the customer is asking my wife why the ring was not ready, why I was crawling around on the floor, was I really a professional. I am listening to all this hoping I could be abducted by aliens, transported to another reality. Far, Far Away. It was a stupid CZ, why could I not remake the setting and just put another stone in? What is the matter with these people? Nobody puts a 6mm diamond in a 4mm setting, nobody. What were they thinking, why did I take on the job? Why am I such a softie? Maybe I can go back to pumping septic tanks. At least they like me. When I am done, they have such a smile of relief. Whoah, there is the Tanzanite I popped out six months ago, there is the piece of ring sizing stock that stuck to my forearm and dropped out of sight, cool. At there is a little satisfaction. Hah, a CZ that looks like the original, a little smaller, might fit. Why the #$^% did I ever become a jeweler? What was the matter with my brain. Then the closing act, HEY, IT WAS RIGHT WHERE I THOUGHT IT WAS! Wife explaining how the Geezer had really $%&*(@ up, messed up, my work, that I had almost had it. The setting needed to be modified. I get up, and softly proclaim, it was right where I had thought it was. Whew. Remachining the setting, raising the beads, bead setting. The customer telling me the ring never looked so good. That the stone never looked right to begin with. Wiping off dust, sand, and old ketchup off my elbows, eyes blurry, Geezer complaining I am rude, he shoved me with his cane in the first place after pushing my door open, past my wife, customer telling me I should have set the stone for nothing after repairing her damage from driving over it with her pickup truck. How I should have done better in the first place. She walks away with the ring while I am sputtering, the other customers asking why my repairs on their junk was not finished already. The market kicking everybody out. I collapse in my chair after the jewelers prayer, asking myself why the #$^% did I ever even think of doing this @#!^, what the $%&^ was I thinking! What a #$^&@## I am! What was the matter with my $%^#$@^% brain. That is day one. There are several more to go. That was only the warmup. The prayer gets more and more intricate. It is almost a spiritual experience. Something only a jeweler can get to know. I am the sick one, I love the field. To all starting out, it is worth it. This bracelet is better than a lot of my first attempts, each one teaching me something else. It grows, and grows. That is the jewelers prayer. It is almost mandatory. Experienced jewelers have the nastiest rugs. The pieces and stones find the craftiest places to dwell. Yeah.
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Post by connrock on Oct 2, 2007 4:48:23 GMT -5
zotica, Thanks! I took a big step backward and made a sterling silver cross which started out to be a very simple piece.I just HAD to make it more intricate and off I went melting silver again!! LOL I finally finished it and my wife took it from me!! I have started another made of blue quartz/sterling silver but it has a long way to go as I do!!
connrock
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Post by connrock on Oct 2, 2007 5:00:13 GMT -5
Doc, That ole Prayer is quite the thing!I never prayed so much in all my life! LOL I put a rug down on the concrete flood to cushion the fall of the pieces I drop and also to help my knees a little.Now when I drop a hot piece it melts itself down into the rug and off I go again!! They don't bounce like they did on the concrete but do get buried in melted nylon or what ever synthetics the rug is made of. The distinct odor of melting polymer leads me to the piece if I hurry before the oder is gone!The miner's head light is working out very well but still interferes with the Optivisor!! LOL
I don't have customers to deal with but you would swear someone else is there as I mumble away talking to myself!Most of what I have to say is connected to me not throwing something!
"THOMAS,,,,,,,,,,,NO,,,,,,DO NOT THROW IT"! "THOMAS,,,,,,,,,YOU'LL BE SORRY"!! "AHHHHHHHH ,,,,,,,,,,,SHUT UP YOU DUMMY"!
Could this be considered as part of the prayer Doc??
I forgot to ask you before but why mix charcoal with the flux and how much?
connrock
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Post by docone31 on Oct 2, 2007 8:38:45 GMT -5
Charcoal, is mixed into the flux. Basically, enough to keep the flux liquid. The charcoal keeps the firescale down to a minimum. I once had a billet of Mokume Gane' slip from my tongs, flop on the rug and burn through the rug, and floor. It was .025 thick and 4 X 4" @ 1500*. I do it different today. Oh, yeah, let the rug get nasty. The stones do not bounce as much. Fresh vaccumed carpeting will actually draw the stones into the pile. They work out later, much later. Let the rug get filled with sand from the shoes. The stones just hit and go thunk! They stay right there.
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Post by connrock on Oct 3, 2007 5:59:38 GMT -5
Thanks Doc!
Last night I dropped another hot piece on the rug and my wife was hollaring down "Are you burning a candel or something down there?" LOL
I'll have to make it a point to bring more sand in on my shoes for the prayer sessions!!
connrock
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ozymyx
off to a rocking start
The one who dies with the most ROCKS WINS !
Member since May 2007
Posts: 9
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Post by ozymyx on Oct 3, 2007 8:02:00 GMT -5
Don't be so hard on yourself. It looks great. Silver is actually pretty hard to work with because of the way it conducts heat (very well). Gold is easier. I've been making silver jewelry on and off for nearly 25 years and I still melt things down. The heat control is the hardest thing. When you are soldering do it in a darkish place - so you can see the color of the metal change as it hets up - when you get that bright orange color watch out. You pretty soon learn to know by the color if you're going to melt it ! Every silversmith has a big box of melted bezels and pieces that went wrong.... Perseverance is the key !
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Post by connrock on Oct 3, 2007 15:45:47 GMT -5
ozymyx, Boy that's quite a name you have there!
I never thought of soldering in a darker room.Thanks for the tip! It's really hard trying to learn this on my own but there's no schools here as far as I can tell. If there were the cost would probably be way too much any way as every thing else is here in CT.
I had another major set back today.I REALLY thought I had a handle on it but melted another nice piece today. I'm kind of "pushing the envelope" trying to solder 2 pieces of #18 round silver wire to each other. I had 7 to do and ole #2 got me!!
I want to work with much bigger material but can't afford to buy it so I keep trying on this micro stuff and get all frustrated with myself when I fail!
The only good I can see coming from all of this is that if I somehow manage to master this I can do anything with silver! LOL
I do have a few heavier pieces of sterling silver that were very generously gifted to me but I HATE to screw them up.If I bought them myself I wouldn't care about it but,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Thanks again for the tips!!!!!!!
connrock
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