How to solder (for jewelry purposes)

Finally and at last! My instructable on how to solder (for jewelry purposes) is complete.
It's pretty detailed and also includes that video which I posted in my previous post. So go check it out, leave a comment to say hi, and let me know what you think.

If you've never made soldered jewelry before, perhaps now is the time to try something out?

Soldering video

Check it out, I made a short video of me soldering a pair of sterling silver earrings. It's going to be part of a larger project which I'll post about in a few days once it's complete, but for now, check out the video and let me know what you think!

Molecule Post Earrings

Molecule Post Earrings set, originally uploaded by freeforged.

Here's a group shot of some post earrings from my Molecular series. They're all soldered sterling silver with sterling silver posts and catches. This picture hasn't been edited yet, which is why it's a bit dark, but you can still see most of the details in the image.

I'll be designing some rings and some brooches in the near future; once I'm done with Christmas and moving and such. You can see more images of the necklaces in this series, as well as a few pairs of dangly earrings on my flickr page: http://flickr.com/photos/soundinnovation/sets/72157600396173706/

Graduation

Graduation is approaching, and with it, the completion of my final two pieces of my Undergraduate career. Soon I'll have pictures of my Golden Fleece brooch, as well as the pendants I have been blacksmithing from old files. The golden fleece is a combination of cuttlebone cast bronze and chased sterling silver. The pendants are a series I'm working on blacksmithing, made from old needle files that I am forging and twisting into various abstract shapes.
Soon my pretties, soon....

Etsy.com in Newsweek Magazine!

Congratulations on Lusterbunny for her octopus cuff links making it into a gift guide in Newsweek this week! It's awesome to see a fellow Etsian getting good publicity; it makes the rest of us look good too! You can check out the full gift guide here, or go to page 64 of the images to see the cuff links.

Casting

So it's been awhile since my last post, oops. To be fair, I have been a bit busy learning a new technique - Cuttlebone Casting. I did not have any real previous experience with casting before, but for my current project I wanted to have an element that was cast with the cuttlefish bone method. Casting with a cuttlefish bone imparts a unique texture on the piece, something that cannot be obtained any other way, and is a method that has been used for casting by gold- and silversmiths for many many years. It took me five tries to get one that was complete, but eventually I did it! Sorry, no pictures yet, but I hope to have the piece finished by next week and will post some pictures then.
Until then, check out this example of a cuttlefish casting in Mooretaste's shop.

Vital for life?

I gotta say, while a puffer fish on my toilet may not be Vital to my existence, it is pretty dang cool. Is it the bulb-by eyes? The slight smirk? The cheerful twist of the tail? All I know is that I want one, and considering the fact that it's not only restricted to toilets, I'm not sure where I'll want to put it either.
Oh well, if I can't decide, I could always wear it...

Better pictures... finally...

Finally, I've been able to get the pictures I took last week edited. At least, half of them. But one of the things I'm happy about is finally getting pictures of my enameled ray-gun and rocket ship pendants. It's a series of copper pendants that have been enameled and then screen printed with images of either a ray-gun or a rocket ship. Some are double sided, so that you can flip them around to match what you're wearing. I have these in just about every color you can imagine.



Also, I now have some nice images of the sterling silver stacking rings I made awhile back. Each has a different texture, either from different hammers or smooth.


And this is a new piece. Sterling silver wire soldered into squiggly doodle shapes, with a handmade clasp. Everything is given a delicate hammered texture, making it look faceted. Plus, all connections are soldered, so you don't have to worry about anything coming undone. Look forward to seeing these in my Etsy shop soon.

Oh dear...

Check out the latest designer I've found on Etsy that makes me jealous. Right now I'm craving Cabin's burned cork message board with, complete with matching tacks. It's serene and almost regal, in it's own way. Christmas is coming, and I'm working on my list. However, I can't decide between the stag, or the chipmunk.
I'm going to need a house to put everything in, and soon.

Yay, I finally got a spot in the Etsy treasury list! Now everyone else can see the cool stuff I've found too.

The theme I was going for was forged items, either cold-forged, like in jewelry, or hot-forged, like blacksmithing. Sadly, there isn't a lot of blacksmithing on Etsy, so it was difficult to find some good examples. There was, however, plenty of jewelry.

I was also trying to pick people who didn't have tons and tons of sales already. There were a few that I couldn't help, just because they fit the theme so perfectly, or they had something really cool, but the majority of them aren't well known. At least, not as much as some people who've sold hundreds of things.

It'll only be up for the next two days, so you better check it out fast.

The Metals Club got some press!

It's nice to get some university publicity and attention about the organization we run:

Metalsmithing, Jewelry Club plans fall sale - ARTS

Although, it would be nicer if it was in a newspaper with a wider reader base.

Be our friend on myspace: UNT Metals Club

Latest Portfolio piece finished

So, I've just finished my first portfolio piece for this semester. I'm pretty satisfied with it, overall.
It's a locket, with a cloisonné enamel front and a silver wire filigree style back. It was inspired by a picture of an ancient Minoan urn that I found online, and the back is a sort of underwater shipwreck scene with Greek urns (amphora) and a trident resting on the sea floor.
It's probably my first piece that is entirely sterling silver, if you're not counting the copper base for the enameled octopus. The locket isn't really very functional, because of all the open spaces in the door, but it would work for something like a picture. I'm also particularly happy with the chain, even though it has a tendency to get tangled. Machine-made chains usually just don't seem to compliment my work very well, and I really like the aesthetic of the balled up ends of the silver wire.

These images are also the first I've taken with this camera. I think they turned out ok, but I'd like to take some more with it and see if I can do better next time.

Works in progress

I've been making quite a bit of progress on the jewelry side of the Florida order. I've made several new designs, and finished about 5 pairs of earrings and a necklace.
Among my new designs, I decided to make something special for myself, inspired by one of my favorite video games:


Also, so far unfinished, I'm working on two sheep with legs necklaces:



I need to reflow the solder on the lower sheep's left leg, and make clasps for both of them, but most of the hard work is done.
Next in line: dragonfly earrings and enameled pendants.

Big Comission of Sorts

Well, I went to Florida this last week, Pensacola to be specific, and my Aunt took me to see a small shop that sells all kinds of odds and ends, including jewelry. I had with me a few pieces of jewelry, and some handmade books that I made in the bookbinding class I took this summer, and after showing them to the woman who owned the store, she asked me if I could send her 20 books and 20 pieces of jewelry to have for sale in the store.
So, if you're in the Pensacola area, keep an eye out in the next month or so, cause soon I'll have some work for sale there, including my molecular series (which could also look like bubbles, depending on how you think of it). More details to come soon!

All shiny and new...

So I've decided to create this blog thing to talk about my jewelry and metalwork. You can expect to see information about where I am exhibiting, publications, shows, and where my work is being sold in the future. Stay tuned for updates about new products, designs, projects, and more. Until then, check out my Etsy shop at www.soundinnovation.etsy.com

Any images I post on this blog will likely have a watermark on them, mostly from my Etsy store. Its a sad fact, but there are people out there who would steal these kind of images and take credit for their creation as their own. Personally I'll just avoid the trouble and put watermarks in my images.