final wax stage

This is the amethyst ring as finished wax model.
Next step, make a prototype mold.
Then inject a wax model into mold.
Then cast a metal prototype from wax model.
Then a production mold made from the metal prototype.
Then another wax injected model.
Then cast an actual metal ring.

doings

So I got the outer shank for the amethyst ring 'roughed in' today. (It has a crown (bezel area) salvaged from the door pendant.)

Did not think about the difference between a ring mount and a pendant mount and the crown/shank meeting gave me fits. And I could not get the shank style right - kept making it too nice and pretty. It is finally where it will (or will not) be, it now needs some 'chaos' added and I think it will work. After that, the inside shank must be filled in, rounded and smoothed. Then a general clean-up.

The bezel area has a strange 'flared square' shape that leaves prominent corners at the base. At first this seemed too bulky. Usually when working on a piece, an oddity will either become increasingly annoying, and scrapped, or your eye will normalize the unique design. So far leaning slightly to the latter -- hard to know in this case until it gets to the point of being metal: as worn, as felt.

I get the ring finished and another creepy pod pendant and I can do a 3-month-overdue casting.

what i am doing

Until the price of silver stops spinning around and figures what it wants to do, I am going to take the opportunity to work on some long overdue wax projects. (These wax models will eventually be converted to silver.)

Things I am trying to finish up: Squash Tendril Earrings, Mindworm Pendant, Amethyst Door Ring (salvaged setting from Garnet Door Pendant), Driftwood Earrings, maybe some more stuff, not sure.

what to do

So it is time to look at the next silver pour and figure out what will be in there. The next casting pour will probably be a bit boring. There are a couple of new rings and one or two creepy pendants in design phase. (Most new items start as wax models.) The metal models will be cast in the next pour from the wax originals. The actual rings and pendants will be made from these metal models, so they will not be ready until the second metal casting session. A not very reliable guess is that brand new designs will be ready somewhere in February. Ugh, that seems forever, maybe I can find a project that can skip phase one, and be ready on the next pour. It always takes a bit to get your designing inertia back after Nov-Dec sales.

serpent ring

What an unbelievable pain in the rump! This carving is a test and learning experience for sand creature ring.

I have carved, re-carved, made too perfect, re-carved, over-detailed, under-detailed made too thin, made too thick...

I know I have not been my finest the last week, but carving this ring was way too hard for the results - so far - I say this, but I really do not know. I look at the wax model between my fingers and cannot decide if it is the best ring I have ever carved, or whether it would better serve as fuel for my wax burning lamp - nor can I decide whether I spent too little time, or way too much time carving this beast (metaphorically and literally speaking), I do lean toward the latter opinion.

For better or worse, I am now doing final detail clean-up, then making a prototype cold mold, then storing the model in a place far from grasp and thoughts. My only hope is that I have done an Edvard-Munchian multi-layered, gouged, paint-over disaster until something usable percolates up and out of the mess. Come to think of it, that is all I ever do, so it should fit comfortably into the surrounding mediocrity.

veggiescape ring

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-In Balance Act, an owl cooed.
-And the Moon blinked it's Eye in the aether.
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from:
Rumors of Spring by Richard Grant
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embracing chaos part two

I believe I am improving the less than perfect job of cleaning the sprue off of the ring shown above. (The sprue is a sizable hunk of metal attached to cast jewelry where the metal was poured into the mold.) In the case of traditional jewelry, the intent is to have a seamless match to the shape and texture of the surface adjoining the sprue area. The item is usually designed in a way that the sprue is in a smooth, easy to clean area. With representational organic designs, the area surround the sprue is often made with a texture that can be easily duplicated after the item has been cast into metal. However, with three dimensional, non-symbolic organic surfaces, rarely is the sprue location so conveniently located and textured. With non-jewelry sculptures, this problem can often be solved by placing the sprue on the flat, bottom surface.

I feel that having a bottom on 3-d organic jewelry items ruins the concept. What I am going for is not a representation, or symbolic version of nature, but something that would seamlessly fit in nature, whether the actual item really exists or not. (No one would mistake a bright red square box sitting in a patch of woods to be an organic, natural part of the scenery.)

Recently, I think I have made a step forward in this regard - at least in concept. In the case of the tree bark ring, instead of trying to exactly imitate the surface of the bark, it is more appropriate to find a carve-able texture that complements or belongs to the natural item - perhaps a small remnant of a mostly-peeled-off outer bark. Nature itself does not imitate, it interprets desire. Approaching the problem from this perspective, the sprue areas that I am now finishing are slowing beginning to disappear into the whole.

I am attempting to incorporate this concept in future pieces that are in the design phase. A new level of asymmetry that makes nature, nature, and makes symbolic representation, 'not nature'. An obvious example of this type of symbolism is a grade-school-level pie face. We all know what it is supposed to represent, but it is unlikely that anyone would mistake the drawing for a photo of an actual person.

This takes me one step closer to no longer making test pieces, and starting on complete pieces that I hope to get done before I am done.

how to make a monster

It has been difficult to chronicle the making of a work from start to finish. My greatest hurdle is the fact that when starting a new work, I do not have the slightest confidence that I will be able to complete the project.

A second problem is my absent-mindedness. Once involved in a project, the rest of the world seems to recede in the background - my surroundings de-evolving into a slightly annoying hum - suddenly finding myself on step 7, without any photo documentation of steps 2 through 6.

Casting the former hurdle from mind, and documenting steps 1 and 2 while working on step 3, we begin:


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Step 1: This particular item is to be a ring with a wide shank. Starting with a hard wax will allow for detailed carving. This photo shows the wax cylinder with a slice cut off that could serve as a base for a ring.

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Step 2: This is a photo of the wax cylinder slice carved into the basic shape of the ring. (Ignore the 'step 3' workings on the back of ring.) This step is done by hand to begin removing the 'machined' look from the model. The final piece must look as 'organic' and natural as possible.


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Step 3: Spinning the ring around, you can see the early stages of step 3 where the ring is taking shape by both manipulating the wax base itself, and adding elements that are easier to attach than carve by hand into the wax surface.

'Grafting' a garden snake's shed skin gives us a textured, outer skin for our monster. Veins are placed under the area to be grafted so that once the skin is added, you are able to see and feel the raised vein under the surface of the skin. Each element needs to be fused onto the ring in such a way as to appear as part of the whole. Completing the project to this step gives us an idea of the problems that we will encounter in trying to finish the project.

As you may be able to see in the photo, even after accounting for the obvious differences in color and surface texture of the two elements, the item as a whole is not working. The 'skin', even if trimmed in a realistic way, looks too thin and unnatural, not mammalian. The skin needs to be a substantial organ with depth. This could be rectified by giving the wax a more prominent edge where the skin meets the exposed 'internals'. This deeper edge could serve as the creature's subcutaneous tissue. The exposed internal area of the creature will then have to be carved to a lower depth to account for the skin's thickness. This also means that the 'sutured areas' to be added to the ring will need to be more three-dimensional than originally planned.

A second problem is that the clearly defined skin makes the 'internal areas' look as they were carved out of a single piece of hard wax - a loss of continuity that ruins the overall effect - it is neither realistic or hideous, merely ugly and amateurish. The creatures exposed internals will need more clearly defined fragments - less shallow, vaguely-textured areas. Solving this problem, in addition to giving depth to the outer skin, on both the exterior and interior of the ring, may mean starting over with a thicker wax base. Time will tell.


...to be continued, I hope...

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it's alive!!!

*Dr J. lifts sheet from creature, and gasps. Creature lurches against it's shackles.*

Dr. J:...*Pause*...Doctor Gates, you must destroy this abomination at once, before it is too late.

Dr. G: You do not understand - it is now a living, breathing entity - it has shown intelligence and intent. I am not qualified to serve as it's executioner or champion - nature must decide the creature's fate.

*A faint moaning is heard from the operating table.*

Dr. J: Then Heaven help that poor creature...Heaven help us all.







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vine ring is done

OK, so I got the ring done. I have temporary molds in sizes 10ish - 12.5ish. My next task is to get permanent vulcanized molds for sizes 9 - 13.

This is my first men's ring design in a long, long time. The design is an old texture that I recently used for the back of 'garnet door' pendant. I expanded the old brick texture with vines on the back side of 'window and branches pendant'.

I believe the deep three dimensional surface will retain a measure of the dark patina when worn - depends on what the wearer does with their hands.

This ring was a test for designing more wearable wide bands. The inside of the ring is convex in shape. When measuring the ring, I allow the mandrel sizing mark to slip over the ring until it gets near the slightly bulging center of the ring, where the convex shape finally touches the mandrel. This makes the ring fit a person closer to the same size as a thinner band would fit. It also seems the be more comfortable to wear, thus the phrase 'comfort fit band' that some designers apply to this style of band.

The band seems to hold its convex shape when sized up 1.5 sizes. When sizing up beyond that point, there seems to be a noticeable flattening of the interior.

A size 11 weighs about 11 grams, nearly bang-on what I had in mind. After being remolded and recast, it will end up being about 10 grams. I think this will be my target weight for convex, wide band ring designs in the future.

I have mentally sketched and purchased the stones for an onyx orb ring that will use an insect/alien design similar to the upcoming mindworm pod pendant #2. I hope to get both these designs in the next pour, along with an 'industrial decay' bronzite bracelet.

pearl pod ring

Over a year past due, and millions of dollars over-budget, the pearl pod ring is now a reality. I wanted this to match the pod pendant and earrings as close as possible. It took coming up with several new techniques, and a few molds to get to where I wanted to be. The overall look is about what I imagined.

onyx pod earrings

Onyx pod earrings are done now. The naked stones had been sitting at my computer desk, staring at me for some time. It is nice to have an actual socket to poke them into. The earrings turned out very close to what I had initially imagined. I had originally intended for the upper part to have a larger loop, but became concerned about structural problems and the ever-present weight issue with earrings. I estimated they would be just over 3 grams when finished, they came in under that at 2.6 grams, which is better than expected.

I was also concerned about being able to clean up the sprue connection. (That is the stick of metal attached to the earring once it has been cast.) The sprue was connected on the left side where the earring begins to loop. Using a couple of specialized hammer setting attachments, I was able to duplicate the texture of the metal enough so it does not look like a patch job.

The onyx bullets taper from the very top, so the silver setting has a grip on the stone. This satisfied my 'never rely on glue to hold a stone in place' policy.

embracing chaos

I spent the better part of a pointless Friday lamenting flaws in a sterling silver jewelry pour.
(Several days are spent producing the wax models, then the wax is replaced with molten silver, thus the term 'lost wax' casting.)

This reluctance to 'accept' - the inability to follow the logical path from where I am, to where I want to be - is possibly my most obvious character flaw. With this work it is difficult at times to discern between success and failure. Relinquishing control and letting the work 'happen' is the most difficult thing I have ever attempted. Each time I over-estimate my control over the metal, it makes a complete fool of me.

i found something

A rhythm. That is what is lost so easily in the shop. Too many directions and papers, and need five of this and five of that - leering and pulling the strength from my limbs. So I toss stems and pieces, collect at least three types of wax that attract and repulse each other, draw a hot blade over the surface - the wax pours warm - time disappears, all is OK.

would these earrings work?

I am avoiding any new big projects until I get another silver pour done, but want to add a few lower cost odds and ends to the pour.

I started some bamboo earrings similar to the ones above, but with a wood frame encompassing the two vertical bamboo sticks. I had already rough-shaped the two vertical sticks out of hard wax on a lathe, but after making a quick frame, realized the scale of the sticks, along with a frame and stone setting, would be too bulky for earrings. I decided to go with a larger pendant prototype, but could not get comfortable with the 3-D depth of the whole thing. It just did not work. I started remembering trying to do the same thing in the past and not succeeding.

I then decided to try an earring design with two horizontal bamboo sticks along with the two vertical sticks and foregoing the frame -- with or without the jade stone setting. (See above sketch.) I vaguely remember trying this in the past also, but cannot remember what the abort factor was, so I plod along.

I spent some time with hand tools trying to get the machined look from the four bamboo posts. I am going for a look halfway between an Oriental drawing, and real bamboo. There is a decent cheat factor, as I was looking at images of bamboo on the web, and it varies greatly in shape and scale.

If I can get the four 'bamboo' sticks to look OK, I will split them and hollow out the insides. This should eliminate most of the weight. When I work on elaborate cast earrings, I shoot for 3.5 grams total weight for each earring, once cast. Much over 4 grams and the earrings are considered scrap, and the time wasted. It takes time to get used to the difference in wax mass, compared to sterling silver. Wax models have to be painfully thin and fragile before they are candidates for casting in sterling silver for earrings. When you have thinned the wax sufficiently it is very similar to working with a thin potato chip: don't breathe too hard.

Without the jade stone setting, the earrings would be a pretty quick make, once I get a good rubber mold. The jade setting might not scale without a frame; another consideration. Not a well-planned design so far, but I think they might work for less expensive, charm type earrings.

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...2009/06/12 update



Looks like the project is back to a pendant instead of earrings. I used the four larger hollow pieces of 'bamboo' to make a square frame. There are two solid, but thinner bamboo stalks within the frame, with leaves at the top and bottom.

i nearly destroyed the world yesterday

I surely do not need to tell you how a single act can destroy the world as we know it.

A misspoken word. A forgotten embellishment on a piece of jewelry.

Yesterday, I held in my hand what I believed to be a finished wax model. The world was gay. Birds chirp outside the window, and all seemed well with the universe.

Fools we were, for the most essential piece of the pendant was missing; the door handle to the garnet door. A simple enough mistake, however without the handle, nothing in heaven or on earth could pry the door on it's hinges.


Dr. Bard could never have entered the door. He could never have gone back in time to June 28th, 1838, to the coronation of Queen Victoria, and removed an embarrassing square of bathroom tissue from the heel of her uncle, King Leopold I of Belgium. (He accomplished this by discreetly stepping onto the revealed edge of the tissue as King Leopold stepped away.) This simple act averted disaster, as the errant tissue would have been a public scandal that would have ultimately destroyed the alliance between Belgium and England. WWI would have started nearly fifty years early. This would have made the original 1914 conflict we know of as WWI, WWII; and the original WWII, WWIII. This final conflict would have left the world a smoking cinder.

For want of an extra shoe the tissue wasn't lost.
For want of a shed tissue the alliance was lost.
For want of an alliance the world was lost.

what I am working on today

As an addition to the pearl pod pendant and earrings, I am working on a matching ring. The ring shank will be made from wild rose twigs. (Part B in pic). The pointy end of the twig wraps around the finger and sits in a fork at the other end of the twig. A pearl pod similar to the pendant and earrings sits atop the forked area of the twig.

I made the rough shape for the pod yesterday using hard wax. I carved the pod by hand, and assumed that would be enough to give me a sufficiently 'organic' shape. I was wrong. It has an artificial look to it, like someone tried to carve a natural looking pod out of hard wax. (Wonder why?)

My first assignment today is to remove the hand carved look from the pod.

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And that's about all I got done in the shop. I turned the exterior from a smooth round sphere, into something just this side of grotesque. Or maybe just the other side. I also glued the pearl's bezel cup to the inside. The pod is pretty much done and ready for a mold, unless the morning sun exposes something I cannot live with.

I did get some work done on a garnet door pendant- bricking up the back. Will explain later