Hello from Hove East Sussex

[frankydean]

Hello I have been reading the forum for a good while, picking up tips, slowly getting the hang of banging and bending silver, and have even sold some small items, so i think its about time I said hello,I am nearing retirement having spent most of my life toolmaking and setting swiss automatics, I have ,or rather the company I work for do quite a lot of production work for the jewellery trade, most stainless and titanium body jewellery, also machine quite a bit of silver for the electronic industry,I must admit I get a lot of satisfaction from working on the bench, its familiar in a way, but very different,
Frank

[Patstone]

Hello frank, welcome to the forum. What sort of things do you make, piccies would be good.

[frankydean]

Hello Patstone
I'll put some pics up tomorrow,I have some on my camera,I started with earrings, hook wires and studs, made a few simple silver rings, and liked some of the texturing,.... tips out of books and here, now making pendants, after a wobble or two seem to be getting there, mounted some nice picture jaspers, I bought some silver single stone ring blanks from cooksons and tried a bit of setting, haha, a couple of disasters but a little light at the end of the tunnel, getting there though..... I think
Frank

[metalsmith]

Hi frankdean

welcome to the forum; looking forwards to seeing some of your stuff.

[frankydean]

hello metalsmith,
how would you put a photo on here,
Frank

[metalsmith]

When you reply to the thread, there is a row of icons above the text box. Hover over the one with a tree in a box should show 'Insert Image'. Click on that and you'll have the option 'From Computer' and 'From URL' a checkbox for 'Retrieve remote file and reference locally' means the image will be copied to the Cookson's server so that if you delete the URL referenced file, it will still show on the thread.

HTH

[Dennis]

Or press 'go advanced' and use the paper clip icon. Dennis.

[Patstone]

You would be better off trying to make the ring blanks yourself, it takes time to master it but worth it in the end. I only started about 6 years ago, and buy silver sheet and wire and sometimes tube and thin chains, the rest is made by hand. I went to a local evening class (one night for 10 weeks) which showed the basics, but it was very basic. The biggest backhanded compliment I had was the other day, I went to a craft show to exhibit and my old tutor was there and she said, "if I had know you were coming I wouldn't have come".
After I said thank you for that, she said my stuff was very good, which pleased me a lot. I buttered her up a bit by saying it was due to her good teaching but actually I learned a lot from they guys on this forum and from You Tube.

[frankydean]

Hi Patstone
hope this works, this is an amber pendant I made, chain bought from cooksons.
Frank

[frankydean]

Hi patstone
A small silver ring I made with a textured finish,
Frank

[frankydean]

Or press 'go advanced' and use the paper clip icon. Dennis.

Thanks for that, I tried that and I think I have posted some silver,
Frank

[metalsmith]

Frank

Your pendant looks very tidy; you can't really see the bezel from the photo, but therein lies the point.

M

[frankydean]

Hi Metalsmith
put a front view up, thanks for the reply,
Frank

[metalsmith]

Lovely. Great gem too.

[Patstone]

I thought you said you were a novice, some novice. You have made a very neat job of the bezel, its beautiful, the side of the bezel doesnt look high enough to secure the stone, you have done a better job than I could have . Well done again and look forward to seeing some more.

[frankydean]

Hi patstone,
I'm fairly new to jewellery, but I have worked on the bench making jigs ,fixtures ,and various tools for a long time, soldering silver was new to me, and I know very little about stone setting,but I think I'm beginning to see the light,lots to learn yet, thank you for the kind words,
Frank

[frankydean]

Hi,
I would like a bit of help with some square cabs I have purchased, I would like to make them into a pendant, looking at them sideways on they are high in the middle and taper down at the corners, any ideas on a silver bezel,
Frank

[ps_bond]

Make a square bezel, solder it to a base then file the bezel so it does the same; you could take the corners down lower still and avoid the slightly more problematic area of setting corners too. The sides will still hold the stones.

[frankydean]

Ahh, thank you Peter.
Frank

[Dennis]

In fact, in the case of small square stones it is sometimes simpler to start with a thin round disk which barely includes the corners. Mark out the square around the stone, and bend up the curved sides with pliers.

You will then have a quick and easy setting. Dennis.

[frankydean]

That's very neat, thanks for that,
Frank

[swallow]

I think everyone likes Cookson's I use their site as well, when I'm looking for a few things.

[glitterandgem]

Hi Frank welcome I am just along the road in Portslade , I am more into the Lapidary side of things but I dabble with the Silver arts