by laurie jane kern on March 26, 2012
I am done with the cuff, not *done* but DONE as in completed.
Last Sunday, I trimmed the corners, so the cuff would be easier to put on, and then soldered on the end bars. Then it was finishing the filing and sanding. Afterwards I polished it and applied a liver of sulfur patina. I was not happy with the colors I was getting, it was too gray, so I took the cuff and put it into the pickle to remove some of the patina and reapplied it, I did get some blues but was still not happy so I waited until this weekend to remove it reapply again – that would be application number three.
On Friday, since I was off from work (YEA, THREE DAY WEEKEND) I removed the patina, again, and then prepared my patina and very carefully applied it. Friday night I left the cuff in very cold water to neutralize and to arrest the reaction.
Read the rest of the post and see the pictures here… (http://www.theadventuroussilversmith.com/1/post/2012/03/the-calamari-cuff-is-done.html)
by laurie jane kern on March 18, 2012
Last weekend I had an advanced chasing & repousse class with
Nancy Megan Corwin. She was teaching an introduction class and I had her permission to attend but I would be working in an independent capacity along side the other students.The weekend prior to the workshop I spent a good eight hours drawing up my squid – which was the new design I had chosen for my project. I originally was going to do a Koi, but then I saw a squid on some science show and thought that would be different on a cuff, especially if it look like it was wrapped around it.So on Friday morning, I got up at 7:00, I was out of the house by 7:30 am and arrived in San Diego around 8:45 am with plenty of time to get settled into a workbench and meet the other students, and Megan who I had seen in over a year.
While Megan gave her first demonstration, I cut my silver sheet and square wire and then soldered the wire onto the sheet. I traced the design onto the silver and then lined it from the front. This took me until lunch time but before I took my break, I annealed the silver and put it back into the pitch pot. After lunch I was able to start the repousse on the back. I completed the initial pushing just before 5:00pm so again I pulled the cuff out of the pitch, annealed it and put it back into the pitch right side up so I could clean up the lining first thing on Saturday. I then went to dinner with Randee a weaving friend….
Read the rest of this post and see my pictures over at The Adventurous Silversmith.