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Mar. 11th, 2007 04:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
afmetalsmithToday was a much more satisfactory day in the studio than yesterday was.
I did a lot of soldering, and the rest was mostly prep for soldering. I have reamed out a recess for the hinges on one of my poison rings; carved the bottom of the vessel for another to fit the ring curvature, made a plate of a similar curve, and soldered it on; added #2 of the 4 wing components to my filigree butterfly pendant and gotten #3 & 4 fitted more closely; thought about how to attach the filigree butterfly to a chain, since I'm no longer happy with my original notion; researched catches for the various poison rings; and gotten 2 settings done for a honeycomb pin I'm making, as well as getting the other comb components ready for soldering.
As usual, I'm probably missing a few bits, but these are the highlights.
The main problem today was the settings for the honeycomb. I have telescoping tubing that, via a miracle, fits the stones. Woohoo! However, as I learned today, the telescoping aspect is not perfect; the smaller pieces are 8mm from flat to flat, and the larger 8.2mm. This means I had to flow a rather amazing amount of solder into them to fill the gap- not ideal, but it'll work. I think next time I'll add 3 or 6 superthin sterling shims to each side, to fill up some of that space.
I'm contemplating various approaches to the poison ring catches. I'd like to experiment with several.
J has been wrestling with getting pictures of the crow scent lockets, and the high polish has been a problem there. I may just pumice the things for the pics, then re-polish them. A matte, pumice finish would actually look really good for them anyway; it's the whitest finish for silver that I know, making a nice contrast with the black matte fabrics that will hold the scents.
I did a lot of soldering, and the rest was mostly prep for soldering. I have reamed out a recess for the hinges on one of my poison rings; carved the bottom of the vessel for another to fit the ring curvature, made a plate of a similar curve, and soldered it on; added #2 of the 4 wing components to my filigree butterfly pendant and gotten #3 & 4 fitted more closely; thought about how to attach the filigree butterfly to a chain, since I'm no longer happy with my original notion; researched catches for the various poison rings; and gotten 2 settings done for a honeycomb pin I'm making, as well as getting the other comb components ready for soldering.
As usual, I'm probably missing a few bits, but these are the highlights.
The main problem today was the settings for the honeycomb. I have telescoping tubing that, via a miracle, fits the stones. Woohoo! However, as I learned today, the telescoping aspect is not perfect; the smaller pieces are 8mm from flat to flat, and the larger 8.2mm. This means I had to flow a rather amazing amount of solder into them to fill the gap- not ideal, but it'll work. I think next time I'll add 3 or 6 superthin sterling shims to each side, to fill up some of that space.
I'm contemplating various approaches to the poison ring catches. I'd like to experiment with several.
J has been wrestling with getting pictures of the crow scent lockets, and the high polish has been a problem there. I may just pumice the things for the pics, then re-polish them. A matte, pumice finish would actually look really good for them anyway; it's the whitest finish for silver that I know, making a nice contrast with the black matte fabrics that will hold the scents.
