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[afmetalsmith]

The signet ring is DONE. There are things I'm not happy about, of course, but overall, it looks very nice. And now, shiny! I hope there will be a picture soonish; I have a lot of picture processing to do, but will probably put that at the top of the list after J takes some.

I am also very proud that it is not only finished, but finished a couple of days early!

Now, what I'm not best pleased with: I didn't thin the corners of the setting enough, and the enamel chopped very slightly under them when I set it (using the hammer handpiece, and a fair amount of force since the setting was thick even after I'd thinned it). Solutions: thin the corners more, have the corners more rounded, and maybe border the enamel with metal rather than running glass right up to the edge. The geometry of the ring isn't perfect; well, the blank was not ideally shaped, as it turned out- I was improvising and now have a better idea how to draft a more-accurate one. I can see traces of a couple of solder seams when I look hard. And there is a wee bit of firescale on the back of the shank. Sigh. That one I can fix, but I think I'll wait until after the conference to do so.

Still, I am pleased overall, especially since it was a first effort in this style of construction, in forming a ring with the miniature stakes (which rock!), and in setting an unbordered enamel into a heavy setting (memo: Not A Great Idea without more effort to avoid the problems).

This is Blacksmith Ring #1. There will be more, as well as, probably, other rings using this construction but different enamel designs. It's good practice! Eventually I'll be confident enough that I'll make J a version in some sort of gold.

Comments

[afmetalsmith.livejournal.com]

I've heard of pricking foils, but not of the sandpaper approach- that sounds great! Thanks! I wonder if it would help with keum boo, too...

Anyway, the gold leaf I'm using is too thin for that- it's the sort of stuff that you can't even touch, and have to handle with a brush etc. It's really more for gilding than enameling, but hey! it's cheap, relatively, and only costs me a tiny bit to put some gold on my sample tiles. I usually snag a bit with a brush, then put it on a coat of fired flux that's been wetted with Klyrfire; that way if it wads up I have a fighting chance of "floating" it and spreading it out again.

I don't think it's ever bubbled- I think it's gas-permeable, it's that thin!- but my heavier silver foil sure has, and I'm going to try the sandpaper trick next time. It sounds wonderful! And great for somewhat heavier gold, too, when i start using that. :)

[medvssa.livejournal.com]

So you have gold for gilding that is actually gold? (because I have tried the fake stuff and it burns, lol)
I always got my silver and gold (not that I could afford it, I only bought my first and single gold leaf before moving here, intended use for palettes, but I have used it at work) at my usual enamel supplier in Barcelona and it is the thicker for enamel usual stuff. The gold is damn expensive o_O

What is keum boo?

[afmetalsmith.livejournal.com]

A couple of the enameling supply houses over here sell real gold leaf. So do framing supply stores and some art stores. It can be tricky to find 24k, and I'm not sure whether mine is or not, but 22k and 23k are more common.

The place I get my japanese enamels has thin gold foil, too, and I got 1 piece of it a while back but haven't used any yet.

I also got some gold foil for the keum boo, but I think it's thicker than the enameling kind. Keum boo is an Asian technique where you apply gold foil to silver by heating it on a hotplate (or electric burner) and burnishing it on. This makes a permanent bond. I want to try applying foil to one of my cast pendants!

[medvssa.livejournal.com]

Ohh, I read about that somewhere, but I didn't remember the name :)