I also got an ultrasonic cleaner.  I CAN”T WAIT to use it!

The unfortunate part of this story is that I also had to replace a whole bunch of other things in my studio.  I’ve had some kind of strange contamination going on and I can’t for the life of me figure out what it is.  Help?

Long, long story short…

My solder is turning black after it’s been in the pickle.  I’m also having a horrible time getting my solder to flow.  I’ve changed my pickle 3 times now.  I don’t think it’s that.  I’ve cleaned all my picks and tweezers, got a new brush for flux and it’s still happening.  Here’s what it looks like – these are both after soldering (or unsoldering, in the case of the ring) and after being pickled.  And before I changed my pickle the last time, it wasn’t just the solder joins that were black – there were blotchy black spots all over the silver.  It happens on gold too – not as bad.  So gross.

My last guess is my flux?  So, I got new flux yesterday and will have to see if that solves it.  Cross your fingers for me and if you have any other ideas, please let me know!  It’s driving me crazy!

Almost there…

We’ll just say a “while” later : )…DONE!

Today my fingers rest.  My hand is healing well and I can even take my splint off from time to time, which is so, so wonderful.  I’m almost back to 100%!  Hooray!  Looking forward to creating some new designs and getting ramped up for the holidays.  Yep, I said holidays.  Can you believe it?!

I had temporarily forgotten that I solder with my left hand so that I can use a pick or tweezers with my right.  So, I had to learn some major soldering tricks today.  Oh, and what’s that green stuff on my “good” hand?  That’s alligator skin.  Mainly used to protect you from cuts, burns, etc.  But, I have a giant hole under there, also from my fall, that I was trying to cover.  I guess I’m still a bit of a mess.

I saw a tutorial on how to use these tweezers on the Etsy Metal Blog and knew instantly I had to have them.  Oh my gosh, they are so awesome.  No more trying to balance the shank on the setting before soldering and then bumping my block 1,000 times and have to start over with the tricky balancing.  Phew!  What a relief these guys are!

I have a few new things to set, finish and photograph.  I’m really excited about all of them.  The 14k gold tourmaline stacking rings are my favorite!  I can’t wait to finish them and share with you.  I have a few more things up my sleeve, but I’m planning to update my shop next week with some new and fun goodies for you!

A quick warning – this post is a bit technical – but if you are a jeweler, I hope you find it interesting…

I’ve been wanting to do a flush setting for quite a while.  I’ve heard to experiment with CZs since the are cheap and nearly indestructable.  Of course, I decided that today was the day to experiment and I never got around to getting CZs, so white sapphire and pink tourmaline were my gophers.  I tend to jump into things too quickly.  If you attempt this – just get CZs!

I’ve read several opinions about what kind of bur (or combination of burs) to use to cut your seat and I decided to go with a ball bur.  Cutting the seat was the easy part.  Drill a pilot hole first and then using a bur barely smaller than your stone, cut your seat.  Check to see if your stones fits – it should “pop” in.

Then, the setting.  Any jewelers out there that haven’t tried this yet, please make yourself or get a tiny burnisher.  I just had my normal one and it was WAY too big.  I set the white sapphire first and it was pretty messy.  I read how to make your own tiny burnisher in Creative Stone Setting and when I burnished my pink tourmaline with my little burnisher, the results were much, much better…but still in need of major practice : )

To make the burnisher, you just take an old worn out bur of some kind, trim off the end, then anneal the steel (just the top 1/4″) and let it cool.  Once it’s cool, stick it in your flexshaft chuck and start spinning.  Using a file, then your sanding sticks, file and sand your tip to 600 grit or so then polish with white diamond.  It literally just took a couple minutes.  The book suggests giving it a handle by drilling out a hole in a small dowel.  I haven’t gotten that far yet.  I’m still pretty proud of my first hand made tool though : ).  I also might round the tip a little more.  It’s almost too tiny.  I think I just have to play with it a little more to see.

You can see the BIG burnishing groove around the White Sapphire and  much smaller burnishing groove around the pink tourmaline.  And, of course, all the marks from me slipping…and then the marks from me trying to fix the marks…

Once I figure out how not to slip while burnishing, I’ll be ready to do a few styles for my shop.  Because trying to sand and polish around those tiny little stones and really get the marks out is impossible.

Anyway, still a work in progress.  But, I’m off to a great start and am so excited to do more.  Hope this helped!  If you have any tips I missed or should know about – please let me know!

So, indoors it is.  But, it leaves me time to dive into the new jewelry technique books I just got.  I’ve thumbed through these before and decided it was time to have copies of my own.  Sooooo happy I finally did it!  Here’s what I got:

- The Theory & Practice of Goldsmithing
- Creative Stone Setting
- Jewelry Concepts and Technology

Happy reading to me : )

I also updated my shop in the last few days the last few days with these goodies…

Checkerboard Faceted Labradorite Necklace in Recycled Sterling (so flipping cute)

Kunzite Ring with Wide Recycled Sterling Band

Faceted London Blue Topaz Ring in Recycled Sterling

Teardrop Labradorite Ring in Recycled Sterling

Rainbow Moonstone Necklace in Recycled 14k gold and Sterling (simply gorgeous!)

Rose Cut Free Form Stacking Quartz Rings – sold separately:
Rose
Lemon
Champagne

Thanks for reading!  Please send me some sun if you have some!!

xo,
Erin

For some reason, there isn’t a cushion shaped bezel mandral, so hand shaping these little guys is more insane and time consuming than you would ever think.  At least it is for me.  I’m still super excited to finish them up and set them though!  They are going to be beautiful rings.  They have to be after all that… : )

See right there in the lower left corner of the stone?  See that little chip?  Right as I was pushing the stone into the bezel to set it – a little chip flew right off!   I immediately had these thoughts running through my head… “I should have been more careful.”   “I *know* Peruvian Opal chips easily.”  ”I should have been more patient.”. etc, etc… I was on the way to being really upset.  This happened on Wednesday and literally just moments later, I read this post by Cassandra.  Crazy, huh?!  I decided to embrace my mistake and put that ring right on my own finger and love it.  And, I do.  Chip and all.

Completed bezels that I almost obsessively run the stones through to make sure they are the right size.  I really couldn’t tell you how many times I do this. : )  Pretty colors, huh?

Bezels soldered on backplates ready to saw, file and sand into bezel cups.

When I do a flush setting, I try to saw as close as I can to the edge to alleviate the amount of filing and sanding I have to do to get it perfectly flush.  I’ve gotten more bold with this as time has gone on and it saves so much time!  I haven’t cut into a bezel yet…*knocking on wood*

Almost done!  Most everything is ready for the tumbling, stone setting and polishing.

I’m off to finish all these beauties!  I’ll be back soon with a few new things to share…have a great day!

The stones are (clockwise from the top): Green Sea Glass, Arizona Turquoise, Aqua Chalcedony, Smoky Quartz

Bezels all done ready for backplates and shanks…

Even though the rings are all for different people - I was loving how all the colors just looked so beautiful together

Backplates on, sanded, cleaned, ready for shanks…

Finished settings just out of the tumbler ready to hold their new stones…

All done!

I still have to finish the Turquoise ring, but here are the other 3…

Smoky Quartz Ring for Michelle

Aqua Chalcedony Ring for Erin

Sea Glass Ring for Erin

I love that Erin found some sea glass and asked if I could set it for her.  It turned out beautifully.  Do you have a found object you’d like to wear on your finger or around your neck?