Seven Months In, a Reflection

It would have been better to do this at six months, but I didn't think of it until someone asked for a photo of all of my work to date. Now, this is only the work from the past seven months, and doesn't include the items that I donated to auctions. But I thought I might reflect on what I've learned since starting this project. 

I've made two sets of duplicates and three distinct necklaces. Technically, I batch made three Byzantine clasps, but one of those went to an auction, and I messed one up while polishing, and then subsequently trying to fix it, I broke it completely. 

The duplicate rings taught me a lot, from one to the other. I saw definite improvement. I'm getting better at cutting the bezels to the correct size, which was a real challenge with the first one. And tension fitting the hoop was easier. Of course, I used a round section hoop the second time, rather than a half round, and that might have made it a bit easier. I'm still not getting that joint to solder perfectly, I need to be more meticulous in filing the angle down. 

The earrings taught me less. They are a surprisingly simple project, and the biggest problem is soldering the jump rings on. It's either perfect or it's a mess of solder, and no in between. The backs of both sets have solder on them, still, and I haven't decided if I want to keep cleaning or just leave them alone. I'll probably keep cleaning. That is my absolute least favorite part of the job. Cleaning up solder. It never seems to be done.

That brings me to soldering. From making my first necklace to my current project, I've gotten much better at heat control. The mini torch helps a ton, but I've actually gotten better. I haven't melted anything other than the easy solder in that Byzantine clasp that I ruined. And that was my fault for having used easy solder. I still have the habit of using too much solder, which leads to more cleanup. Less is definitely more. And being meticulous about the cleanliness of the piece prior to soldering. That's really difficult to do with fine filigree. Pickling only seems to do so much. I need to get some rubbing alcohol to keep in the shop, for removing oils. Some pieces are just too tiny and/or awkward to get at with a file or sandpaper. And if a piece isn't clean, the solder will not flow. 

I've been more focused on making things successfully than trying to use any historical methods. I'm not wholly resigned to a directional flame, since we have a fire pit out back. But for the time being, I'm not trying that. Getting the flame hot enough is something I'm still thinking on. I do still have the casting grain to make my own period solder. The recipe is approximately the same as for modern very hard solder. No zinc. When I make that, my intention is to file it into a powder, and I'm very excited about that firm factor. That said, I'll be going back to basics with it, and not attempting filigree, or anything too fine to begin with. That might be an exercise for after this 12 months is up. We'll see. It would be nice to have that experiment for Athenaeum, because it would be fun to talk about as more than a hypothetical exercise. 

I want to do more with stones in the next five months. I might vary a little more away from direct period examples, but then again, maybe not. I just need to see what I can find. And then some friends and I are talking about enamel. I want to dig into Theophilus, because I'm pretty sure he talks about enamel. I'm not sure if Cellini does or not. I need to brush up on both of those in general. It's now been a few years, and I'm rusty on what they have to say. I also intend to get the Ogden book in the next month or so, and I really can't wait to see what he has to say.

I've put my gold and garnet cloisonne research on hold just a little bit. It's one of those jewelry forms that's probably always going to be just research, unless I substitute glass. But just like the period goldsmiths, I am hampered by the inability to cut the shapes. The research really is fascinating when it comes to that, and I'm looking forward to writing a paper on the subject. All at the same time as this, I'm still trying to study for my architectural exams. That has also taken a back seat since I took the first one, and it needs to move to the front seat starting in February. 

Loop in Loop Chain Process

Here's a quick little photo tutorial on forming the links for loop in loop chain. There are several good YouTube sources for this, but these are my own photos, and thoughts on the process. 

Step one is to solder or fuse your links. I made mine on a half inch diameter mandrel. This was slightly larger for my project, but it took getting the chain together to figure that out. I'll probably make another one of these with slightly smaller links. Like on a 3/8" mandrel.

I used round nose pliers to stretch each link into a rough oval. I tried to keep the solder joint to one side, not in the middle of anything.

I used stepped bail making pliers to round out the ends of the oval. 

Back to the round nose pliers, I pinched the center of the oval to make a figure 8.

Last step, I used the bail forming pliers to fold the figure 8 in half, curving it over the pliers. 

Linking the things together is a tiny bit fiddly, on occasion. But you slip the open spot where your two loops are almost touching through the two loops of the previous link, and then sort of twist. Rinse and repeat. 

This is 6" of chain. I started with 32 links. I had to re-solder three, which was pretty good, and I didn't lose any to the soldering process. However, I popped 5 of them while forming. So this is 27 rings. Interestingly, almost all of the failures happened in the final stage of forming.

January earrings

I decided, like, yesterday that I wanted to recreate a necklace from the British Museum. It's a loop in loop chain with a central agate pendant. The connection to the pendant is really interesting, and I've never done loop in loop chain before. But I didn't have nearly enough wire on hand to do the entire chain. So while I started working on that, knowing that I won't finish it until next month, I still wanted to get a project done this month. So I decided to make a second pair of those Roman earrings that are so ubiquitous. I will branch out in earrings eventually, but I was only so-so about my first pair of these, so I wanted to give it another shot. 

I don't have progress pictures, and they're not completed, because I haven't decided what beads to use yet. But the findings are complete. I'll update with another photo once I decide on the beads. 

Edited with photo of finished earrings. The beads are agate and an unknown green semi precious stone.