Stone Setting 101

I've worked with copper and silver for many years,  but in all that time I have only very rarely worked with stone setting. Mainly I've limited my work to using amber or turquise. Although I did make a bracelet last year using a large 'slab' of Malechite.

Anyway...I was recently handed a couple of stones and asked if I could 'do something with them'.

The following pictures show the results. As always with me, a little 'clunky' and really a prototype for the fulle version to be made...'sometime in the future'.

These views show the mounts I made from silver to hold them both in a neclace which I will be finishing in the next couple of days.

For the moonstone on the left, I cut an abstract patten of holes into the mounting plate on the back of the stone. This is to allow light to pass through illuminating the core of the stone as shown in the next couple of pictures.

Sundial

Hello...remember me. Yes, I know, the reports of my return a couple of years back were rather exaggerated... I'm hoping however that I've got thin gs back on the rails again and have returned to making.
So...as a astarter, I'm postibng some pictures of my current project. It's a commission for a Sundial.

Here are a couple of pictures of work in progress.

This is the central part of the sundial. Some may recognise this as a Liverbird. The comission has come from a lifelong suporter of Liverpool Football Club and this is a 3d representation of the Liverbird which appears on the players shirts.

The central part of the bird will cast the shadow which will be used to tewll the time on the dial face which the bird will stand on. I spent an interesting afternoon calculating the clock markings which will go on the dial face.
The bird is made from copper and has been assembled from a number of individial parts both soldered and riveted to try and keep the low profile necessary for the shadow along with the strength to survive high winds.

More to come as I work on the dial and assemble the whole sundial together.

Not Quite Metal

I've been away, for quite a while, but I'm back and I've been looking into some other making techniques.

This is me, working some clay;

and here are some of the bowls that I actually managed to throw...

Copper Box

Hello, I'm back, after a bit of a break. I've been working on a new piece in rather an ad hoc fashion doing bits here and there when I can get access to a workbench...

This new project is a copper box with a split lid.

The left hand side of the lid slides open, with the righthand side hinged.

Finished Kilt Pins

Here are the kiltpins, finished off and ready for delivery. I hope they meet the expectations of their recipients and contribute, in a small way, to the success of the day...

Kilt Pin

I was recently asked by a good friend if I could come up with something a bit more contemporary in the way of a kilt pin ahead of his impending nuptuals...something that better reflected his interests...

Something like this...

It is, of course, still a work in progress and will require a lot of cleaning and polishing and the 'blade' will be enameled with a personalised colour.

Variation on a Theme

I've had a lot of positive feedback about the last piece, a lot of connected to a festive event towards the end of the year. I therefore tired another version of the pendant.

I'm not sure if it is quite as successful and I think it might need turquoise rather than amber, but I'm quite pleased about how it turned out. It needs a bit of polishing to finish it off, but that can wait 'til tomorrow...