SToNZ: process

Showing posts with label process. Show all posts

10.15.2014

Lake Erie Beach Stone Charm Bracelets

I returned from my last visit to an antique show with a handful of glorious old heavy sterling silver chains. This means it's time for some new SToNZ "charm" bracelets.
Process pics show the drilled stones before during and after lining the holes with hand wrought sterling silver tube rivets. Heavy jump rings link the stone charms to the chains and are soldered closed. After some filing, sanding, oxidizing and buffing, they are ready to go!
Oh to wear a whole wristful of these at once.
Yummy.

10.23.2011

Making a Beach Stone Silver Chain Bracelet

I tried to take some process pics this morning as I worked on a new bracelet.
It's tough to work and shoot, and also tough to stop and take photos when you are in the middle of working. Managed to get some of the steps in pics to share here...

Selected a Lake Erie beach stone from my stash.

Cut a base for the bezel from 20 gauge sterling silver sheet with a jewelers saw

Wrapped bezel wire around the stone for size

Marked length for cutting

Used jewelers saw to cut bezel

soldered bezel using hard solder

Cleaned and filed bezel to prepare to solder to base

Soldered bezel to base plate with hard solder

Trimmed excess base, filed and sanded bezel cup until smooth

Um....OK, so I got caught up in my work and forgot to take photos for a bit! I had this great vintage curb chain bracelet and cut it apart, then soldered the bezel cup between the cuts. Cleaned up the whole thing with sanding pads and files.

Set the stone in the bezel and used burnishers to tighten the bezel around the stone.
Sanded, polished....ready to wear!
Click here to see the bracelet in my Etsy store.

7.23.2010

Tube Riveting Beach Stones

Adding a sterling tube rivet to a beach stone turns a simple beach find into a treasure you can wear. A soldered jump ring turns the stone into an elegant pendant. Here is how I do it.

First drill the stone

I always drill in cool water using a diamond coated drill bit in a drill press. Let the drill do the work. It takes patience and should not be rushed.

Making a tube rivet

Use dead soft sterling silver tubing that matches the size of the drilled hole, so that the tube just fits into the hole. It needs to be rather snug but not forced.
Using a permanent marker, mark a line where you will cut the tube. Leave about 1/8" or 3mm of silver sticking out on either side of the stone.
Cut using a jeweler's saw. File and sand the ends smooth.

Setting the tube rivet

Fit the tube into the hole of the stone and using a small round punch, gently tap one end to flare the top. Turn the piece over and flare the opposite side slightly. Keep alternating sides, using progressively larger dapping punches, then the round side of a chasing hammer to completely flatten the rivet against the stone. Use care not to chip the stone.
Sand the rivet smooth, but do not sand the stone.

Sanding smooth.

6.03.2010

Making a Fossil Necklace

Last week at one of my favorite Lake Erie beaches, I found this really interesting little dark grey beach stone. It must be a fossil of some sort. Look closely and you can see a tiny texture all over it.

UPDATE: I have done some research and this appears to be a "favosite" fossil. Favosite is an older cousin to the Petoskey Stone found only in Northern Michigan. It is a long extinct coral composed of polygonal to slightly rounded shaped tiny marine animals. When our area was closer to the equator, they grew in the shallow tropical waters some 400-385 million years ago. (The Lower Devonian geologic period, for you geology buffs.) The closely adjoined colonies give the formation a honeycomb-like appearance and are somewhat rare. Might also be called a Charlevoix Stone.

So I decided it needed to be the focus of a new necklace. My studio is kind of dark, so I have difficulty photographing my process, but I thought I'd try to show you a few steps along the way as I made this piece today.