Metalwork craftsperson???

lunachic15 · Post by **lunachic15** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 7:47 pm

Looking for talented jewelry/metalwork craftsperson to work on "gifts" for BRC next year. Any suggestions?

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 5:57 am

Do you need hands-on help, or just technical advice? I'm no Neh Yawker, but I've bent, smashed, welded and melted a few things in my time....and Le Chat Noir is a talented smith (and fine fellow). And there's gotta be something like The Crucible in Appletown SOMEWHERE.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 9:27 am

Heck round here, we also have Studio One an Oakland Parks and Recreation place that teaches art, cooking, yoga and jewelry. (It's where I first learned how to fuse glass.) I think the community colleges have stuff like that too. I'd look at your local community colleges as they should have facilities and basic instruction and you can get your feet wet and see if that's what you want. Also, they are likely to be able to point you in the direction of facility rentals, if you've already go the experience, but don't have a place. Just my thoughts.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 9:37 am

...I'm wearing a pretty green piece of Fishglass right now!

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 10:07 pm

As goes robotland, so go I...

How may we be of assistance?

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 3:44 pm

And I *still* wear my LeChat necklace almost constantly... I love (and treasure) that hunk o' steel, is one of my favorite pieces of jewelry...

In researching flame throwers found this site about 'smithing, and I'm getting intriuged... Someone do something... QUICK!!

Hugs,
bb

Post by **Eric** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 7:10 pm

Don't be afraid to teach yourself. I got some books, some silver and solder and an inexpensive torch a number of years ago, and now make 95% of the jewelry I wear. (mostly simple sterling silver & stone rings- but some as fancy as a hand shaped & ground sterling silver crown of thorns)

Pick up some books by Tim McCreight, read, and go slow. I've never had a class, but I have had people get inspired by my jewelry and go on to take classes & way surpass me.

I'm also happy to share resources- feel free to PM me for a list of who & what I use.

And remember: A hand made playa gift means more if it comes directly from the hand that made it.

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 11:16 pm

and I'm getting intriuged... Someone do something... QUICK!!

Quick... she's on fire with ideas!!! Somebody get the gas can!!!

Post by **Eric** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 11:39 pm

LeChatNoir wrote:
and I'm getting intriuged... Someone do something... QUICK!!
Quick... she's on fire with ideas!!! Somebody get the gas can!!!

um.
Shouldn't we just get her a torch?
Fire+Gas Can=BBSue looking like Wiley Coyote.
*oi*

And Sue- get thee to The Crucible! Nothing beats smacking metal around with a hammer & torching it, forcing it to do what you want.
*heh*

Too late to start hammering...... must wait until tomorrow....

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 7:39 pm

The Crucible? Let me google real fast...

>>long pause<<

>>Still longer pause<<

I never knew... there was such a place... here in Oakland... must... go... Arrghhhh...

bb
___________

Post by **Eric** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 10:36 pm

Bay Bridge Sue wrote:I never knew... there was such a place... here in Oakland... must... go... Arrghhhh...

GOTCHA!

*hehehehehe*

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 5:24 am

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... ce&s=books

Helluva book.

The frustrating part out here is that chesnut trees are at a premium, so I had to locate the Village Smithy Under A Spreading Red Oak Tree....

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 5:00 am

lunachic15 wrote:Looking for talented jewelry/metalwork craftsperson to work on "gifts" for BRC next year. Any suggestions?

Learn to cast pewter. Quite easy. Tons of info on the net.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 6:18 am

capjbadger wrote:
lunachic15 wrote:Looking for talented jewelry/metalwork craftsperson to work on "gifts" for BRC next year. Any suggestions?
Learn to cast pewter. Quite easy. Tons of info on the net.

I just spent about five minutes watching the cat sneak up on your avatar spot, over and over.

If you can burn outside where you are, try doing a quick-and-sloppy aluminum melt too....Just need an old cast-iron container, some sand and used motor oil.

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 9:18 am

robotland wrote:I just spent about five minutes watching the cat sneak up on your avatar spot, over and over.

If you can burn outside where you are, try doing a quick-and-sloppy aluminum melt too....Just need an old cast-iron container, some sand and used motor oil.

LMAO.. I don't remeber where I found that, but I remeber doing a double take the first couple times thinking it was just a bad pic link, then going "Wait... did I just see that??" hehe

Pewter you can do on a hot plate. Easy too since lead free solder is the same stuff (non flux core). I wouldn't advise someone to start trying aluminum casting first. But yeah, some BBQ charcoal, a coffee can, a blower and something to melt the alumimum in will work just fine. Though I'd spend the money for real petrobond sand rather than mucking about to make your own (unless you have the time, materials and a good recipe

).
Could do green sand instead too, but that take more skill...

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 10:47 am

Agreed that bonfire casting's more advanced, in some ways...The sand mix doesn't have to be perfect, though- Just enough oil to make it stick together and take a shape. But you DO need a real barn-burner of a fire!

It's nothing to make jewelry from, but my day job involves the making of radiation shielding blocks from Cerrobend, an alloy of lead, tin, bismuth and antimony. It'd melt in hot coffee! Great for fast prototyping and such. I'd REALLY like to play with the "silver putty" stuff that you work like clay and then bake, burning off the suspension material and leaving just silver alloy behind....Like silver Fimo!

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:02 am

robotland wrote:I'd REALLY like to play with the "silver putty" stuff that you work like clay and then bake, burning off the suspension material and leaving just silver alloy behind....Like silver Fimo!

PMC (precious metal clay) me too. I'm just waiting for the kiln...

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:10 am

robotland wrote:Agreed that bonfire casting's more advanced, in some ways...The sand mix doesn't have to be perfect, though- Just enough oil to make it stick together and take a shape. But you DO need a real barn-burner of a fire!

It's nothing to make jewelry from, but my day job involves the making of radiation shielding blocks from Cerrobend, an alloy of lead, tin, bismuth and antimony. It'd melt in hot coffee! Great for fast prototyping and such. I'd REALLY like to play with the "silver putty" stuff that you work like clay and then bake, burning off the suspension material and leaving just silver alloy behind....Like silver Fimo!

Granted on the sand mix... I just tell people to do alot of research first before making their own sand. With pewter it's not such a big deal, but the aluminum is high enough temp to cause fires if done wrong. Yum yum blue smoke.

Cerrobend.. hmm.. cool I've heard of a very similar alloy (but with out the lead) that you can cast into trick spoons and such that will melt in warm water llike when they try to stir their coffee. hehe
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/b1c8 ... drcrd.html

I've seen that PMC stuff too during my wanderings on the net looking for casting info. Hey Crypto, have you gotten a chance to play with the stuff yet? How much detail can you get out of it?

Badger

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:27 am

capjbadger wrote: Hey Crypto, have you gotten a chance to play with the stuff yet? How much detail can you get out of it?

I haven't had a change to play yet, but if you look at the Lapidary Journal and various beading magazines and classes at shows, I get teh impression that it took that world by storm when it first came out.
Here's an image if that helps.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:28 am

Yep, Indium's cool, and probably a better choice than Cerro for Prank Spoons...I guess the Ford design guys used to make THEIR spoons with the leaded version- They used Cerrobend for designing moulding and trim for cars. CORRECTION: Cerrobend is Lead, Bismuth, Tin and CADMIUM....(Yummy!) There's a Cadmium-free version, but it melts at a higher temp so you trade poisoning for burning...

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:32 am

Here's a PMC page- http://www.pmcsupply.com/how.html

Note the type of BALM mentioned, Badger....

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:33 am

theCryptofishist wrote:I haven't had a change to play yet, but if you look at the Lapidary Journal and various beading magazines and classes at shows, I get teh impression that it took that world by storm when it first came out.
Here's an image if that helps.

Wow... I'll have to check that out. Thanks.

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:38 am

robotland wrote:Here's a PMC page- http://www.pmcsupply.com/how.html

Note the type of BALM mentioned, Badger....

LMAO... I don't even need to look at that link to know exactly which balm it is... I have a few tins of the Badger Balm myself from people that have gifted me with them. lol

*read page* Hmm... cool info. I'll have to pick some up and see if I can use it in some rubber molds I already have made for lost wax casting. hmmm...

Martiansky · Post by **Martiansky** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:40 am

capjbadger wrote:
robotland wrote:I just spent about five minutes watching the cat sneak up on your avatar spot, over and over.

If you can burn outside where you are, try doing a quick-and-sloppy aluminum melt too....Just need an old cast-iron container, some sand and used motor oil.
LMAO.. I don't remeber where I found that, but I remeber doing a double take the first couple times thinking it was just a bad pic link, then going "Wait... did I just see that??" hehe

Thread drift....I like how the cat looks back to see if anyone was looking!

Post by **Eric** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 9:14 pm

theCryptofishist wrote:I haven't had a change to play yet, but if you look at the Lapidary Journal and various beading magazines and classes at shows, I get teh impression that it took that world by storm when it first came out.

I haven't played with PMC yet (no kiln, dammit), but I have friends who have. A little tricky, and huge shrinkage when you fire it, but it can hold amazing detail. There are even synthetic stones you can fire in place- if you prepare for the shrinking.

It is real silver or gold however- and needs to fuse at high temps. The kiln is pretty much required, unless you like holding a torch steady for a long time while the organic binder burns off.

If you can play with Fimo, you will probably love this stuff.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:03 am

Gotta play with some of that stuff sometime....

Meanwhile, I'm getting ready to punish a pair of pink Barbie bikes with an Oxy/Ace torch.....

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 9:04 am

Be sure to take pics for Doc.

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 3:48 pm

Eric wrote:I haven't played with PMC yet (no kiln, dammit), but I have friends who have. A little tricky, and huge shrinkage when you fire it, but it can hold amazing detail. There are even synthetic stones you can fire in place- if you prepare for the shrinking.

It is real silver or gold however- and needs to fuse at high temps. The kiln is pretty much required, unless you like holding a torch steady for a long time while the organic binder burns off.

If you can play with Fimo, you will probably love this stuff.

ERIC!! *hugs*

Sorry I didn't get a chance to say goodbye before leaving BM.

Huge shrinkage? *does math* Hmmm... ok, yeah I guess 8-10% does add up pretty quick, but not having to fuck around with lost wax casting would be worth it.

Badger

Post by **Eric** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 6:52 pm

capjbadger wrote:Huge shrinkage? *does math* Hmmm... ok, yeah I guess 8-10% does add up pretty quick, but not having to fuck around with lost wax casting would be worth it. :)

8-10% is a lot if you're planning on setting a stone into it- before or after casting. A 10mm stone just isn't going to fit into a suddenly 9mm slot.

You do have way more freedom then with lost wax however.

iwantakilniwantakilniwantakiln

(hugs responded to privately *g*)

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:11 pm

Eric wrote:
capjbadger wrote:Huge shrinkage? *does math* Hmmm... ok, yeah I guess 8-10% does add up pretty quick, but not having to fuck around with lost wax casting would be worth it.
8-10% is a lot if you're planning on setting a stone into it- before or after casting. A 10mm stone just isn't going to fit into a suddenly 9mm slot.

You do have way more freedom then with lost wax however.

iwantakilniwantakilniwantakiln

(hugs responded to privately *g*)

While searching around the net for PMC info, I thought I saw systems for making the job of setting gems in this stuff easier. Something to look into...

I want a kiln too. I saw on for FREE on craigslist the other day, but couldn't get out there to get it.

Badger

Metalwork craftsperson???

Metalwork craftsperson???

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