FMP Back To Work 5th May

Back To Work   5th May

With Monday a holiday, it was nice to get back to college so that I could finish my locket and see if I could start my second piece. I could also sort out if I was going to place anything on the walls to accompany my piece. I was thinking about the idea of having images of the making process on the wall. This would show how much work making a custom piece is, and how it is as unique as the person.

I got a lot of work done over the last week to make sure that I could finish on time. I realise how much work it is to make a made to measure piece of jewellery. When I was talking to the jewellers about how long it takes to make a piece, they all seem to say that it can take up to 3 to 4 weeks to make a item for someone, but this is with the right equipment and skills. I on the other hand have little experience and limited equipment. This has taken me a little longer than I wanted, but with the tools I have, I managed to create a locket that has fulfilled what I set out to do.

Today was another long day and after a lot of correcting and editing, my glass template was ready to be laser cut. I could spend some time doing a bit of soldering to get my locket finished. Having the template ready to go, I could set up my glass piece in the laser cutter. I placed a wet piece of paper onto the surface of the glass so the laser had something to etch into and not just pass through it. Once my first piece of glass was done, I could edit the template so that the wording on the glass fitted better. With the first etching, the wording was a little to big and slightly to the side. I took the aspect of the first test piece and changed it to have a completed final piece that I was happy with.

The look of the etching on the glass had a clean and sharp effect that added something to the glass. It was much like a second layer on top of the texture the glass from the trapped bubbles within the casts I made.

Having the glass done, I could take all the pieces out and assemble them. I could then have some practice with some of the soldering methods. I prepared two scraps of copper to be soldered. I started with filing down the sides so they would be smooth and have no gaps. This was so that the solder would securely fix the two pieces together.

With the two pieces ready, I had to get the borax flux paste and apply it to the two pieces of copper where I wanted the copper to join. Once a fair amount of the paste is on the copper, I could then add the small scraps of the silver with the size I wanted to solder. I only needed a small amount of silver solder for the two pieces to be fixed together and placed close to the join.

I then could heat the copper, taking it slowly at first, making sure I heated all of the copper and burn off the borax flux. Once the copper reached the right heat, I could then turn up the blowtorch and melt the silver solder and fuse the copper together. This only took a minute and once the solder was melted, I could dunk the copper into water to cool it.

Taking my test piece, I could see how well the soldering had been. The two pieces were now one and the join was clean. I was happy with my first attempt, although I do have to be careful with the blowtorch, making sure I don't knock over the copper if the flame is too intense.