I usually make a sketch so that I have some idea of where I am going.

The stone I'll use is in the upper left corner. It sits on top of the sketch of the silver frame I'll make for it. The double trapezoid drawn in ink at the bottom of the page is there just to show me what the final piece of sheet silver will look like. Just below the ink drawing is the silver blank I cut to form into a loop.



The next image shows my vice. Er. The vice I do my jewelry work with. The vice is on the right with some copper plates in it's jaws which are clamped onto a squiggly metal rod. The metal rod is called a sinusoidal stake because of its squiggly shape. Just above the sinusoidal stake you can see my hand holding the silver blank which I've curled into a spiral.



I slide the blank onto the stake and pound just below the edge of the silver and bend the edge up. The hammer is plastic, the stake steel.



You can see the silver edge next to the stake beginning to bend. I'll continue this process until I've created a spiral shaped 'U'.



It's gotten kinda late tonight. I originally told my client that I'd send him a few images. Then I got the idea that anyone interested in jewelry might want to see how this sort of thing is made. So here is the beginning of a new blog.

And to show my client that I'm actually making progress on the piece and not putting too much energy into just writing about it: :-)

   

I'll fill in the gaps over the next few days as I finish this sweet little piece of jewelry! Thanks for your visit!

See my labyrinth jewelry here!

This page was begun by Chuck Hunner on Saturday evening, 18 November, 2006, from Asheville, North Carolina, USA.