The Art of Jewelry

About a year ago I started experimenting with jewelry making. I was inspired by a video posted by a woman showing how she made a ring out of a U.S. silver quarter. I found it fascinating watching the metal fold over into the ring all the while maintaining the stamped image of the ring. Dozens of videos later I was hooked and decided to try it for myself. This is a simple story showing some of the things I have made.

My Bench

After working for months in the basement using an ordinary workbench I decided to relocate to the upper part of the house. I did this for several reasons: A jewelers bench is specialized in many ways. Working on an ordinary bench just wasn't practical. It is also great to have natural light and not work constantly in a cave environment. I have four windows in the room which makes for a very nice environment to work in. The winter months are cold in my unheated basement so upstairs heat was a welcome addition. 

I thought about building a bench but ended up purchasing a ready-made bench. It would have cost me almost as much to build one. I purchased a simple workbench then augmented it to fit my needs. I made the hammer & mandrel holder and fastened it to the side of the bench. I also made the shelf organizer sitting on the top. The drawers are fitted to hold drills, buffs and other rotary tools. I still use the basement for soldering, chemicals, power buffing and all other dirty tasks. The arrangement is great.

Some Tools

I've always made things, being taught by my dad. He ran his own small business and out of necessity made and or repaired everything around the house. We never had a lot but got by. Out of this I learned from him and over time picked up his skills. He grew up a poor Tennessee boy living in the country and made himself into a successful businessman and father.

A few homemade hammers.

The upper one was made from a shovel handle. The lower is turned from some maple salvaged from the Middlefield property. Both handles were fashioned out of left over timber pegs from the workshop I built there. Each is faced with leather. The lower one has extra heft, being filled with lead. I use them to shape ring shanks around a mandrel. The head of middle hammer was made out of a railroad spike, the handle from an ironwood tree also salvaged in Middlefield. I haven't used it yet but designed it to texture metal.

Moving & Texturing 

Moving, shaping or just texturing metal is part of making many jewelry pieces. The simple copper bracelets I make are hammered out of a solid rod, first flattening the piece then tapering the ends and finally adding the dimpled marks to provide the finished texture. The different hammer shapes each move the metal in controlled and unique ways. Each type leaves its own distinguished mark. Round flat faces move the metal outward lightly in all directions. The ball shapes do the same but in greater amounts. The rounded chisel shapes move the metal is two opposite directions lengthening the piece. All have their working surfaces polished to a mirror finish. Without the clean finish any scratches or pits in the hammer face will transfer to the metal being worked. The brass hammer is used to strike stamps. As the metal is shaped and moved it is also 'work' hardened. Throughout the shaping process as it is hardened, I stop and use a torch to anneal the metal, softening it to allow for additional shaping. The process of hammering then annealing is repeated until the final shape is achieved. The last hammering provides the finish texture and the final hardening for the piece. 

I find the act of hammering a piece to be relaxing. The gentle rhythmic drop of the hammer is both pleasing to listen to and feel. The sound and feel each tell how the metal is responding, moving easily or resisting. Each tap nudges the piece slowly shaping it to its final form. 

All of the hammers shown here were either flea-market or auction finds. Each has its own history and story. Many were just heads in need of a handle. A few are older than I am. I love old tools, especially when I can give them new life and always wonder what they created in their past lives.  

Stakes & Posts

This is one of my places to shape and work metal. The hardware is all salvaged from a rail line. Spikes & bolts make great stakes to shape spoons or other curved surfaces. I was lucky enough to find a slice from a rail and made it into a small anvil. In order to get any use out of these the surfaces must be mirror smooth. If not any surface characteristic of the stake will be transferred to the piece being hammered. I ground them on a small belt sander using successively finer grits then polished them on a buffing wheel. I keep them oiled and polished. I use the wood posts when texturing curved sections of metal. The softness of the wood does not erase the texture on the underside of a part the way the steel stakes will. I also use the surface of the stump when hammering flat pieces.

A few Stamps

Masonry nails make excellent stamps. You can soften them in a torch, work them to the desired shape then re-harden them. Some cut nails can also be used but I find that the newer cut nails don't harden very well. The old cut nails I salvage from my antique house are hard as rocks. The spiral nail is one of hundreds I pulled from the floor in my kitchen / dining room remodel a year or so back. They harden nicely. The two on the left are used as stakes when I add makers marks to the back of small rings. After joining a bezel to the base of a mount, I place it over the stake so I can stamp it. The balance of the ring and stone are added later.

Burnishers and Bezel Pushers

A large burnisher to clean up bezels and a small one to set flush mount stones. The brass is an artifact from the original use of the steel, salvaged from a computer printer. The bezel pushers are made from bone. I like them better than metal pushers.

A Few Mandrels

You just can't have enough mandrels. I have several metal sizing ones and use them for hammering ring bodies to shape. Some are round, others have flats or groves. I make many out of hardwood for specialized uses: Bending ring bodies to shape, buffing and the like. With a wood lathe you can make one in short order. A few are shown here. The flat ones are good for bending flats onto ring bodies. I use the round ones as holders when buffing rings. It saves my fingers. They are all made from cherry or maple with the exception of the top two. Those are made from high-bush blueberry. It is a slow-growing shrub and can be found everywhere in New England. It grows wild in the woods on my property. It's not uncommon to find twenty growth rings in an inch diameter piece. It is very hard, has  extremely tight grain, turns well and finished nicely. I also use it as stakes to hammer against.

Additional mandrels for special use: 1) a large bracelet mandrel. It fits into a hole in the face of my bench securing it. 2) A small bezel mandrel used for smoothing out bezels and 3) Flat mandrels for shaping ring shanks.

Jump Rings & Bezels

A perfect bezel fits a stone tightly before the final closing. I find it difficult to cut, shape and solder bezel material into the exact size so I always make then slightly small. After soldering and sanding the joint I use a straight mandrel to 'stretch' the bezel to its exact size by rolling it against a flat steel plate. All it takes is gentle rolling pressure to stretch the fine silver. This lets me fit the bezel exactly to the stone. A very small tapered 'bezel' mandrel is handy to make some final adjustments to bezels. 

The two stepped mandrels are used to make jump rings. It's the easiest thing to do: Wrap repeated tight coils of wire around the mandrel then while securing the coil against a wood block, saw the entire coil through. The process will leave perfect jump rings nicely collected around the saw blade. You can make dozens in almost no time.

Of all the tools I purchased or made, I found that getting a good torch to solder with was the most difficult. There are excellent choices available for oxygen / propane or other gasses but generally they come at a high cost. At this time my finances don't offer the luxury of purchasing one. The standard hardware store blow torch isn't nearly precise to solder jewelry. I have found that the small micro torches sold in hardware stores work well when soldering bezels and the like. They can be purchased at a reasonable cost. I actually have two and will use both when soldering larger pieces but still found the occasional need for something precise and hotter. I did purchase an inexpensive oxy-propane torch but found the flame to be much too large. I improved it by pressing a short length of K&S brass 1/16" tubing into the torch thus reducing the size of the opening. Now the flame is only 1/4 inch in diameter. It's finicky to adjust the flame but does work pretty well. Someday maybe I'll purchase a Little Torch.