ocean jasper inlay cuff

[mx244mom]

This is the start of a beautiful thing

[mx244mom]

Ok form and start putting the stones in piece by piece

[mx244mom]

All the pieces are in place start polishing for days it seem.

[mx244mom]

But in the end you can say I did that.

The top side is a green ocean jasper and the ends are more red so you have two ways you could wear it. You know us girls have to color coordinate.

[Mark]

Love it!  Gorgeous!!!

Looks like there is metal between each chunk of OJ.  Do you somehow bend that down to help hold the stones down and cover the join?  I am guessing you also glue the OJ pieces in place.  I hadn't really considered how to do it, but now i see that it looks like you round the pieces after you mount them on the bracelet, not before.  I guess that it would be really hard to round them individually beforehand and almost impossible to get them to match up on the edges and to the shape of the curve.

Mark

[Ken S.]

Fantastic:

Assumptions I'm making about the fabrication:

1) Sterling silver?

2) Metal spacers are soldered to the channel?

3) OJ is epoxied in place?  What epoxy?

Once again a fabulous job

Ken S.

[mx244mom]

Yes sterling silver
metal spacers and rock are two part epoxy in place

Mark you are right but some do cut the stones before they set them but I am not that good. The silver spacers are shaped when you polish the rocks down.

[domdeslagons]

Great job, the result is very nice. I don't work with metal  , but I guess I would have done the same with setting the stone before cutting them!!!

[southerly]

Very nice work, thanks for the WIP.

David

[Mark]

How thick are the sterling spacers?  From the finished product, they seem to look thicker than from when you glued them in place.  That is why i was wondering if they were bent over to help cover the gap between stones.  But i guess that the spacers just look thicker or maybe the grinding/polishing will expand them just a touch.  I remember reading that polishing or buffing tends to flow the metal just slightly which helps make it shiny.  Never really thought of it, but maybe the metal does slightly expand.

I think i was mistaken on how people make rings and bracelets with rounded stones.  I thought that they curved the back to match the band of the ring or bracelet, but i see from your work, that if your pieces are not too big, that they can be flat on back and its just the outside of the stone that is curved.  That makes it a lot easier than trying to round the backs to fit the curve of the band.

Anyways, your bracelet is really, really nice.  I have been admiring Southwest Style Indian work on bracelets for awhile and have wanted to inlay stone with metal.  After seeing yours, i want to do it even more.  I can picture so many different styles of stones, colors, and patterns.  As soon as i get my equipment back, that is my next project.

Mark

[mx244mom]

Good morning Mark

 The spacers are 18g silver and yes it is thick but you can put any gauge you want. When you polish the stones down the silver can flatted if it does you polish in the opposite direction to get rid of the excess silver. the back of the stone is curved a little so it wouldn't rock in the channel Here is a ring I did in the same class.

[mx244mom]

This is another students work but you can see that she hinged her bracelet.

[hulagrub]

Very nice work!

[Mark]

Very Kool!

Its good to see how things are done.  I would probably have started out all wrong and tried to really curve the stones.  I think it is much better putting it together and then grinding / polishing it to shape.

Am i seeing things or is that a horse head and some kind of fat rabbit on the top of the one bracelet?

Mark

[Back]

 

I love it. Make me think After a lot of thought I asked myself why I haven't tried something like that. I guess I am a freak about cross contamination. Have you ever seen any of that? Like metal build up on any of your wheels?


Love it

Bless
Shawn