Critique Request Inlay into silver pendants

[Dani Girl]

Ok. I have a new found appreciation for you guys/gals who do this kind of thing. It takes the patience of a saint... which I am not and therefore there are some flaws.

Sterling silver pendant. 24k gold inlay. Grooves cut with 90 or 116 and undercut with onglette, sometimes followed up by Ronald Baptiste screw driver point to enlarge the groove. Which I did too much of in a couple of spots lifting the silver up goo far.

No matter how long you hold 26Guage wire over a candle the end won't melt. 28 will. Little gas torch wasn't doing it either.

My entire cavity could have been deeper probably. The only time the back or the pendant displaced was when I used the hammer and punch on the blobs into the small spaces on the antlers. Held in grs pitch bowl. The Tigers eyes also did that but held in hot glue. I thought the silver is thick... that will stop it.

 

[Dani Girl]

 

[MoldyJim]

Wow! That is freaking awesome work, the detail on the bulino is superb.
You are an inspiration.

 

[Dani Girl]

Thank you Jim that means a lot.

 

[southern_lights]

tip breakage

With regards to your earlier question, I have read somewhere on this forum about "dubbing" the tip of the graver and it works great. A micro facet placed on the tip of the graver reduces breakages and lengthens the time between sharpening.... assuming a 40-45 deg face, i use about a 70 deg angle and wipe the tip by hand over a ceramic stone two or three times very lightly...i use this for my carbide tools on stainless steel.

 

[Doc Mark]

Dani,

I think that you did a great job on the entire piece. However, I'm going to be a little bit of a critic on the pose that you chose for the elk. The overlapping hind legs are in an awkward position giving the poor beast a clumsy stance. I know that it was probably taken from an actual photo, but that should not deter you from giving the viewer a more elegant pose. Either the right hind leg should be further forward or the left hind leg slightly back, giving a greater view of the furthest leg. It would create a better balance. Please don't feel that I'm critical of your ability. I just felt that in this case a little help couldn't hurt.

 

[jerrywh]

This photo is a 1750 Jaeger patch box cover I did a few years ago. The two sterling pieces are only .030 thick. I backed the silver with cerosafe low temp alloy by pouring it in the back side. I then glued it on a hardwood block for the sculpting and gold work. After the chisel work is done you can melt the cerrosafe out with hot water at 212° F or less. You cannot allow the melted cerrosafe to come in contact with the gold or it will alloy with it. Any metal containing lead or tin will desolve gold a the temp of the low alloy or alloy with it.

 

[silverchip]

Been watching this thread , interesting. Dani , while it might be that you are wanting a flush or slightly raised inlay on sterling ,you might consider using a karat gold alloy and brazing it in the cavity for security and forgo the normal teeth and undercut method.I have done both methods myself and find they are equal in time and both are valid but for a pendant or piece of that nature, you don't gain anything trying to do a traditional inlay except personal satisfaction of accomplishment at the expense of time. That being said, you did a nice job with it !!!!!

 

[jerrywh]

I agree with Silverchip. You really can't use teeth on silver to hold an inlay in or overlay gold. The teeth just aren't strong enough. Better to silver solder it in.

 

[Houlihan]

Seeing the progression of your work on both pieces was super helpful, Dani. Thank you.

 

[Dani Girl]

I agree with Silverchip. You really can't use teeth on silver to hold an inlay in or overlay gold. The teeth just aren't strong enough. Better to silver solder it in.

Would you tin the bottom of the cavity with solder... drop the inlay in( cut of out sheet )... then add chips of solder around the edges to fill the gaps?

Yes these pieces were done on spec just trying to push to see what I can do. Yes many hours of my life went into that one.

 

[Dani Girl]

This photo is a 1750 Jaeger patch box cover I did a few years ago. The two sterling pieces are only .030 thick. I backed the silver with cerosafe low temp alloy by pouring it in the back side. I then glued it on a hardwood block for the sculpting and gold work. After the chisel work is done you can melt the cerrosafe out with hot water at 212° F or less. You cannot allow the melted cerrosafe to come in contact with the gold or it will alloy with it. Any metal containing lead or tin will desolve gold a the temp of the low alloy or alloy with it.

What is the gold work on this? Leaf? Is the cerosafe harder than pitch or thermoloc?

 

[Brian Marshall]

It is metal. In a word, yes - it is "harder" than either pitch or thermoloc would be at room temp...

In outer space, and frozen - maybe they'd get pretty hard, but I've never tried that. Yet.


Brian

 

[Dani Girl]

Thank you Brian.