One of the classes that I took at Bead and Button was Relics, Riveting, and Staples by Susan Lenart Kazmer. I have an incredible collection of rock slices, beach glass, shells, coins and other artifacts for which I was looking for new ways of working creatively. This class was teaching techniques that I had not worked with yet, such as sawing sheet metal, riveting, and metal stapling techniques. So the above ring is the project that I made in the class, using these techniques for the very first time.
So I thought it was pretty funny that I pretty much set my space up like the controlled chaos at my home studio. Some of the tools in the foreground (from left to right include my task light, wire brushes, bag of hand tools, anvil and pillow, jewelers hammer, ruler, jewelers saw, sandpaper, Foredom bits, and Foredom flex shaft. In the background is the 15+ pounds of stones and such that I lugged in, not knowing what I would want to use.
The first step was selecting the piece and scoring the shape in the metal sheet (brass in this case). I had a nice piece of petoskey stone that appealed to my love of rough stones.
Then I followed the shape of the stone to create a "frame" for the piece. Then I carefully drew the prong shape that would hold the stone in place, making sure that they were long enough to wrap securely over the edge of the thick stone. I cut this shape out with a jewelers saw - a first for me. Angi was kind enough to coach me on my sawing technique. It was a little difficult, and I broke one blade in the process. I think that I was supposed to lubricate the blade, but I didn't, since the class was not specifically instructed in that. Next time I will and hopefully that will improve the ease of the sawing process.
I sanded the piece, then used a textured hammer to give it interest.
Honestly, in future designs I will be a bit more judicial with the use of the textured hammer. In the end, I felt that the detail was overkill next to the texture and design of the stone. But that is a common designing mistake for beginners: overdoing it on the details.
I then antiqued the piece in liver of sulfur, to give it a nice aged quality, and worked it some more to give highlights/lowlights.
I created a wide band from contrasting silver sheet metal. I carefully hammered it around a ring mandrel to shape the piece into the right size for my finger.
In this picture, I am halfway through the riveting process. First one side of each piece is drilled. Wire is hammered at the end to give it little nail-like caps. Then the wire is drawn through each piece and cut, with just enough wire to create another little cap by careful hammering. Then the process was repeated.
Then the stone is set into place by the careful bending and hammering of the sides and prongs.
So this is an interesting test piece, and I can't wait to utilize these techniques to create other rings and pendants with unique rocks, glass, and coins.
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