Get that Design on Silver- a guide to piercing sorta

A tried and true way to keep that design on your silver...
Some people use a scribe and scratch a line in or use a marker.
Not me.
I need a good visual contrast to see where I'm sawing.
Get your design on paper. Cut it close to the design.
Get your RUBBER CEMENT. Coat the paper and also the piece of silver with the glue.
WAIT. Let it dry up some.
Stick the two together.
WAIT.
Now you have a good stick of your design on metal that you can cut through.
When your done peel off the paper and run the rubber cement off.

See all those holes?
I made them.
First drill a tiny hole in each area you will be cutting out.
Next (the biggest pain) is undo the top part
of your saw blade from your saw frame,
insert it in the hole and put the blade
BACK in the frame and close it.
This requires you to put the handle on your right
shoulder blade and push forward as you close
and tighten your saw frame.
WHY?
Because if you don't you will be snapping
saw blades left and right.
You will do this over and over for each hole.
What you see here is 3 hours of continuous work.
How many blades did I break?
NONE.
Am I done?
No.
When I take the paper off will it look great?
No.
Now you know why I hate piercing.
Instead of using a tiny file it's best and less time consuming to use your saw blade in the saw frame as a file.
Sawing is a good test of patience.


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Work progresses

If you haven't been following along the posts below
explain the start of these hand buildt pieces of jewelry...



I traced the outside of the form on a piece of silver
then cut it out, making it a little bigger than needed.
I then stamped in the quit date of my non-smoker friend!
The bottom mark 925 is for sterling silver,
and the lizard is my hallmark-
(it is also tattooed on the arch of my left foot).

OK there was some pounding with a rawhide mallet
to get the piece as flat as possible.
Stamping distorts the metal a little, and we need
this baby flat for soldering to the form.
filing, filing, sanding, sanding
you know the routine....

Until we have both pieces flat with no spaces.



Ta Da! I already soldered it.
I used medium solder, because I used
the higher melting HARD solder to make the form.
We don't want things coming undone.
I watched as the solder crept its way around the box.
Can't have any holes because I'm going to fill
this with some fun stuff with color...
that comes later.
I have to make an inside form which will use
math skills which my brain has forgotten,
or I'll just wing it.


What's this? 2nd project in progress



Re-soldered it, made some adjustments to the bottom form.
Sanded down the tops of the bezels,
then totally pulled a brainfart and took some metal
off from the inside of the bezel. (OUTSIDE! ALWAYS!)
Its ok I still think the bezels might be a bit too high.
Once I make a mistake I usually stop
because it means I'm getting tired.

Next step check the stones in the bezel,
using a piece of dental floss underneath each stone
so you can pop it back out to make any adjustments.
Oh and the black... I oxidized the piece.
You will understand once I polish it.
Stay tuned...


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