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Old 09-01-2008, 11:24 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Tennessee
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Default Re: Multi-Dimensional Sterling Bracelet

Thank-you "M" ...

Hope everyone is having a great labor day weekend. No vacations here in the middle of nowhere unless I wanna watch my "hobby" farmer neighbor drive his tractor around and around and around. Haha!!

... now onto the cutting sub-subsegment of this western bright cut sub-segment.

Wriggle the #38 around the backbone as described earlier ... don't mind the small scratch, getting a scope shot while holding tools to the work is a challenge. As a note, most minor scratches will be cut out, covered during execution or buffed out during the final steps.



Here are the completed wriggle cuts



We begin the bright cuts. This is the most difficult part for the beginner because of the control needed to make these cuts. Practice in copper plates making cuts in both directions. The cuts that flow to the right will use the opposite tip of the graver as I explain them here with these cuts moving to the left. If you walk out of a class feeling frustrated ... this will be the single reason why.

I like to make a small bright cut which is for the top of the previous leaf before making the belly cut and cap cut.

This cut can best be described as a "cat claw" cut. When cutting to the left as in this example, make the cut using the right tip of the 45 flat....



Make the belly of the bright cut beginning at the start of your previous cut (using the left tip of the 45 flat when cutting to the left). Roll the the graver to the right to widen the cut. You should have a tapered "V" as the two cuts are connected.



Next is the "cap" cut. This is the bottom of the next leaf and the top of the bright cut.



Here is the bracelet with completed wriggle and bright cuts ....

I should have added another leaf or two in the larger scrolls as I like to have the liner fill the leaf. More bright cuts are better too. Gotta have the bling bling!



Next is the liner application. I ended up using the 18-10 for this entire piece because of the large leaves. If I had a larger liner for the large scrolls ... I would have used that on those ...

Begin the liner on the backbone and run it into the leaf. Start the next liner run at the backbone where the last one curves into the previous leaf. This is just one way of doing this. I think it looks pretty good and gives nicer flow than using a separate liner around the backbone with separate cuts into each leaf.



Here's a shot of the piece with all liner cuts completed at this stage of cutting.



Next come the leaf end cuts. This adds a another bright cut, cleans up liner cuts.




Now this thing is pretty much done. Last are some small cross cuts with the liner at the ends of each leaf. Also, long liner cross cuts across two scrolls where they originate from a common point.

Here I have lightly sanded with the 4/0 paper one last time before I run this over the buffer quickly and put it in the ultrasonic cleaner (with Magic Luster rouge remover and warm water).



Since this is the bottom layer of the open-work and these are going to be soldered together with a decorative wire on the edge, I am not going to do anymore to this. Normally I would do a wriggle border just inside the edge then diamond cut the edges by rolling the 45 over the edge.

As for cutting Argentium. This stuff came "dead soft" and is a little harder than standard sterling. I noticed a little more resistance in cutting which I had to get used to since this is the first Argentium I've ever done. It's really no big deal.

I'll post a photo of this after it's been buffed and cleaned when I begin the second segment of cutting the open-work top part of this bracelet.

I will cut the outline of the stencil posted previously with a 120 degree graver, drill holes for the jeweler's hand saw blades in each of the areas to be cut out.

Then we travel to see my old friend Don Reid in Clay County. He's a fellow hermit, a retired jeweler and now makes pewter. He's got all the gear to cut and solder silver. Besides ... his wife is a darn good cook.

Catch ya later,

Chris