Just in Time ...

This weekend my wife and I decided that the "fancy" chain was going to be a bracelet.

No... it's not that I ran out of patience... the thing got quite heavy.  Making a necklace out of this type of chain would be some heavy !

We made a clasp and large jump ring of sterling silver, and soldered it to the ends of the bracelet.

It just needs a bit of cleaning and some jeweler's wax to complete it.

It was a lot of fun to make together, we're already thinking about a next joint project !

Arts and Craft Copper Bracelet...

This is a copper bracelet that I made during the Christmas break.

I recycled a piece of copper pipe that I cut lengthwise with a hacksaw.  I used a cold chisel to spread the tube open and flattened it on my anvil with a ball pein hammer.

I cut the piece roughly to the size of the bracelet, deburred it and cleaned-up the copper surface.

I drew my interpretation of 3 McIntosh roses on the surface with a sharpie pen.  I then drilled small holes in the corners of the shapes in order to thread my jeweller's saw to cut-out the shapes.  I refined the shapes with small jeweller's files and cleaned-up the edges with ribbons of sandpaper cloth.

I then cut the bracelet to size and shaped it with my plastic mallet against a wood form.  I have not decided on the finish for the piece, so it's sitting on my desk for now.

Silver Bracelet...

This is a silver bracelet that I made while attending a class in the fall last year.  

I cut the silver segments, then gave them a full turn twist, while holding them in pliers.   I did not anneal the silver as I wanted the segments to hold their shapes.

I formed the connecting rings and filed a flat at the joint.  I then got a lot of practice soldering the rings to the end of the segments.

I made the elongated jump rings, connecting the segments together, then soldered the joints of the rings.

I made the catch in a similar pattern of the segments and jump rings.  I soldered a small connecting ring to the catch bar and attached it to the last segment.  The catch ring is sized so the bar just slides in but will not accidentally come loose.

The bracelet then spent a bit of time in pickle to remove the soldering by-products.  I then carefully filed and sanded all the solder joints.  Finally it spent a few moments in the tumbler filled with stainless steel shot.