Etsy and other "artists"

So, ever since I joined etsy there has been this other jeweler (actually 3 other jewelers), that seemed to be picking up ideas from my website. Ideas like jewelry designs. I let it go and tried not to let it bother me until I found this:



Let me give you a side by side comparison (the two below are mine and predate the picture above):


I realize that there is nothing that I can do about this. But it makes me really really really angry, since I had never seen anything like my pebble rings when I started making them. Now this guy on etsy thinks he can just lift whatever he wants from my shop and use it in his own. And you know what!? He can. It almost makes me want to leave Etsy and just sell to stores. I wonder what he does...do you think he stops by every month or so looking for new designs? Perhaps I should just make it easier for and send him my design sketch book. That way he could be ahead of the game.

Ok, I'm done being petulant. But really, I sort of wonder why he didn't just save himself the trouble of photographing and just download the pictures from my etsy site.

The worst part about this sort of stuff is that it really takes the joy out of what I do. It really just saps me of all my creative energy and joy.

Setting and Polishing!

FIRE! Okay, fire doesn't have anything to do with setting stones, but I'm involved in a passionate (and reckless) love affair with my torch. Which is a meco midget. For all of you jewelry people out there, this torch IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE MINI TORCH. You can find it here.


What happens to wood if you drop something hot on it.


Ok, here is a picture of a ring after I have cut a seat for the stone that I am working with. I use what is called a bud bur (you can use a ball bur as well) in my flex shaft.

In this picture I have already inserted the stone and moved some metal down over the girdle.


Inspecting!


Jewelry people! These are magic! Magic! Highly recommended. Shofu polishing wheel, knife edge. You can get them here. I like both the brownie and the greenie. Won't hurt most hard stones, but keep them off of peridot and amethyst.

Photo from Unsuccessful casting attempt #1

Casting Excruciation

Not exactly what I was hoping for. I did something wrong, obviously. Or many things wrong, perhaps. I was aiming for something more like this:


This is what I think happened:

Diagnosis:

1) Casting flask temperature was too cool. 900ºf was not hot enough for this particular alloy. After a long chat with Jeff Hoover at Hoover and Strong today, I now realize that I need to increase the flask temperature to 1150º.

2) Sprue was too large and long. Slightly shorter sprue, smaller diameter.

3) Sprue location was wrong. I'm not quite sure how to sprue towards the setting though. I'll have to experiment. Perhaps not in gold, though. :-|

4) I did try to do two casting last night, with my lovely assistant, who was instrumental in drying my tears after the second try didn't turn out:

(award winning flask mover in chief, executive kiln-programmer SME)

The first one was even less successful than the second, if you can believe it. This was due to my premature, over-eager metal pour. Seriously felt stupid on this one, when the metal just plugged up the hole because it wasn't even properly liquid. Silly. Mental note, count to 2 mississippi after the metal has reached liquidus. Also heat the beejesus out of the crucible before adding metal. Think red hot. HOT!

4) Take more care with wax carving. I'm fairly new to the wax carving scene and I totally used the wrong kind of wax on my first carving (see above). It was too sticky and hard to work with. The second carving was much, much better, but was lost in the first disastrous casting attempt.

I was so disappointed last night that not even a Hagen Daaz bar and two episodes of Battle Star Galactica could ease my anguish. But at least nothing exploded. (Besides my head, that is.)

Holidays! Holidays! Holidays!

New holiday shop banner. I think I like the way it looks cold and stormy. Just the like the sky here in Oregon. :-)

More on the debacle that was my first attempt at casting yesterday later......

The Big Day

Dearest singleB readers, if you have been following my blog you will know that I am the proud owner of a new casting set up. I purchased said set up forever ago and have yet to really use it. But that is all going to change today. As I type this, I have two molds in the kiln, steadily burning away the wax carvings inside. Everything is prepared for casting at around 5pm tonight. I'm incredibly nervous, and I don't know why. The worst thing that will happen is that they won't cast all the way, or that the mold will blow out (which I don't think will happen since I was very careful to make the end of mold pretty thick). But I am using an alloy that melts at the very margin of what the investment (plaster of paris like stuff that forms the mold) specifications can handle. So I'm a tad nervous about that. That darn palladium white gold that everyone loves. I think I might get some special investment for high temp. metals if this doesn't work out. I would also be incredibly disappointed and would have to tell the two customers whose projects they are that I will have to delay further. Which would be bad business...I hate to delay things even further.


Wax carving area. Messy with tools.

Sharp pokey and scrapey things to carve with.


Little wax detailers. Like little saw blades/files with a handle

Electric wax pen. That little metal tip can be heated to different temperatures by turning that dial on the blue box. The tips can be changed as well.



Carving on sprue in casting flask.


Investment in mixing bowl.

Two molds that have been poured and are drying out.



Okay, I will let you know how it goes later today. Nervous nervous nervous!

And because I like pretty pictures:

I love custom

Plain:

Fancy:

Preferences, anyone? I'm torn. At first I really liked the plain, but then I added the sapphires in the bands and wasn't so sure anymore.

I never use photoshop on my photos, sometimes good lighting does all the work for you. You really can't beat natural light, which here in the NW is a little scarce during the winter. I'm not quite sure what to do on cloudy days...sometimes I can't wait for the sun to come out to take a photo of a piece. Suggestions?