Projects

Hello!

I wanted to thank again all the people who offered feedback on my flex
shaft question. I went ahead and ordered a Foredom flex shaft and a
lot of other tools/supplies I think I will need. When my boxes arrived,
I became dazed and confused at all the stuff and signed up for a class
that is being held this weekend. I have researched books, the web, and
watched videos but I still feel I need a class to get me going.

I have found that the books are helpful however I am not finding a step
by step project book. Sure there are projects, but the steps are more
generalized than specific. How many steps are actually involved in
polishing, cutting, and adding textures? So my question is, is there a
resource on the web or in a book that have step by step instructions on
different projects or techniques? I know Ganoskin is an excellent site
and I've been spending a lot of time researching there. Does anyone
have any other suggestions?

Thanks again for the feedback!

jenileo wrote:

Does anyone
have any other suggestions?

Everybody has different learning styles. Some of the advice you got
earlier was to learn *concepts* first, and then spend money on equipment
later. Looks like you went ahead and got the equipment without taking
that advice and getting an understanding of the processes and concepts
first. Seems you are still where you were before. Only dazed with the
abundance of the equipment.

If you understand the processes, then you don't need step by step
instructions, which lead to specific, limited, results and may not give
you an understanding of what needs to be done for another, different
project. Most step by step instructions are good for a limited project,
or a magazine article. They have a narrow focus. It would take volumes
to draft a step by step set of instructions on how to, for example,
become a competent goldsmith. You won't learn all the ins and outs of
stone carving overnight.

If you think a class will help, then by all means take one.

Some of the best and original workers are basicallly self taught. They
learned from their successes and their mistakes. They just went ahead
and started working to see what would happen. They even made their own
tools. Basically, don't be afraid to make mistakes, which are valuable
lessons in themselves. Understand the safety issues with the tools and
start working with them. If you get results you want, remember how you
got them. If you don't, then figure out what went wrong and try some
other approach. If you are still stuck with one specific problem, then
the newsgroup might help.


If I remember right, your projects seemed to involve a large amount of
specific knowledge that did not fit into just one activity, like
lapidary. You had a mix of requirements that spanned lapidary, carving,
and other skills. There is no fast and easy way to develop the knowledge
and skills needed for stone carving. Read a little and then try a
little. Take the class, and then practice variations. Above all, learn
safety issues, and how to avoid damaging your tools, and then start
experimenting and learning. Maybe get rid of the idea (if you might have
it) that learning has to be a process of being shown every step of a
way. Read a little, try a little. Read some more, try some more.

Hello

C. Gates wrote:

Some of the advice you got
earlier was to learn *concepts* first, and then spend money on
equipment
later.
If I remember right...

No, you have me confused with someone else. :0)

Earlier I had posted a question on Flex Shafts for silversmithing.
From what I understood this is an important piece of equipment and is
worth the investment since it is so widely used. My class did help this
weekend because I have a better understanding of how to use my flex
shaft as well as many other basic silversmithing techniques.

My desire for step by step silversmith projects is to help me
understand concepts and techniques. Again, I did get this from my class
this weekend, at least the very basic. Now the projects that I have
found online I understand a lot better and doing these projects will
help improve my skill through trial and error.

No one said anything about how hard you work out your triceps!

Thanks again for the feedback!

jenileo wrote:

No, you have me confused with someone else. :0)

Please accept my apology! I did indeed confuse you with a different
person, who was also inquiring about a flex shaft, but for stone
carving. Sorry about that.

Earlier I had posted a question on Flex Shafts for silversmithing.
From what I understood this is an important piece of equipment and is
worth the investment since it is so widely used. My class did help this
weekend because I have a better understanding of how to use my flex
shaft as well as many other basic silversmithing techniques.

Great. Glad the class was a help. Hope you can find a place where you
can maybe take one class per week over the course of a semester. This
lets the instructor give you a sequence of projects that progressively
help you learn sawing and filing, buffing and finishing, soldering,
bezel setting, etc. That's sort of the sequence used by the folks I used
to teach with.

My desire for step by step silversmith projects is to help me
understand concepts and techniques. Again, I did get this from my class
this weekend, at least the very basic. Now the projects that I have
found online I understand a lot better and doing these projects will
help improve my skill through trial and error.

Don't know what you ultimately would like to be making after you learn
the basic skills. I remember that one of my old friends would get so
frustrated when his students wanted to skip over projects that developed
mastery of one very simple tool -- the jeweler's saw. Although some
jewelry with monograms and pierced designs are a bit out of fashion
these days, you can create some great contemporary pieces with strong
graphics. Pendants, rings, etc. It takes practice, and patience, to keep
from breaking blades and make the saw cut go where you want it to -- all
with one of the least expensive, and simple tools in the whole workshop!

Last week I was helping a troop of girl scouts get their jewelry merit
badges and was showing them some beautiful Hopi pieces that had
intricate designs cut out with a jeweler's saw and then overlaid onto a
solid background sheet. Great example of work that reveals the artist
and the skill, not the need for complex tools.

Projects that just involve pierced designs have great potential for
creativity, let you use the flex shaft for drilling holes and finishing
the metal, and let you make some great jewelry without the need for
soldering. If you like the technique, you can do pierced work in gold
and platinum, metals that have the strength to support extremely
delicate lines and patterns. Also, you can create the designs on your
computer and transfer them to the metal to be cut out.

For piercing work, you can develop some Zen-like states of mind to
establish that relationship between your eye, hand, and metal.

Have fun!

C. Gates wrote:
Please accept my apology!

No problem! :0)

I remember that one of my old friends would get so
frustrated when his students wanted to skip over projects that
developed
mastery of one very simple tool -- the jeweler's saw

Yes! I found a bunch of object templates online of flowers, stars
hearts and I'm ordering some copper sheet so I can practice sawing.
That was the hardest part for me in class and it took FOREVER, and did
I mention my sore triceps!!

Thanks for the great info! I can't wait to get started on my own!!

Have fun!

I will!! :0)

TTFN!

On , in hõ "jenileo" wrote:

Yes! I found a bunch of object templates online of flowers, stars
hearts and I'm ordering some copper sheet so I can practice sawing.
That was the hardest part for me in class and it took FOREVER, and did
I mention my sore triceps!!

Hold the saw frame gently. Not a death grip. yes, you move your hand up and down, but
it's a relaxed thing. You control it, but let the saw do the work. If your hand is
getting sore, you're working too hard. If you doing the above, and your triceps are
still sore, either your chair is at the wrong height (you may be sitting too low. Your
upper arm should pretty much just drop down. Your forearm is level) so things are just
awkward, your you must really need the exercise. Sawing requires control, carefully
watching what's going on, and all, but it shouldn't be all that tiring to your arm.
Your eyes, and your patience, perhaps. But it really should be a gentle tool to use,
especially sawing flat sheet.

Peter

Thank you Peter!

It is my left tricep that is the most sore from holding the metal down.
And you are right, the first day I realized my chair was too low. I
adjusted it and sawing went a little better the next day. I also tend
to tense up my shoulders now matter what I'm doing and I have to keep
reminding myself to relax. I'll get it! Practice makes patience! ;0)

TTFN!

On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 19:04:24 -0800, in |õ "jenileo" wrote:

Thank you Peter!

It is my left tricep that is the most sore from holding the metal down.

If you're finding the blade is catching on the metal and pulling it up on the upstroke,
you might try a different, perhaps better brand of blade, or a smaller blade size.
Except for very thin metal, it generally should be a fairly smooth operation, not
requireing a death grip on EITHER the saw, or the metal. Small pieces of metal are more
problematic, sometimes solved by using a pair of pliers (line the jaws with masking tape
to avoid marring the metal) to hold the metal. Another trick that sometimes is useful.
Often, with use, the V grove in ones wooden bench pin gets worn and enlarged enough that
small bits of metal are hard to properly support on both sides of a saw cut. So take a
piece of sheet aluminum, something perhaps 1/16 inch thick (around 1.5 mm or so) or
maybe a little more, and perhaps 3-4 inches square, more or less. Drill a hole in the
center, and use a sturdy wood screw to affix this to the bench top near the edge, or if
that's not feasable, use a new wood bench pin, and affix this near the front, after
trimming off the first couple inches of the pin so the remaining wood front edge is
thick enough for the screw. Now you can support your metal right at the edge of of the
aluminum and just saw right through both. Once you've done this a bit, you'll have some
slots and narrow gaps sawn into the aluminum that you can use like micro V grooves in
the standard bench pins. Or, if you're using fine blades and sawing thin metal so the
thicker aluminum is hard to saw, then saw some narrow slots in it beforehand. either
way, the thinner aluminum will be less likely to leave your work unsupported or grab the
saw blade under the work. When the aluminum edge gets too chopped up, rotate the piece
of aluminum to a new fresh edge.

Or, if you're sawing a lot of larger pieces, and still don't want to be holding it down
all the time, you can get a bench pin that has a built in clamping device. I never
liked that as much, but some people do.

I also tend
to tense up my shoulders now matter what I'm doing and I have to keep
reminding myself to relax. I'll get it! Practice makes patience! ;0)

Try good music. When I really need to get in the groove and do precise work for a
while, I put on something like my old Glenn Gould recordings of Bach on the piano. His
amazingly precise playing tends to put me in that same sort of mood... Mozart is pretty
good at it too... Your mileage (and music choices) may of course vary from mine.
where I work, for example, my music choices have a tendancy to be less than fanatically
popular... (sigh) And I hate headphones. Between glasses, optivisors, loupes, etc,
I've got enough hanging off my face already...

Peter

jenileo wrote:
C. Gates wrote:

Please accept my apology!


No problem! :0)


I remember that one of my old friends would get so
frustrated when his students wanted to skip over projects that

developed

mastery of one very simple tool -- the jeweler's saw


Yes! I found a bunch of object templates online of flowers, stars
hearts and I'm ordering some copper sheet so I can practice sawing.
That was the hardest part for me in class and it took FOREVER, and did
I mention my sore triceps!!

Just remember to let the tool do the work -- and lube the blade with
something like beeswax.

--RC

jenileo wrote:
Thank you Peter!

It is my left tricep that is the most sore from holding the metal down.
And you are right, the first day I realized my chair was too low. I
adjusted it and sawing went a little better the next day. I also tend
to tense up my shoulders now matter what I'm doing and I have to keep
reminding myself to relax. I'll get it! Practice makes patience! ;0)

TTFN!

If your arm is sore from holding the metal down you're holding it _way_
to firmly. If you need to hold it that firmly you're doing something
else wrong -- probably pushing the blade into the work too aggressively.

You could always clamp the work to the bench pin. In fact that's a
special pin called the "Piercer's Pleasure" which does just that. But in
my experience you don't need to clamp it if you're using the saw correctly.

--RC