[Ganoksin] [Issue #127] Tips From The Jeweler's Bench

The Ganoksin Project
S i n c e 1 9 9 6
Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Techniques
http://www.ganoksin.com

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In This Edition:


1. David Secrest - The Man with X-Ray Vision
2. The TAO of Bur
3. Innovative Approaches to Small Shop Success
4. Finding and making your own wax carving tools
5. Introduction to Japanese Alloys
6. Manufacturing a Sterling Silver with Platinum Bracelet
7. Manufacturing a Double Domed Pendant
8. Studio Visit - Tom Joyce

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In This Edition of Tips From The Jeweler's Bench
http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm

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1. David Secrest - The Man with X-Ray Vision
By Barbra Brady

David Secrest is to the manor of craftsmen born. Coming from a family
of creative people - his father a potter, his mother a painter, his
brother Peter now a respected contemporary glass artist - he notes that
his training derived from hands on observing and assisting, rather than
through formal education. His father and brother Phil built and
operated a ceramics studio in New York State, which Secrest considers
his primary training ground. His uncle later opened a small gallery and
studio in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, where Secrest worked during summers
while in high school....

Complete Story:
http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/david-secrest.htm

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2. The TAO of Bur
By John Shanahan

Bur Goodtip, a legendary bench jeweler shows how sometimes a tool is
not just a tool... We are taking a break on the back porch of his home
and studio. I have spent the last five days up here with Bur, one of
the great-but-largely-unknown repositories of bench jeweler arcana, and
in that time I have found that Bur takes upward of a dozen breaks
during his six-hour daily work routine....

Complete Story:
http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/tao-of-bur.htm

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3. Innovative Approaches to Small Shop Success
By Suzanne Wade

When most of us talk about innovation, we're talking about new tools
and techniques. But innovation isn't exclusively about technology: it's
about the way technology is used. A look behind the scenes in many
small shops proves that new technology is often a response to
innovative impulses, rather than a source of them. The result of such
questioning may be new tools, merchandise, or techniques. In almost all
cases, though, being innovative for these small companies means
changing the way they do business to be more efficient, creative, and
productive....

Complete Story:
http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/shop-smart.htm

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4. Finding and making your own wax carving tools
By Charles Lewton-Brain

Casting is the most important method of commercial jewelry production.
Even for small workshops, lost-wax casting is often the fastest method
for creating a jewelry piece, especially if there is any complexity to
it. However, one of the things that jewelers forget when carving wax
models for lost-wax casting is just how different wax is from metal.
They often use techniques and tools designed for working with metal for
carving wax, even when it does not make sense to do so. By approaching
wax as wax, not metal, jewelers can come up with new and faster ways of
creating wax models for cast ing....

Complete Story:
http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nena...er-carvers.htm

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5. Introduction to Japanese Alloys
By Eitoku Sugimori

Japanese artists have contributed significantly by using their unique
alloys in innovative combinations. Perhaps the best example of this is
mokume-gane, a lamination process in which layers of various alloys are
manipulated to create a rich pattern. In addition, Japanese work of
many periods shows highly skilled inlay techniques where, again, the
complex pallette of Japanese alloys is used to achieve subtlety and a
controlled use of color....

Complete Story:
http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nena...ese-alloys.htm

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6. Manufacturing a Sterling Silver with Platinum Bracelet
By Mark B. Mann

To demonstrate how pulse-arc welding performs on sterling silver, this
bracelet was cast, finished and assembled without the use of a torch.
The six links immediately adjacent to the clasp on the bracelet are
made with a common sterling silver alloy and the other five are made
using the new sterling silver alloy developed by Marc Robinson of ABI
Precious Metals that contains platinum. This article highlights
pulse-arc-welding techniques used for making this sterling silver
bracelet....

Complete Story:
http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nena...r-platinum.htm

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7. Manufacturing a Double Domed Pendant
By Mark B. Mann

This article covers techniques for making an 18-karat double domed
yellow gold pendant. The front side will have a bezel set round
brilliant tsavorite garnet. The back side is open and pierced. Tack-
and pulse-arc welding technology were used to make the finished
piece....

Complete Story:
http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/domed-pendant.htm

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8. Studio Visit - Tom Joyce
By Ellen Berkovitch

The anvil anchors his studio. Rows of hammers and tools along one long
wall communicate with the storage of rolling stock on another. Hung
from the ceiling, a forged iron spike pierces a fluted-edge home of
newspaper. That is a Joyce sculpture, exploring the confluence of the
long-lived and the temporal. Two Piranesi prints of Roman ruins appear
to have taken on the aura of the studio-ash and patina being
by-products both of the particular and the universal realm of ideas
Joyce mines at the anvil....

Complete Story:
http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/tom-joyce.htm

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