The Viking Knit Chain

 A few years back my Norwegian wife taught me how to weave this beautiful Viking Knit Chain and I use it regularly to create awesome pendants with my agate cabochons.

Normally I use 24G copper wire but when I want a challenge, I'll use 22G. The wire is "woven" around a wood or metal dowel.

As you can see, at this stage it's pretty irregular and doesn't look like much. After I have a length of about 8 inches, I'll take it off the dowel. By this time I will have used over 50 feet of wire. The diameter is the same as the dowel.

I have made myself a draw plate out of oak and this is what I use to "stretch" the chain.

Starting with the largest diameter, I draw the chain through successive holes until I get to a diameter of 7/32 inch. Now the chain will look like this.

As you can see, the weave has become much tighter and the chain has a little more than doubled in length. To make sure it doesn't unravel and to enable the addition of a clasp, I have to make end caps. These can be bought but I prefer to make my own out of 16G copper wire.

I then attach sliding copper bails to the stone so it can be hung on the chain. Some I make but the filigree ones are commercial.

Then the piece is completed with a hand made copper clasp.

The chain can also be used to make bracelets.

Every once in a while I make the chain out of sterling silver wire and then I use a spectacular sterling silver sliding bail.

It takes me about 4 hours to weave the chain and another 1.5 hours to do the finishing but it's a lot of fun and the finished product is well worth it.

Making Copper Bracelets

 While cleaning out the "Lap of Lapidary, I came across a piece of copper chimney flashing that had been saved from a derelict 100+ year home. So this copper is definitely "vintage". I knew I had to make something with it and decided to make bangle bracelets.

Here's how it looked after I cut the rough forms.

It looks grungy, beat up and ugly or in my eyes, perfect!

After a lot of grinding, filing and sanding and using the metal roller to add some texture,  here's how it looked.

The next step was to shape it around my form. To do this, I heated it up and slowly wrapped it around the form. Then, when that was done, I had to work harden it by hitting it with a rubber mallet. Here's how the first one turned out.

We liked that so much that we decided to get a little more adventurous. This meant adding more (distorted) texture and then "pickling" to give it an antique sheen. This is what we got.

These have turned out so well that we have decided to make a few more and get even more adventurous. I love the idea of creating something from material that had served its purpose as a chimney flashing and giving it a totally new existence. It's not every day you get to create a brand new "antique"!

These will be available on line or in the shop for $45 CDN plus shipping. We're gonna go crazy so stay tuned to see what comes next!

Fall Comes To The Artist's Mark

 Well, the weather certainly has changed. No more lounging on the deck and no more work in the "Lap of Lapidary" because all the work has to be done in water and that water is now COLD!

Fall brings with it new birds (the Jays are back) and animals.

This guy is now a regular customer at the salad bar that grows in the French drain at the back. And some of the existing animals have started seeking warmth and comfort.

We still get spectacular sunrises but it now comes up in a different spot.

And since the pace is a little slower, there are family get togethers. Here we are with grandgirl Sydney and daughters Lisa (from the Bahamas) and Sandra at a great Indian restaurant called Dhaba in Halifax.

If you like Indian food, this is the place for you!

But mostly, fall is when I move from working on stones to making jewelry and guitar picks with them. The first order of business is to choose the stones I want to work with for pendants and ear rings and, where necessary, drill them. This has been done with only a few disasters. Next, I have to make more Viking chain. I'm starting with a few in 24 gauge copper but will eventually switch to 22 gauge copper and 24 gauge sterling silver. Here's how they look unfinished.

This chain was only about 8 inches long when I wove it from about 50 feet of wire but after drawing it through my oak draw plate it is now thinner, tighter and about 18 inches long. By the time I add the clasp it will be 20 inches- perfect pendant length. I'll also be making bracelets from the chain.

I have some absolutely beautiful stones to work with this winter so check back and see how this one turns out and what other pieces come off the bench.

And if you are looking for holiday gifts or yarn, just call the number on the blog and we'll open for you.

Summer Project Complete

 Every spring I set out with a goal to finish enough rough rock to allow me to replace the cabochons and guitar picks I have sold through the summer in the shop and on line and this year I set out with high expectations because I had beautiful agate and jasper to work with.

I set my Cab King up so that I can use the coarse wheels on the left and also access the trim saw to cut shapes etc..

This actually makes the first stage of rough shaping go much faster. The plan is to take all pieces (this year about 60) through this phase and then remove the trim saw attachment (great saw by the way) and put back the three finishing wheels and polishing pad. And the plan was going perfectly until my sciatic nerve started to really act up and I couldn't stand up long enough to use the machine. So here I was with 60+ unfinished cabs and cold weather approaching. I needed a plan "B".

My wife Vickie (A.K.A. The Real Artist) knows how to use our Lot-O-Tumbler so we decided to finish them with it. The first problem was coming up with a big enough load and we did that by adding smaller, round, polished silicate stones. We sort of picked up where the wheels had left off by going with 600 grit and using more than usual to take into account the larger surface area of the smaller rocks. Normally I go one day on this grit but this time we went two. Vickie then moved on to 1000 grit silicone carbide pre polish and then to tin oxide polish. In both steps we added more grit and went two days. Finally, she did a burnishing cycle with Ivory Soap and again, we used more than normal.

The results were more than acceptable and there was virtually no breakage or damage. Here's how the total load looked.

And here's how it looked when all the round and small stones had been removed.

Now that I look at it, there were probably more than 60 pieces. But I ended up with some great cabochons,

and awesome guitar picks!

Would I go this route again in the future? Probably not simply because I love the process and I think the Cab King finishing wheels do a slightly better job. Also, you can't finish pieces that have crystal druzy pockets this way. But this process had it's advantages. First, it was faster and second it saved the wear on the finishing wheels but most importantly it gave us a way to finish the job with me out of commission!

New Pieces For The Shop

We have been very busy of late and while it's nice to see your work being appreciated and leaving with a happy customer, it means I have to get back to work.

Right now I'm working on cabochons I made, creating upcycled copper bails in a manner so they can be interchanged to suit the customer. I have an amazing stock of Mexican Crazy Lace Jasper and here are a few finished pieces.

 

As you can see, the colour and patterning on these is absolutely stunning! And these stones are rare since it is now difficult to obtain new material.

But we have beautiful local rock as well. We have a rock called Stilbite that can be very colourful and exhibit amazing patterning. Here's a great example:

And of course we have amazing agate and jasper.

These can be purchased in our shop or online. Hope to see you soon!

The Rock Cutting Has Begun!

 Summer is here!

And it's finally warm enough for me to work in the shop with water. So the saw is humming and we've had some pretty awesome cuts so far. Here's a stone with a lot of copper oxide on the surface.

 And sure enough, the inside didn't disappoint.

You can even see a spot of native copper just to the left of the thumbnail. We also cut some very nice vein agate.

And some awesome plume /moss agate.

I just love the patterning and colour on this one so there is a really nice cabochon in its future.

Stay tuned with more cuts to come. And if you are in the neighbourhood, stop by and say hi and pick up your free tumbled rock. Take home a piece of "The Neck".

The Process

 I am not a jeweler per se. I am a lapidary. To me the most important element in any piece is the stone so settings are created to best show the stone and keep it safe. In this particular case, I was working with a stone exhibiting amazing patterning so the challenge was to create a setting that didn't cover it up. Step #1 was the design.

I positioned the stone on the paper and located the three shallow tabs where they would be clear of the best patterning and yet keep the stone secure in all directions. I cut the paper (roughly) and repositioned the stone using 2 sided tape. Then I folded the tab extensions up and drew the tab shapes and lengths. I used the square outline to cut a piece from my upcycled copper sheet and then cut the copper plate to fit the design. Then it was a matter of doing a LOT of filing until the plate matched the paper outline. At that point, I switched to sandpaper (400 grit -12,000 grit) to create burnished areas and other areas where I left the patina and character intact. Using a metal punch, a hole was made in the top extension to accommodate  the jump ring. At that point I carefully bent the 3 prongs until the stone was firmly held everywhere.

This agate is really amazing and I thought it deserved a special sliding bail. So I created this one and even added a little copper bead to "cinch" the neck.

The real problem was getting the colouring right on the picture. I can assure you it is much more dramatic in person (a photographer is another thing I am not!). Next step was to choose a complimentary premium leather cord and choose the length. I settled on a dark red to pick up the red in the stone and a length of 52 cm. (20 inches). The stone was hung on the leather and I finished it with a hand made decorative neck clasp.

I think the final piece is a real show stopper! Available on line or in the store and remember, I sell cabochons so if you would like to work with some beautiful rock, just let me know.

See you soon.

By the way, I have just passed 130K (non bot) page views on this blog and I would like to thank all of you for being part of my adventure.