Jewelry Boxes - Koa Wood, Walnut and Mahogany

Jewelry Boxes - Hawaiian Koa Wood, Walnut and Mahogany.  I made these as an assignment in the CWU Wood Design class Spring 2016. 

 Construction Pictures:

This project started when I bought a board of acacia wood while in Hawaii.  It is a special species of acacia that only grows above 1,500 feet.  I had seen some boxes in the Gallery One and wanted to try to make one, or two.

lots of clamps.  maybe more like all the clamps.

Eburgchan - digital art!

Howdy!

My attempt to create a Chan for Ellensburg.

In Japan every town and business seems to have a 'chan' which is basically a mascot.  Chan means 'cute little'.  Here are examples:

 Ellensburg didn't have a mascot and it is a Rodeo town, so I decided to make one:  Eburgchan.

 

Scorpio Ring in 14k

This is similar to the silver scorpio rings I have made before, but without the enamel

I felt that the gold had enough presence without adding a color

Here are some pictures of the construction.  It was made from a necklace I bought at a thrift store. I spend a lot of time in thrift stores and garage sales, sometimes it pays off.

Well constructed necklace with a fancy clasp.  The construction was the give-away that it wasn't costume.  Gold jewelry is not constructed in a shoddy manner.  Plus it had a mark they missed on the catch.  I saved the catch.

Sterling Pendant

This is a pendant made sterling pieces left from other projects.

Alchemy Lego Floor Lamp

Here is a project that has nothing to do with metal-smithing.  

Or does it?

I always wanted to make a Lego lamp.  

The little blue and red transparent pieces just seemed to be begging for a light inside.

So I waited to find Legos at yardsales and whatnot until I had enough.  But it couldn't be just a bunch of random legos.

I decided to make  a lamp that tells the story of Alchemy.  The base has the four classical elements of Water, Wind, Air and Fire.

cardboard regatta boat - The Brown Trout #2

This is a boat I made for the local cardboard boat regatta.

A young friend and I decided to enter.  He wanted a fish.  So we made a "Brown Trout".

He wanted a trout, and since it was going to be a "Brown Trout", I gave it a racing number of #2

The basic process was to get up real early and go down the alleys downtown looking for large pieces of cardboard:

Cardboard.... check.

Scorpio Ring in 14k yellow and rose gold

This is another of my favorite pattern/no pattern ring.  This one is in 14k again, but two different colors of gold and highly polished.

This one started out like the rest:

Sterling, 14k, Topaz and Moostone Masonic Jewel - Ellensburg #39

This is a jewel made for a Past Master of Ellensburg #39 Masonic Lodge

 There was a time when it was common for the presiding officer for a fraternal organization to be presented with a 'jewel' or badge of office after the completion of his term.  I have a collection of these.  This is one I made for a friend and a member of my lodge, Ellensburg #39.

This custom has fallen away or has been replaced by purchasing a pin, likely stamped out of pot metal in china.  I think this is sort of a bummer.

This one was constructed from a vintage sterling spoon which bore the F&AM marks an gold from old and broken masonic lapel pins.  Sort of giving these old objects a new fraternal life.

Diamond Ring Trio

This is a three ring set I made for my wife.  Top is white gold with rough black diamond, center is white gold and rough grey.  Bottom is Palladium and 1/2 carat cut diamond.  The rough diamonds are of the industrial grade meaning that they are not the kind that could be cut.

The fancy diamond has a rough construction band, the rough diamonds have refined bands.

One hard piece was determining how to get them to 'nestle' if worn together.

Fun project, but it took me a long time....

Scorpio Rings - Sterling and enamel

Scorpio Rings - Sterling and enamel

I've made maybe 6-8 of these over the years.  This first one was for my wife and it was one of the first rings I ever made.  Other people seem to like it, so I have made more.

The pictures above aren't very good.  Maybe I'll get some more.

Here are some pictures of the construction.  These are mostly made from scraps of silver left over from other projects.

left overs... again?  yuck.

planning where to put the blue tube-set enamel

little more planning, trying for some balance

Gold Chased Ring

 20k gold man's ring with a chased center of the band.

This is the chasing  pattern that I rather like, it is like the surface of the moon.

This was the source of the recycled gold...

I actually bought this at an estate sale.  I'm pretty sure that the former owner of these teeth was done with them.  The black one probably hurt.

After carefully removing the teeth, with a ball-peen hammer, I melted the gold into a loaf shape

I split the loaf in half with my jeweler's saw....