Valentines Day & The Secret Project
Feb. 15th, 2008 09:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vandyI have been working on The Secret Project for a while now, and finished it about a week ago. I didn't get it done in time for Christmas, or New years, so Hank got a really spiffy Valentines Day Present.
This is the first bit of mokume gane I have made, and it was actually a joint project between dad and I. He had never done any mokume before either, so I went out and bought a book on it, and decided to start with sterling and nickel silver rather than jump in and mess up with something *really* expensive like gold. We were also constrained to silvery colored metals since that is what H usually likes. The process was pretty neat, and H got me a rolling mill for Christmas, which made things go a lot more quickly. I am definitely going to try some more of this, I just need the time to get to it. And I have some of the billet left to play with, which will be fun. I will post some process pics later.
This is the first bit of mokume gane I have made, and it was actually a joint project between dad and I. He had never done any mokume before either, so I went out and bought a book on it, and decided to start with sterling and nickel silver rather than jump in and mess up with something *really* expensive like gold. We were also constrained to silvery colored metals since that is what H usually likes. The process was pretty neat, and H got me a rolling mill for Christmas, which made things go a lot more quickly. I am definitely going to try some more of this, I just need the time to get to it. And I have some of the billet left to play with, which will be fun. I will post some process pics later.
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Date: 2008-02-15 05:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 06:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-16 12:51 am (UTC):D
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Date: 2008-02-15 06:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 06:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 06:25 pm (UTC)That ring? is super spiff!
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Date: 2008-02-15 06:40 pm (UTC)We did the billet for this using the book's method, which is clamping the metal together and heating it in a mini-forge made for the purpose. Next time I am going to try the method where the metal is clamped together and put into a foil bag and stuck in the kiln, brought up to the correct temperature for diffusion welding the specific metals, keep it there (not sure how long I need to do this) and bring it back down. This should be way easier, assuming things don't accidentally melt. Much better than poking at the billet through a spy hole trying to see if it is hot enough, suddenly realizing that the uneven heat has caused the back to start melting since a drip just came out of the bottom of the forge, freaking out, trying to keep it at heat but not melting, etc. :-P Dad and I also ended up taking turns forging the billet down with a hammer before I got my Christmas present, so a rolling mill is not actually necessary, despite what the book says. It is much better exercise without a rolling mill... ;-)
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Date: 2008-02-15 06:45 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2008-02-16 12:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 05:37 pm (UTC)