silver ring | Eileen Moylan

Sketching with Metal

04.12.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

Sketch in Metal not a finished piece

This week I’m working on a commission piece in silver set with a large oval cut emerald. I’m still in the early days of design but I decided to post some early photos of the work so you can see how it changes through the design and making process.

As you will know I love to sketch but sometimes acutally working out the design directly in metal can be more benificial. This is one of those times! The sketches just weren’t giving me a sense of how the form would flow when translated to metal.

So I cut out some copper and using a cheap oval stone I started to play around with the design. Once I have the rough design worked out in metal it’s back to the sketch pad to refine these ideas and work out dimensions.

Here are a few photos of the rough sketches in metal.

Sketch in Metal not a finished piece

Gold & Silver Stacking Rings Part 2

12.21.2011 by Eileen Moylan //

This is part two of a series on making stacking rings, to read part 1 click here.

Having made the silver rings I then needed to cut out the gold details and solder them on the rings.

Filing flat are on rings for gold detail

I begin by filing an area on the rings so the gold triangles will be able to sit flat on the bands. Then I cut the mark out the different size triangles on my gold sheet.

Marking out Triangles (and drinking tea!)

Because the gold details are so small they need to be held in a ring clamp when filing and cutting them out.

Once I have all the gold pieces cut out I place them on the rings to make sure everything sits nicely together and they will work in a variety of positions. I stick these on with blu tack so I can move them around easily.

When I’m happy with the size, shape and direction of each of the gold triangles I can start setting up for soldering.

It’s not a great photo as the sun started streaming in the workshop window. Once I’ve finished all the soldering I’ll post pictures of the finished rings.

Gold & Silver Stacking Rings

12.09.2011 by Eileen Moylan //

This week I’ve been working on a set of gold and silver stacking rings. I did a number of sketches and the customer decided on these rings with little gold triangles dotted across the three bands. I’m making sketch number 1 on this page with all the gold triangles going in different directions.

I’ve cut the silver wire and rounded it up to the correct size of ring. Sorry I forgot to photograph that part but if you want to see it have a look at the post I wrote on making a silver ring.

Once I have the rings set in place and the joint perfectly lined up I can being soldering. I begin by heating the entire ring and then once the heat is built up I can concentrate on the joint. I do this with silver as it is such a conductor of heat the joint would not hold the temperature unless the entire ring was already hot. The silver solder and flux is positioned on the joint and once it begins to melt I keep the flame on it. This is to make sure the solder runs into the entire joint and gives me a seamless joint. I let it cool down, pop it in the acid to clean the metal and then rinse it in water and scratch brush it using a brass wire brush.

With stacking rings it’s important that all the rings are exactly the same size and they sit perfectly together so I clean up the soldered seam and using emery paper clean up file marks on the edges of the rings. I use dowel rod with different grade emery papers to get into the inside of the rings. While it’s a slow process it’s best to start with the coarse emery paper and work your way down to the finest grade so you have less polishing to do at the end.

I also use a pig skin with polishing compound to give the flat edges a final polish before I begin the next stage of cutting out the gold triangles and soldering them onto the silver rings.

I’ll post photos of this next week…

Have a good weekend!

Video Blog on Annealing

02.11.2011 by Eileen Moylan //

One of the basic techniques you learn as a silversmith is how to anneal metal. Annealing is the process of heating your metal to soften it after it has been work- hardened with steel tools. It is necessary to anneal metal through the different stages of making so you are not working with a piece of metal that is too hard. This could result in the metal cracking or if you have a solder joint in your piece this could split.

Most people think that you just need to heat your silver and then quench it in water to anneal it, but there are a number of things you need to do to correctly anneal your metal. Using a piece of silver wire I will show how to correctly anneal metal and the difference in the malleability before and after annealing.

In this video you can see the benefit of having your metal correctly annealed. Not only does the metal ‘behave’ itself but it also makes hammering the metal much easier on you and your ears!

Silver Ring Part 3

12.20.2010 by Eileen Moylan //

This is part three of making a silver ring. If you want to see part two click here.

Once the ring has been polished I stamp my makers mark on the inside of the ring. This mark has my initials and can be traced to me by the Dublin Hallmarking office.

Then it’s off to the Assay office it goes! I fill out a form stating the quality and weight of the piece and then it is tested and stamped with a full hallmark in Dublin.

Since I was in Dublin this week I was able to pop in to the Assay office in Dublin Castle and collect my stuff.

And here is the finished piece, hallmarked, polished and ready to wear!

Silver Ring Part 2

12.17.2010 by Eileen Moylan //

This is part two of making a silver ring. If you want to see part one just click here.

When the ring has cooled down it is put in a diluted acid solution. This cleans the silver and removes any traces of flux.

The ring is rinsed with soapy water and scratch brushed. Scratch brushing is done using a brass wire wheel rotating slowly on a lathe. Here I am just using a brass wire brush to clean the metal.

The ring is hammered again on a ring mandrel. Once the ring is perfectly round the joint is filed to take away any excess solder that may be on the outside of the ring. If the inside of the ring has excess solder this should be removed before the ring is hammered on the mandrel as it may affect the shape of the ring.

The file marks are removed using a fine emery paper before the ring is ready for polishing.

Polishing is done on a lathe. This lathe has two cloth mops, one to remove the scratches from the ring and the other to give the metal a final polish.

Silver Ring Part 1

12.08.2010 by Eileen Moylan //

When I get an order for a piece of jewellery such is my enthusiasm to get started I forget to document the process for my blog! This week I decided to make a simple silver ring and photograph each stage of the process. Here are the photos from today’s work.

I first start by getting the piece of silver wire and measuring the length I need. This is determined by the finger size. Since this piece isn’t for anyone in particular, I’ve made it quite large as it should be easier to photograph.

Having decided on the length, I cut off the extra silver. The wire is held in a ring clamp (above) and cut using a jeweller’s hand saw. The saw I am using I got from Otto Frei in San Francisco. It’s an aluminium frame and unlike the traditional jeweller’s saw it is not as flexible so you don’t break as many saw blades. They say that they make the handle and frame red because clinical trials have shown that the colour red promotes accuracy!

I then use a ring mandrel (above) which is held in a vice to hammer the length of silver into a ring shape. This is done using a rawhide mallet so as not to mark the metal.

I then adjust the ends of the ring using a pliers. This is to make sure the ends sit flush with each other before soldering.

The ring is then soldered using a silver soldering paste. This paste is a solder and flux combined. Click here to see my post on silver soldering.

Bling for your buck.

12.06.2010 by Eileen Moylan //

With the Irish national budget only a day away and Christmas shopping on everyone’s mind. I decided to go in search of some recession-chic jewellery. You’ll be delighted to hear the gold and silversmiths didn’t disappoint!

The jeweller Andy Cooperman has a collection of work looking at the effect of magnification. In this recession friendly pendant he takes a small diamond and sets it beautifully with a 7x lens to magnify the stone. So a diamond which may be considered modest, with a little help from a lens looks unaffordable. A perfect illusion in these frugal times!

The other jeweller I found was Sarah Hood. I loved the use of organic objects in her jewellery. The acorn ring and necklace above are really good examples of combining precious metals with found objects. What Scrooge would deprive you of her jewellery when these jewels really do grow on trees?!

Christine Gandernack, Illusions of Grandeur

I found this piece called ‘Illusions of Grandeur’ in a book I have called ‘500 Necklaces‘. Unfortunately I couldn’t get any more information on the maker or other pieces in the collection. I love the detail of this piece and marvel at the fact that she went to the effort of cutting out each little section by hand. This attention to detail is what makes this piece work so well.

Hopefully this has proven that we don’t need a large budget to adorn ourselves with jewels. As long as there are creative makers out there we will always have an alternative.

Hallmarking Process

11.29.2010 by Eileen Moylan //

Now that I’ve soldered my silver ring and hammered it into shape it’s time to send it to Dublin for hallmarking. The only Assay office in Ireland is based in Dublin castle and has been testing and hallmarking precious metal since 1637.

If you want to get your jewellery hallmarked you first need to register with the Assay office. I’m registered as Eileen Moylan and was issued the makers mark ‘EM’. This mark is the first stamp on any hallmark. It is possible to trace the maker of any item which is hallmarked as no two makers marks are the same. The punch that I use has what is known as a ‘swan neck’ so I can stamp the inside of a ring. Once I stamp this ring with my makers mark I send it to the Assay office where they test the metal and add the other stamps needed to make up a hallmark.

The second mark, added by the Assay office, once they have established the quality of the silver is the mark of Hibernia. This Assay office mark has an image of a woman sitting with a harp holding a branch of some sort?! (I’ll research that for another post).

The third mark is the metal purity and fineness mark. This is indicated by a number stating the percentage of the particular precious metal present in the piece. Sterling silver which I used here is 92.5% silver and so the ring will be stamped 925. You can also request a fourth year mark to be added. This mark shows the year the piece was hallmarked which is indicated by a letter of the alphabet.