new year

I can't believe that I've managed to get three weeks into the year without posting anything techniacl on here. It is not as if I've not been busy in the workshop, what with making a new spiky mace in silver and shibuichi:

1) A Christmas tree bauble filled with wax:

2) Hollowed out:

3) Stuck back together:

4) Lathed round:

5) Drilled:

6) Spikes Cast in Shibuichi:

7) Spikes cleaned by turning:

8) Ball cleaned by turning:

9) Assembled by soldering:

10) Final spike and bail screwed in place:

12) Finished mace pendant, awaiting chain:

Additionally, I've made a bracelet from an old file:

And have started work on a small production run in collaboration with my friend Zook, the "humble doodler"!

Zook and I worked together on the tattoo project for "Beneath The Skin" last year. This plasticine model will be scanned in 3D then made in wax for casting.

Also dug out an old piece which I made as a sample and which I forgot about: a ring made from a section of iron gas pipe and set with a synthetic ruby. This was made to see if I could make a setting without soldering or using traditional tension-setting techniques. The tube has been cut and the seat cut with a burr. There is nothing else holding the stone in place. It looks pretty good when polished:

 Now I'm working on a commission to make another bracelet like the one shown above, but which I can't put online until it is completed and it has been presented to the person for whom it is being made.