[Jewelry making - Article 00021] - Re: [Orchid] Proud father / message to newbies

[John Burgess]

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    G'day;  My suggestion in this thread is to get in touch with young
    people's organisations, like The Scouts, Guides,and so on.  To
    encourage children to branch out a bit and see what they can do if
    they try, and to widen horizons, these organisations offer  badges
    for learning about elementary skills in all kinds of things from
    carpentry to cooking.  They like to bring in knowledgeable people
    outside the movement for this purpose.    Get in touch with a few
    youth leaders, and offer to show their members some skills in
    jewellery making, but first be prepared to demonstrate that you are
    a  person capable of being trusted with the responsibility of having
    a young person with you for a few hours. (There's a lot of predatory
    animals about these days) 

    I have done this and have enjoyed the experiences greatly.  I
    suggest they make a ring in sterling.  

    Firstly they watch whilst I melt scrap and pour it into a home made
    rod mould.  I do that myself because it can be a bit dodgy
    manipulating molten metal for a first experience. 

    But they have to use a rolling mill to reduce the rod to square
    wire, then reduce the square to a strip, explaining why it has to be
    frequently annealed.  They size their finger, using a piece or copper
    or florist's wire, then cutting it to get the length to cut the ring
    strip. Clean up the edges etc then stamp a very simple design (using
    my home made stamps).   They turn up a ring and make the ends meet
    without light showing through then they silver solder the ends using
    flux and a paillon of solder. They pickle and clean up the whole
    thing with a file and graded abrasive papers, polish the inside with
    a flexishaft, slip it on a tapered wooden mandrel and polish the
    outside on buffs.  Sometimes they like to sulphide the ring and
    polish it off so just the stamp indentations are black,  but it is
    pointed out to them that it will soon wear off.  

    Finally I give them a nice looking computer generated signed
    certificate with their name and date and a list of skills they had
    seen and used.   I get a great deal of satisfaction when a parent
    rings me up to say they couldn't believe that their child had made
    this beautiful thing, and to thank me.   I know for a fact that a
    girl aged 12 I taught for her Scout badge still treasures her ring
    and certificate; - she was recently married. 

-- 
Cheers for now,
John Burgess;   johnb AT ts.co.nz of Mapua Nelson NZ 

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