[Jewelry making - Article 00627] - [Orchid] More than one way to complete a job...

[John Donivan]

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A Message for those less Experienced

    There have been several threads here that made me ponder this topic.
    Let me use a bezel setting as an example. We have a calibrated black
    onyx cab, and a 14ktY bezel ring to set it in. So, how do we do
    that? In Hawaii, I used to put it in a clamp and bang it down with a
    leather mallet. Took about 60 seconds to set a stone. You could push
    away with a bezel pusher, you could rub it with a burnisher, use a
    steel hammer and a punch, or a reciprocating hammer. If you have a
    bezel punch that fits, you could use that. So, the question being,
    which way is the "correct" way - the "proper" way? Well, they all
    are. The point being, it doesn't really matter HOW something is
    done, what matters is that it's done. I have a big, fabulous piece,
    not jewelry. It's a kit, in a box, with about 150 parts to it, and
    once I had a visiting class. As their instructor stood there nodding
    her head and smiling, I said, "Aside from the specialties (lapidary,
    bookbinding, Mokume), this was made with hammers, saws, files and
    pliers - and a torch. Certainly there is much to learn, but by and
    large jewelry is not made by tricks, it is made by skill, which
    comes from practice, which equals experience. If you need to make 25
    intricate little things, there's no magic lamp to rub, you just have
    to sit down and make the 25 parts. Good tools will help with that,
    but mostly you just bend the little parts, stick them together, etc.
    I had a private showing of Faberge', and I could look close at it. I
    thought, "I can do everything they did". Meaning, as I looked at the
    work, I could say, "They did that there, and this here, and that's
    that tool, and that technique." There were no mysteries. What it was
    was two things: A fabulous design, and massive quantities of fine
    workmanship -- many, many hours. But they were made with saws,
    files, pliers and hammers. What I'm trying to get at is, don't
    agonize over things - if the stone is set, it's set. Just because you
    don't have some gizmo doesn't mean you can't do the work, just use a
    vise, or dividers, or whatever suits. You don't NEED a tube-cutting
    jig for $75, it's just handy. Be confident, it's your work, not mine
    - do YOUR thing. You don't need fancy chemicals, or tools, or
    anything to do almost everything relating to jewelry making. The
    specialties are different, but they're specialties: Mokume,
    engraving, etching - they all require the specifics relating to them.
    One of the threads that made me think of this is the leaky torch
    thread. Now people have been using soapy water (actually dishwashing
    liquid) to check for leaks since the invention of tanks, so how come
    all of a sudden we "need" this special "fluid" (bet: fluid=soapy
    water) This being America, and soapy water is free.............. 
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