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Ring-A-Day: Bad Sinter

Made this heavy BronzClay ring assuming that I had understood what went wrong previously. The ambient temperature was 47F when I turned the kiln on (it’s cold at Resistor on the weekends), so I added 20 degrees and an hour to the regular program — kinda like baking a bigger bird. Well, it looked good out of the charcoal until I hit it with the brass brusher, or maybe I should say the brass crusher. I quenched it when the temperature was around 500F, so that little bit of moisture combined with the bronze powder to make mud in a thin metal shell.

Back to the drawing board on the kiln controller.

357/365

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Ring-A-Day: Split Shank With 3 Gems

I am reading about gems and how they were incorporated into rings in Rome. Accordingly, I’m learning to set and design with stones. It’s a lot harder than it looks. When you see them in a jewelry case, they’re neat and orderly. Your eye can pick up a hairs’ width difference if everything is not perfect.

The prongs on the left are forward by a tenth of a millimeter, and yet you can clearly see it in this macro image. Practice, practice, practice.

350/365