Jessica Jones Jewelry 3 Fall Final 2015 by Jessica T Jones

Original Drawings

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 04:02:39 UTC

When I started this project, I wanted to make a pendant of a moon. After looking at different pictures online and discussing my project with Mr. Kaiser, I decided to make the moon a smaller part of the piece and to focus on a tree instead. I decided to create a three layered pendant with the top layer as a tree, the middle layer as a circle with a moon cut out, and the last layer being the background for the moon. The background was eventually changed to be a smaller piece used to fill the cutout in the second layer.

Top Layer

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 04:29:04 UTC

I started working on my project by tracing the drawing of the tree on to copy paper. Then, I glued the drawing to a piece of copper metal.

Prepared to Saw

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 04:38:58 UTC

Continuing my work on the top layer, I used the a small drill bit to drill holes in each of the open spaces in my drawing. Before drilling the holes, I used the dimple maker to indent the metal in the middle of each of the open spaces. I wanted to saw out all of the space in the circle that was not the tree.

Top Layer Finished

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 04:48:05 UTC

I sawed out the empty space from the drawing. When I finished sawing, only the circle and the tree cutout were left. I started by sawing out the smaller areas and moved on to the larger ones. This helped make sure that the metal was big enough to saw while I cut out the small areas.

Second Layer

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 04:53:26 UTC

For the second layer, I needed to cut out a circle that would eventually be a moon. To do this, I took a second piece of copper metal and measured where the circle should be when the tree overlapped it. After I knew where the circle should be, I punched out the circle from the metal.

Prepping for Soldering

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 04:56:08 UTC

Before I solder the two layers together, I need to clean both layers with abrasive paper. In order to solder, the metal needs to be cleaned. I repeated this process each time I needed to solder for this project.

Soldering Layers One and Two Together

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 04:57:28 UTC

In order to solder the tree and the moon cutout pieces together, I used hard solder. I started by putting flux on both pieces, and then I put pieces of solder all over the back of the tree. Later, I cut away everything outside the circle, so I did not solder the outside edges. I used a torch to melt the solder, and once it was melted, I put my project in the pickle.

Marked Sides to Saw

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 05:03:06 UTC

Because I eventually wanted the pendant to be a circle, I need to saw the remaining edges away. I marked four different parts of the circle. After sawing them out, I would be able to see how large the silver piece for the back should be. (However, after doing so, it was decided that cutting out a small piece of silver and soldering it into the cutout would be better.)

Sawed Out Marked Sides

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 05:06:35 UTC

I sawed out the sides to the circle, and after realizing that the circle was too large to punch out a circle for the back, I decided to punch out a smaller circle to fit into the cutout.

Third Layer

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 05:09:20 UTC

After making that decision, I punched out a piece of silver metal from a silver sheet. I proceeded to file the edges of the silver circle until it fit flat in the cutout hole.

Circle Sawed Out

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 05:10:45 UTC

After that, I finished sawing out the circle around the tree. I left the top part without sawing it because I needed to saw out a part which would eventually be made into a loop. After I sawed out the circle, I filed the edges of the pendant.

Soldering in the Moon

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 05:13:43 UTC

After punching out the circle, I soldered it onto the pendant. I put flux on both the moon piece and the pendant, put medium solder on the edges of the moon, and used a torch to melt the solder. After the solder was melted, I put it in the pickle. When I took it out, there was a gap between one of the sides of the moon and the cutout hole. In order to fix this, I melted more solder into the gap.

Drawing the Loop

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 05:16:35 UTC

I used pencil to draw the shape of the unconnected loop at the top of the pendant. Eventually, I will have soldered the top of the loop piece to the back of the pendant to create the loop.

Sawing Out the Loop

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 05:18:16 UTC

Next, I used a saw to cut away the rest of the circle with the loop piece on the top. After I sawed the pendant, I used a file to smooth out the edges.

Soldering the Loop

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 05:19:46 UTC

After the loop piece was cut out, I used pliars to bend it into a loop. I put flux on the top of the loop piece and the back of the pendant, put solder between the pieces, and used a torch to melt the solder. Once the solder was melted, I put my project in the pickle.

Cleaning the Project

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 05:23:43 UTC

While cleaning up my project, I filed all of the edges and the corners of the tree branches until the project was smooth. Then, I used the Flexshaft to clean and polish my project. This allowed me to remove excess solder and the discoloration from the soldering process.

Patina

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 05:25:52 UTC

Because my project has a moon in it, I wanted to make the remainder of the metal dark. I used copper so I would be able to change the color of the metal using patina. I first colored the second layer with the green patina. I used a small paint brush to cover only the second layer. After 10 minutes, I used paper towel to remove the excess chemicals. Then I let it sit over night. I repeated the process with black patina on the top later of my project.

FInal Project

jjones29 — 2015-12-17 05:28:56 UTC

After I finished dying my project, it was completed.