In the editorial office of JEWELIRUM we discussed for a long time what to come up with Valentine's Day - February 14.
What do you usually think about on this day? They are probably deciding what something warm and special to give to their soulmate. Everyone knows that a cute piece of jewelry is always a suitable “candidate” for a gift, but everything has been said about this a long time ago..
And then an idea came to our mind: the best way to convey your feelings is by making a gift with your own hands. So let's find a place to help make your own jewelry?
Step 0. Preparation and definition of the task
The editors delegated two employees to the project - Sergei and me (Olga). Sergei and I agreed that we would try to find a studio that conducts master classes in our north-eastern district of Moscow. And if everything works out, then Sergey will make the decoration (for his other half), and I will do the usual - photography.
This is how we found the Rostock jewelry studio, whose managers agreed to host our “film crew” and include us in the next master class on Saturday, January 25th. We were advised to dress “in whatever you mind” and have spare shoes and cookies with us :).
We did not know in advance what kind of decoration Sergei would make. But they formulated this for themselves target: to understand how realistic it is for beginners without experience to independently make something beautiful and of high quality that they would not be ashamed to give to their loved ones.
Step 1. Instruction
Sergei and I (on the left in the photo) arrived at the studio around 11am. Inside the studio (a medium-sized room with desks along the walls) there were already 3 or 4 people, clearly “old people.” They were completely absorbed in their work, and at first no one paid attention to us. Following us, two “newbies” like us entered, also for the master class. When the group gathered and looked around, teacher Lyudmila came up to us - nice woman with a quiet voice. She found out who’s name was (and then never made a mistake, even when the number of people increased significantly), and said that there would now be a safety briefing.
We go through instructions: be careful with the torch, don’t grab the wires with wet hands, handle hot metal with tongs:
Teacher Lyudmila, a jeweler with extensive experience and simply a patient person:
All the beginners decided to practice making classics of the genre - simple silver rings. We, after consulting with Lyudmila, settled on the suspension. We wanted our first decoration to have a stone, and pendant with stone It is considered a less labor-intensive product than a ring with a stone.
The one on the far right is our planned type of pendant (a simple but figured frame - cast, with a cabochon inside). A ring and a loop for the chain should be attached to the cast:
Step 2. Selecting a stone for insertion
We agreed in advance that we would buy ornamental stone from the "studio" collection. Lyudmila brought us three boxes and offered to choose what we liked best.
Sergei is busy making a difficult decision:
Stones to choose from:
As a result, “ moss agate"- in our opinion, the most beautiful, milky-white stone with an unusual natural pattern:
Step 3. Melting the “material” - scrap silver
Melting metal is probably the most spectacular process. And in my opinion, the most risky. This is where you need to be extremely careful and follow safety instructions exactly. Just remember that silver melts at a temperature of approximately 960 degrees..
The following are involved in the smelting process: petrol or gas burner, fireclay crucible(a cup made of a special type of clay), mold(something like a rectangular spoon with grooves), container with water(for instant cooling of the smelted metal), and various auxiliary tools such as long tongs.
Workplace with a gasoline burner:
A little larger: here we first came across an association with medieval dentistry :)
Lyudmila lit the burner with an ordinary lighter and directed the fire towards the crucible with a silver crowbar. The material had to be melted until it turned red and turned into a liquid state.
The process is fascinating:
The metal melted. Lyudmila took the crucible with tongs and, without ceasing to heat it with a burner, began to pour the resulting alloy into the mold.
The mold was lowered into a container of water, and then the following silver bars were shaken out of it:
The piece of silver we received is in the hands of Sergei and mine. At first it looks unattractive). It is from this that we will make the frame for the pendant:
Step 4. Rolling
This stage turned out to be quite long. But, unlike the melting, we did it entirely on our own. The essence of rolling is to give an initially shapeless bar of silver a given shape with certain edge sizes. That is, we make a full-fledged “blank” from a block.
A rolling apparatus with grooves (streams) on the sides, and a smooth surface of the shafts in the middle. Streams give the workpiece the shape of a block with a square cross-section, smooth surfaces make flat “ribbons”:
Sergei sent the block into the first stream. Next, his task was to turn the workpiece 90 degrees (back and forth) and re-send it into the stream in the same direction. The screws on top were tightened after each pass. Then the part was moved to a “shallower” stream, and the process was repeated. And so on until the edges of the required size are obtained.
Operating the rolling machine resembles working with a manual meat grinder. A line quickly forms behind the meat grinder operator:
Passage results - different stages:
When right size(in millimeters) was obtained, the workpiece had to be fired (to increase ductility).
The output is a thin silver “ribbon” from which we will make the base of the cast:
Rolling is a slow process. While Sergei was turning the handle of the “meat grinder”, I was turning my head accordingly and observing what was interesting around me.
Someone's tools and drawings - design bureau:
The girl casually burns or melts something - as if she is standing at the kitchen stove and stirring food..
A workshop participant who joined later melts the material:
The most crucial moment:
The ring is soldered (more on the soldering technique later), as well as working with a jigsaw:
The surface of the ring is processed by embossing (to obtain an embossed ornament). The ring is tapped with a wooden hammer to level the surface:
Stage 5. Caste formation
Finally, the rolling was done. You can proceed to the main stage of work. Here we couldn’t do without Lyudmila - we clearly didn’t have enough skills and equipment for the first time.
In general, the process is quite simple in essence, but complex in execution. The silver “ribbon” should frame our stone, following its contours. The metal must “remember” its shape (if this does not work, then it is subjected to additional firing).
This tool with semicircular tips helps to bend the corners correctly:
Stage 6. Soldering caste
The excess length pieces of “tape” from our frame for the stone are cut off, and then the edges of the cast mold need to be soldered to each other. Soldering is done using burners(we used its autonomous version right at our workplace), and also solder(our alloy with the addition of tin), gumboil(yellowish liquid for removing surface film), bleach (citric acid) And water(for cooling the metal).
Before soldering, castes are dipped in flux. Next, in order to solder the edges to each other, they are connected closely, heated with a torch until reddened, while simultaneously heating the solder, and then the solder is grabbed with a thin “knitting needle” and brought to the crack between the edges. The hot ball of solder rolls into the gap, filling its surface with itself.
The most difficult moment is to make the ball “jump” to the right place:
After this, the product is dipped in bleach and washed with water. The first part of the work is ready:
However, we have only done half of the cast so far. The stone will fall out of such a “frame”. A second contour is needed, like an inner rim, which will support the stone inside the frame. To do this, Sergey fires a new piece of the workpiece and rolls it to the state of a thin bar-wire.
Second cast outline nested in the original frame:
Cut off the excess. Lyudmila straightens the triangle shape with semicircular pliers:
The difficult part is soldering the inner circuit to the outer one. Here again we cannot do without Lyudmila. This operation will require a lot of solder - there are quite significant voids between the contours.
It was and became: both cast circuits before and after soldering:
In fact, the frame for the stone (the base of the pendant) is ready. Next we have to make and solder a ring and a loop for the chain.
Since Lyudmila personally supervised all the students, sometimes we had to wait for her for quite a long time. We used this time to look around.
Meanwhile, there has been a noticeable increase in people, everyone is enthusiastically doing something:
Step 7. Placing the stone in the cast and adjusting
But before we start making the ring and loop, we need to achieve a perfect fit of our moss agate inside the manufactured caste. As one would expect for the first experiment, the stone did not want to fit, and I had to work with tools (correcting the corners) to fit the stone.
Lyudmila helps with adjusting the caste, including using a wooden hammer:
Cast acquired perfect shape to “receive” the stone:
Step 8. Making and soldering the ring and loop (ear)
This task did not seem so difficult to us - we just needed to bend the silver wire. The main thing is to master the right tools - pliers with tips suitable shape so that the ring becomes round and the ear becomes angular (round pliers are called round pliers).
And we have more or less learned to cope with the task of soldering one piece of metal to another. More precisely, we understood the principle. The most difficult thing was to decide which corner (and whether) to attach the ring to. As a result, we chose the angle at which the decoration “hung” the most in an interesting way, with an asymmetrically creeping left corner.
As a result, Sergey successfully soldered the ring to the cast. Then the eye was inserted into the ring, and its ends were soldered together.
On the left is “was”, on the right is “has become”. The soldered ends of the ear, however, had to be evened out a little more with a rasp:
Step 9: Sanding
By this point we have already spent time in the studio more than five hours(including a short tea break) and a little tired. On the other hand, we finally got into the atmosphere and stopped feeling like complete newbies. The open fire from the burners around stopped causing at least some emotions, it became clear which units made what sounds, and in response to questions like “what do you have in the jar?” began to confidently answer - “bleach.”
In any case, the hardest part was already over. And in the next hour we had to put the silver parts of the structure in order. For example, sand our caste using sandpaper (the shortest and easiest step):
Step 10. Making uneven edges at the cast
To make the pendant look a little more interesting, we agreed with Lyudmila’s suggestion to make the frame “uneven edges”. To do this, Sergei used a file to cut out indentations around the entire perimeter. These notches will later be used to bend the edges of the frame when the stone is in place to hold the stone inside.
Step 11. Polishing the cast
At this stage, for the second time, we were visited by an association with a dentist's office. The drill used for polishing was driven by the apparatus - one to one, like a “dental” drill. But our setting for the stone began to shine dully and generally for the first time took on a “marketable appearance”:
Step 12. Securing the stone in the frame and finishing
A pleasant manual stage in which you very quickly see the results of your work. Characters- plug and haste dealer And ironer.
With help " dealer” (otherwise - “boot”) - a rod with a tip in the shape of the letter G - Sergey pressed the sections of caste between the notches so that they were adjacent to the stone.
The photo on the right shows the result:
However, the metal itself looked uneven in the “pressed” areas and needed to be straightened. For this we used " ironing board"- a tool similar to the body of a fountain pen:
During the time spent at work, it became completely dark, and inside the studio it even became cozy.
The photo shows a view from the next workplace:
Step 13. Final polishing
Polishing metal on a polishing machine turned out to be the most polluting procedure, “thanks to” a special paste that was periodically lubricated with the bristles of the roller. It was after her that Sergei acquired real “jewelry” hands :).
The part had to be held with both hands, otherwise it would easily fly out:
I don’t know why, but the entire polishing unit reminded me of a plastic bread box. And Sergei looked very organic:
“If you see your reflection, you can finish polishing.” We see. Finished:
Step 14. Washing the product and taking photographs of the result
We did not take pictures of the washing process due to its banality: we simply took the pendant to the toilet and washed it with a Fairy toothbrush. At this point, the work on creating the decoration was officially completed. There was time 17:00 - total 6 hours held in a jewelry studio.
But we filmed a lot of the final result, because this is precisely why we spent so many hours trying. We ourselves liked the pendant very much, and everyone present in the studio no less. But most importantly, Sergei’s wife appreciated the gift - she was very happy! Moreover, the decoration created a real sensation at her work. Some female colleagues were sure that the pendant was brought from abroad, because “they can’t be found here.” Others were simply touched and seemed quite envious of such an unusual gift.
So, we present our first piece of jewelry from the JEWELIRUM brand:) - a silver pendant of the author’s work “Forest Nymph”:)
Pendant - front and back view:
We ourselves did not expect that from uneven parts soldered to each other, with this coating and stains on the metal, we would suddenly get a completely shiny and even decoration.
Final photo - Sergey with his creation:
Our conclusions:
Remember, at the very beginning of the text we formulated our goal? We wanted to understand how realistic it is to make real jewelry on our own, without experience.
After this master class, Sergei and I decided that, of course, the product successfully made in one lesson was largely due to Lyudmila, a friendly teacher and professional jeweler. On the other hand, Sergey, in principle, mastered all the techniques and the general approach, and carried out some stages entirely on his own. Most likely, he could make the next similar decoration with minimal help from a teacher.
But our main conclusion was different. Hand made jewelry- this is serious and painstaking work. Even if the teacher could deal exclusively with us, without being distracted by other students, it would take no less to produce one pendant four hours
DIY ring? It's not difficult at all! Detailed master class will tell you with photos and instructions how to make a ring at home. Good luck!
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Ira Fried - jeweler, designer, artist. She makes amazing pieces that are minimalistic and very vibrant. Metal meets wood, gold meets silver, to wrap around your finger in a graceful ring. Pendants are fragile twigs, earrings are fragments, drops. Periods, commas and quotation marks - stylish and “tasty”, just the way I like them :)
In her work she is guided by two rules:
Simplicity will save the world!
There are no ideal forms in nature and I like it!
Ira is inspired by Scandinavia and minimalism, which determines the simple, northern beauty of her jewelry.
Ira has equipped a real workshop at home, because working with metal requires working on machines, being able to handle burners and even a dental drill(!)
But it’s always better to see once: Ira showed us the whole process of creating a product, in this case, rings, from start to finish.
"So, let's begin!
First we collect required amount silver and melt it in crucibles into a total mass.
When the metal becomes liquid, we pour it into the mold. The metal is fixed in it and cools instantly...
Just like this “bullet”. Bullets can be different depending on what “caliber” we have chosen.
Next, in order to get closer to the shape of the ring, we need to make a strip from the “bullet”. To do this, we need a Roller machine, where metal is rolled between two shafts. First, we level the square to the required size in the grooved shafts, and then we roll it in the flat shafts and get a strip of the required thickness.
When rolling metal, it needs to be periodically annealed, or as jewelers say, “released.” This is done in order to relieve stress from the metal so that it can be rolled further more easily.
To get a specific ring, for example size 17.5, we need to measure out a strip of the desired size. They suggested an excellent formula that I always use: strip thickness 1.7 times 3 + ring size 17.5 times 3 = 57.6 mm (required strip length). Then we need to connect the edges and close them into a circle.
They must close very tightly, only then can we quickly and well seal the ring. We do this using a torch and solder (an alloy of silver and other metals).
When the ends are firmly fastened, we put this strange shape on the Rigle and, to spite the neighbors, knock on the future ring with a wooden hammer, giving it the ideal shape and the desired size. And now we already have a full-fledged ring that can be put on your finger, although it’s not very beautiful yet :) Let’s start decorating it. First, we throw it into the bleach for 2-3 minutes and the blackness disappears from the ring.
Then we carefully work with a file, smooth out all the irregularities and release the beauty of the metal.
Don’t forget to collect silver filings, they will later turn into equally beautiful rings :)
After the file, we go to the drill and sand the ring a little more with sandpaper. And now, the ring is ready! But we don’t have a simple ring, but with a duck.
We scratch an approximate drawing on the ring and move on to all well-known dental burs. No, no, we won’t treat the teeth yet, but they will help us make a duck.
Somehow, working with burs, we first get something similar to a duck, and then a real one. Quack quack!:)
In order for the duck to be clearly visible on our ring, it needs to be blackened. There are different methods of blackening, one of them is very simple and I use it for small parts. Blackening is done using a candle and iodine. So, first you need to smoke the required area, and then cauterize it with iodine.
Making jewelry is a long and painstaking process that requires several years of training, knowledge of physics, chemistry and expensive special equipment. We know this and spend hours searching for the jewelry we want in stores. Many people even develop a sketch on their own and go to a jewelry workshop to have a craftsman make the jewelry of their dreams.
Times are changing and now jeweler everyone can be. In order to make a real silver ring with our own design, we turned to a jewelry school ARGENTARIUM and made sure that it is not only interesting and exciting, but also really easy.
(Total 26 photos)
Before starting work, we were shown decorations made by instructors and students of the school. There are many decoration options, and you can do it all yourself.
Despite this variety of possibilities, we still wanted a ring. We decided that if we liked it, we’d come back a little later for the pendant.
The first surprise: it turned out that it is not necessary to melt silver to give it the required form. The decoration is made from plastic silver Precious Metal Clay (PMC), which was invented by specialists from the Japanese company Mitsubishi Materials Corporation. PMC mass consists of a mixture of tiny particles of silver, water and a non-toxic plasticizer, and it is as easy to work with as regular plasticine.
The whole process is simple and straightforward: you need to come up with a decoration, make it, fire it in a kiln (the water and plasticizer will burn, and the silver particles will be firmly sintered with each other), and at the end you will get silver product 999 proof. Modern alchemy at its finest! Before starting work, the head of the school, Evgenia, showed us what tools we could use to create exactly the decoration we wanted.
The second surprise: most of the tools for work are at hand for everyone: any texture can be “imprinted”, and to cut desired shape, an awl or blade will do.
Various stamps for making imprints and imprints on the silver mass before firing.
To create volumetric products, you can use liquid silver in a syringe. Silver paste is squeezed onto the cork base using a syringe. The firing process burns away this base, leaving you with a hollow silver bead similar to those created by silversmiths hundreds of years ago called “filigree.”
There are thin plates-leaves made of plastic silver, from which you can fold any figure, for example origami. Isn't it a miracle to make a crane or a boat out of pure silver?
You can also use dried leaves as a preparation for future decoration. If you cover a leaf with liquid silver and burn it, the leaf will burn, and you will get a unique pendant or pendant that completely replicates all the natural curves and texture, which is simply impossible to make on your own.
In the jewelry business, there is no place without precious stones. You can add multi-colored inserts to the design of any jewelry: cubic zircons (cubic zirconia) or other laboratory stones that can withstand high temperature.
Of course, it was very tempting to make ourselves a unique pendant, but we came for the ring and decided to make it anyway.
Before you start working with ductile silver, you need to correctly calculate the size of the ring, because during the firing process the mass shrinks by 16%.
Lubricate the board with a special compound so that the silver does not stick, and go ahead!
Roll out the RMS into a pancake of the calculated size. Cards glued together in several pieces on the sides of the blank allow us to adjust the thickness of the future ring and roll out the silver in an even layer. A simple life hack, proven by practice :)
PMC silver can be cut, rolled, added texture and given absolutely any shape. The third surprise: it is especially pleasant that ductile silver forgives any mistakes - after drying, it is easily restored with water and returns to its working condition. You have the opportunity to remake the decoration before firing if you don’t like something in the original blank, or add additional elements.
We created a ring with a floral design using a rubber stamp.
After we have received the desired impression and closed the ring, it needs to be dried.
Firing can be carried out different ways. Pros use a jewelry muffle furnace, while for beginners, a more budget-friendly “home” option is suitable - a specially designed ceramic burner that runs on dry alcohol.
We fired the ring in a muffle furnace. With the right temperature and time conditions, the water is completely evaporated, the organic plasticizer burns out, and the silver particles are fused with each other, forming a solid metal that preserves the entire design down to the fingerprints.
After 25 minutes our ring was “baked” :)
Now we remove the oxide film - a white coating that appears on the surface of the product during combustion. Next, using jewelry tools, we finish the decoration.
The fourth surprise: after firing, you can do whatever you want with the metal. Drill, saw, grind, enamell, blacken and, of course, polish to a mirror shine!
Using a steel brush, remove the oxide film.
Sand with sandpaper.
A special black solution - jewelers call it “sulfur liver”, but mere mortals have access to another remedy - Sulfuric ointment, which is sold in any pharmacy. By the way, blackening jewelry- this is also a whole art. Blackening emphasizes the structure and ornament of the decoration: depending on the technique, the result can be so different that a separate master class was dedicated to this matter.
We polish the ring using an agate tool to give it shine.
And here it is - the ring of your dreams! Made by own design and with your own hands!
If you wish, you can learn to knit, sew, weave beads and fire pots. It seems that creating jewelry is something beyond ordinary human capabilities, somewhere at the intersection of alchemy and magic. In fact, anyone can take a master class and make their own jewelry. The technology turns out to be surprisingly simple, especially when explained good master. Our teacher Evgenia was able to interest even skeptical students. It seems that now half of the group will definitely return for the pendant for their designer collection.
Perhaps we do too :) And for the first visit to any master class, we give our readers a 10% discount using the promotional code BIGJEWEL (this must be entered in the class registration form).
We have been making custom-made, exclusive jewelry for over 20 years.
You will not find our jewelry in stores, as they are made in single copies for our customers.
We make custom products taking into account all the preferences of our client.
We don't sell you what everyone else has - we invite you to be individual.
Highly qualified craftsmen
All our specialists are highly qualified. And, despite the serious level of skill, they do not stop improving. To achieve this, Golden Phoenix jewelers constantly attend thematic master classes and improve their skills.
Exclusively handmade
We do not sell consumer goods. Our assortment includes only jewelry self made. Each product is unique and inimitable. And this is exactly what real jewelry should be like.
The advantages of the “Golden Phoenix” include the following.
Affordable price
The cost of all our products is approximately 40-80% lower than that of competitors in the market. How do we manage to set such prices? Everything is very simple. We do not rent huge areas for our stores, we do not employ a large staff of workers. This allows us to offer competitive prices.
We make custom jewelry from your gold
Do you have old jewelry lying around the house that you are unlikely to wear? Come to us - we will make for you a completely new product from your gold.
Work according to your sketches
Do you know exactly what kind of decoration you want? Perhaps you even have a sketch? Excellent - our masters will understand exactly what you want and will do it for you. You will receive absolutely original decoration. And it will look exactly the way you wanted.
What can you order from us?
Our assortment includes a huge variety of products:
- etc.
How to make an order?
- First, decide whether you want ready product or our craftsmen must create it for you to order.
- If you want a finished product, then go to our catalog and choose what you like.
- To make a custom product, contact us and we will discuss all the details.
- Have you chosen a product? Order it and we will deliver it.
- If you want to receive an original piece of jewelry created to order, you will have to wait 2-3 weeks. We agree that this is a lot. But nice decoration worth it!
Shall we move on to the photo report? ;)
The workshop is located at the developing Crystal plant. Since it was already getting dark, it was raining and I was late, I didn’t take pictures of him. But it is very atmospheric, so I illustrate the story with a photo from the Internet:
The plant is located near Yauza, across the river from Winzavod and Artplay. Now, when I was looking for a photo, I saw that the plant will be reconstructed: they plan to create a pleasant public space with cafes, shops, creative offices and more. Already last summer there were fairs and festivals there, many people visited the new place. Concept and appearance Reminds me of the Bottle design factory, doesn’t it? Competition! :)
But about the plant another time, I want to return there when the weather is better to explore a new party place;) And now let’s return to the master class, which took place in the creative workshop. It is combined with a small but nice photography studio, so there are a lot of cameras of varying degrees of vintage, paintings and paint-splattered easels. Atmospheric place!
This is what it looks like workplace jeweler - nothing luxurious, but not only silver is processed here, but also gold, and gems. At the bottom there is a pedal for the sanding machine.
First we took a small amount of silver and melted it.
After this, the molten mass was poured into a mold, where it froze, but not tightly. In general, silver is a fairly malleable metal and can be worked with for some time without further melting.
Having cooled the resulting “sausage” in cold water, we moved on to running-in. It happens in two stages: first you need to set the width of the ring (the right side of the machine), and then the thickness (the left side). You insert the sausage into the opening, turn the handle and it crawls through the hole. The running-in takes place gradually, with approximately 30 spins at each stage. That is, you cannot immediately take and flatten the metal in one scroll - then it will crack and you will have to start over.
During the last scroll, it was possible to imprint some pattern on the metal (it's still soft, remember?). They offered me a piece of lace, something else - I chose a leaf, because just recently I got a ring in the form of a twig, and I decided to make this ring for the phalanx. It turned out to be such an eco-theme :)
After that, using a thread, I measured the circumference of my finger and cut off the required amount. This was difficult, because the jigsaw needs to be held strictly vertically and ensure that it does not “move” to the side. Here they helped me, since this is an important stage - the cuts must be perfectly even in order to be joined later.
Then a ring is formed from the strip around a cone-shaped stick using a soft hammer. I'm very focused and tense :)
Now it's time to bleach the silver in acid to bring it back original color- It darkens after melting.
Next stage: sanding in several ways. First, the side edges of the ring are sanded using sandpaper.
Then the outer and inner sides are sanded with sandpaper rolled into a drill. The ring must be held tightly, otherwise it may fly out into the eye. And this is not so simple, because it vibrates strongly under the influence of the drill - it flew away a couple of times, so I preferred to photograph this stage :)
After this, the ring goes through the final stage of grinding on a machine with a rapidly spinning rubber “wheel”. Due to rapid friction, the ring instantly heats up and after each touch to the “wheel” it must be immersed in cold water.
That's it, the ring is ready! All that remains is to clean it in an ultrasonic bath - leave it there for 10 minutes. You can rest and wipe the sweat of zeal from your forehead :)
And here is the result!
An indescribable feeling when you make something yourself: now I wear this ring without taking it off - here it is, the power of handmade. So I advise you to go to the master class, it is not at all expensive. Or an option for guys: buy a certificate for MK and give it as a gift on February 14 or March 8;)
Thanks to my jewelry mentors who helped me create the photo report!
