Thank you so much. As always Jim your comments are deeply appreciated. Your description of what you see in my work makes me smile as that is exactly what motivated me in this direction. I really liked a lot of the older style of jewelry, but didn’t like how coarse some of it seemed to be. Perhaps coarse isn’t the right word. . . but “rough around the edges”. . ? I’m glad to hear that my motivations are evidently apparent in my work 
Thanks again Jim!
Erich
You’re very welcome…
Not quite my usual stuff, but I watched some videos on blacksmithing over the winter and got the idea to make a series of Marianas Crosses inspired by the wrought-iron look . . mostly pendants and a few pairs of earrings. These have been crafted in my Sterling Fathoms Silver (silver made from a shipwreck in 15,500ft. of water) and the 18K gold settings are made from my 18K Treasure Gold (an alloy made with silver and copper from the Atocha which sank in 1622. The pieces are set with a variety of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and a few aquamarines (for that bioluminescent look).
Also, I made a little video about how they were made, but in true “Erich-fashion”, I got lost in my work and forgot to photograph/record a number of steps. Still, it should give some idea and shows some of the techniques involved in making square tubing and such.
Very nice. I actually would like a couple of something like that for some dress shoes I want to embellish. I had some shoes I bought a while back that had daggers and design where a buckle would be. Thinking about making some things for doing that. I was thinking skulls but iron crosses and fleur de lis are good too. SD
Thanks Scavenger!
Excellent video, Erich, and beautiful work as well. Thanks for sharing your process. I always learn something new, watching masters at work.
With regard to forging ingots, do you anneal them periodically along the way, or do they go from casting to forging to rolling without the need to anneal?
Best,
Alec
Thanks Alec! I very much appreciate the compliments, but I’m so far from being a master it’s not even funny. Still, I’m very much enjoying my hike up that particular mountain
Once the ingot has been poured and cleaned off, I forge it down to a minimum of 50% of its original thickness, then anneal it for the first time and start rolling it out annealing further as needed along the way.
Hope that makes sense, but I don’t profess to have any great knowledge on this. It’s a bit from reading a number of books, talking with other jewelers, and reading lots of forums over the years.
Have a great day!
Erich
Makes a lot of sense. I recently took a bunch of sterling scrap, melted it down, forged and rolled based upon an earlier video you posted. I did anneal it each time I felt the metal becoming more difficult to work.
One more question, is firescale an issue when melting sterling like this?
Again thanks,
Alec
Sorry for the delayed reply, but I was out of town yesterday afternoon/evening.
I’ve never had firescale be an issue, but I use a closed ingot mold where the only exposed portion is the narrow band at the top which could be helping keep it to a minimum. Also, I think that use of an reducing flame during melting along with the flux all helps to keep these problems down.
Nice work, the details are beautiful. Thanks for sharing!
I haven’t posted much in quite a while so I thought I’d throw something on here for kicks .
. This is a Zulu shield inspired pendant/brooch in granulated 18k set with a blue/green tourmaline, 2 rhodolite garnets, and diamonds in 18kw.
Stunning work!
Just simply…OUTSTANDING!
Something colorful for Spring this year. . . Tanzanites, amethysts, and blue zircons handcrafted and granulated in my 18K Treasure Gold (made with 400 year old sunken treasure).
Stunning is the word.
Thank you!
