I need to make a pair of “fish” cufflinks. Does anyone in the
wonderful Orchid community have IN STOCK a left and right hand fish
to which I an add cufflink backs??? My first choice would be 14K
yellow gold. Second choice would be carved gemstone (jade, amethyst,
etc.) but they must be a left and right. Thank you, David Barzilay,
LotR.
David Barzilay
Lord of the Rings
David: I carved 7 fresh Water and 11 Salt Water Fish this last year
and they have U.S.Copright 2002. The Fish are 2 dimension. Fresh Water
: Pike,Salmon ,Trout Rainbow ,Walleye, Grayling, Bass Large Mouth. The
fish are 2 dimension Salt Water: Shark Maako,Barricuda, Sail Fish
Jumping, Sail Fish, Wahoo, Marlin, Yellowtail, Tuna, Dorado, Halibut,
Bass Black Sea. They run about 30mm for the Sali Fish. If you can use
any of these I can give you a choice andI can hake the opposite of
what I have 14K goes from $65.00 for the Shark Maako to the Black Sea
Bass for $184.00 I will Sell to you for Half price. Yours: Billy S.
Bates royalminiatures.com P.S. I will be at the Torrance Wilson Park
this 14 of Dec. Booth # 45 If you can come I will be selling my Fish and Game heads.
David- I do have some fish cuff links. Finished even.
Check out my web site. Recent Works. Sea Life page. Email me off
line and I’ll give you the wholesale price.
Peace. Kim.
Kim Eric Lilot http://www.kimericlilot.com
Wow, Kim, I checked out your site. That’s some amazing work. Kinda
grim, a lot of it, but really phenomenal. I especially love the
piece with the carnelian druzy with enamel behind it, though I
confess I wouldn’t want it always in my line of sight! “Sic transit
gloria mundi”! What in particular drew you to this line of
expression? For those of you who missed it, it is Kim Eric Lilot
http://www.kimericlilot.com
–No?
Noel…I like that name…thank you for your compliment.
I know that the Memento Mori work appears grim at first glance but I
find this line of expression a humorous relief. I studied figurative
art and sculpture and after a significant dream (see the ‘Tribute To
The Ultimate Master’ description on the necklace page) I found an
avenue of expression that resonated with my ‘weltanschauung’ (view
of life?).
Coincidentally, one of the Memento Mori pieces is presently on
display in the Smithsonian Institute’s Renwick Gallery. The curator,
Kenneth Trapp, shares our humor.
Hope the Holidays are kind to you and yours.
Peace. Kim.
www.kimericlilot.com
I have a problem to which I hope an Orchidian can provide an answer. A
family member has asked me to repair a candlestick. It is marked
"Sterling Weighted," and hallmarked “Poole.” It is made in three
sections, so that various combinations of base, middle, and top can
fit together. The problem is: the male threaded fitting on the top
section is too small to fit tightly into the female ‘socket’ on the
other two sections. I would like to cast a “sleeve” out of sterling
which could be used between the loose-fitting parts, but I don’t think
that I could fabricate something as THIN as it would need to be (it
would have to be as thin as paper.) Alternatively, I could saw off the
male threaded part, which looks similar to a lightbulb base, and
fabricate a piece in sterling to replace it. HOWEVER, I do not work on
silver much. NEVER on holloware, and I have no idea what I will find
INSIDE the item if I am foolish enough to saw off the threaded part.
HELP! Do any experienced silversmiths have good ideas for me?
David Barzilay, Lord of the Rings
It is marked "Sterling Weighted," and hallmarked "Poole." It is made in three sections, so that various combinations of base, middle, and top can fit together. The problem is: the male threaded fitting on the top section is too small to fit tightly into the female 'socket' on the other two sections.
David, I think you’re gonna bite off more than you realize if you
try to get fancy with these. many such items are made of literally
paper thin silver, and then filled with plaster, or worse, shellac,
which weighs them down and reinforces the thin metal to keep it
rigid. That then means you can’st solder on these without making a
major mess.
If the fittings originally fit properly, and are now just worn, I’d
guess your tolerance is too small to make a decent sleeve with any
certainty. I’d suggest the inelegant, but probably effective,
solution of cleaning both mating threaded parts quite well, and
permenantly epoxying them together. I’m assuming the orignal
interchangeability of parts was intended for the manufacturers
convenience, not the versatility of the piece by the user. If this
is correct, then a fixed joint should solve the problem. If not,
well, then you’ll need to get fancier. But I’d suggest you be very
careful. some pieces of this sort can be real traps for the unwary
smith…
Peter
To repair a candlestick
Dear David.
A family member has asked me to repair a candlestick. It is marked "Sterling Weighted," and hallmarked "Poole." It is made in three sections, so that various combinations of base, middle, and top can fit together. The problem is: the male threaded fitting on the top section is too small to fit tightly into the female 'socket' on the other two sections. "
If the male threaded part fits too loosely in the female threaded
socket, consider using an appropriate amount of Teflon Tape as used
by plumbers to seal and secure male and female pipe threads together
.
The use of the Teflon tape will be entirely reversible as it is not
adhesive in the conventional sense. It is very thin and deformable,
the excess , if any could be carefully trimmed off. This low risk and
low impact remedy might not work, but the price and risks are minimal
and offer a " good fix "
For app. $ 2.00 a roll of this tape can be purchased at any hardware
store. The term " weighted infers that the hollow ware is filled with
pitch or plaster to give weight and balance to the piece. I would not
want to do any soldering on these pieces.
ROBB - Who has fitted more pipe than he cares to see again.
If you still want an unscrewable joint I’d forget jewellery practise
and get hold of some plumbers teflon tape used for making tight
screw-on joints and wrap the tape to the desired thickness on the
threaded part to take up the slack…inelegant but still unscrewable
when necessary…otherwise these things are a real pain if you put
heat on them. Steve Holden www.platayflores.com
David, Do the candlesticks have to be permanently connected together?
And does it have to be a metalsmithing approach?
When I read your posting, the first thing that came to mind was
"teflon tape"–the white, stretchy tape that you wrap around pipe
threads to make a waterproof fit. If you wrap a few layers around
the male threads, it may be enough to fill the gap and stabilize the
connection. And it is easily undone if you change your mind.
Besides, teflon pipe tape is a handy thing to have around the house.
You will have a leaky fitting someday!
Janet
Repair candlesticks
Hi Dave, I actually have a pair of candlesticks sitting on my “to do
shelf’ with the same problem in male-female area (let’s be careful
here). My thoughts are to create a new female receptacle which
would alter the design of the overall piece, but not to much and use
the new piece on all of the candlesticks arms. The new female piece
can be soldered to the existing arms. The design should be OK’d by
the owner because it is a change rather than repair. The name
"Poole” does sound auspicious and “colonial.” This should be checked
before any work is done as that may increase the value of the piece.
In the past, I have sent letters with a photo to Sotheby’s in NYC
(auction house and appraiser of fine goods). SOTHEBY’S @ 1334 YORK
AVE. NY, NY, 10021. The experts there will authenticate the piece
and give you sources for fine repair questions. HEY, Sotheby’s may
even put you on their preferred list.
Good luck, June
Silver Candlestick Repair
Hi David, How about taking some silver foil, wrap it around the male
threads enough times to achieve the required thickness, then screw
it into the mating piece. This would be akin to using Teflon tape
on pipe threads, except the purpose in this case, of course, is not
to form a seal. Just an idea.
Good Luck and Merry Christmas (to those whom it applies),
Dale
when necessary.....otherwise these things are a real pain if you put heat on them.
When I first started my apprenticeship, I was warned about shellac
or pitch that filled these candlsticks. Seems that a boy a couple of
years earlier was soft soldering one end of the candlestick. His
resting left hand was underneath the other end. He didn’t notice what
was happening wih the shellac that was inside. When he did notice
that a large glob of shellac had escaped, it wasn’t because he saw
it. He was looking at the other end. It was when the glob landed on
his resting left hand. Pretty nasty burn from what I heard.
I hate when that happens. Use care when working on these things.