Hi,
What you are seeing represents most everything I have learned so far
using the tools I have at hand.
-
I drew 1mm fine silver through a drawplate, created fine silver
links, fused them, then worked hardened them with a rawhide mallet. -
Because fine silver is soft, I decided to use brass for the catch
and hook. The brass was salvaged from welding wire. -
I also used brass in the centerpiece, the heart. Someone suggested
I wrap some 0.6mm fine silver wire (also drawn by myself) around the
brass and hard solder the wire to the brass. -
To try to price position to hypothetical audience, I used copper
links, metal salvaged from a pure copper electronic heat sink.
Airline shears worked just fine to cut it apart. -
Note turnbuckles at midpoints. Their purpose is to rotate the
links below them 90 degrees relative to the links above.
This way, the necklace can BOTH lie flat comfortably against the next
AND lie flat along the chest for easy display.
The necklace has not yet been polished. I did a prepolish at 600 grit
but only so I could find where the worst tool marks are. I’ll
probably go over them at 200 grit. I also should thrum the insides of
the copper links to debur those edges so they do not mark the silver
links so much.
Comments? Have I reached apprentice level, yet?
Thanks,
Andrew Jonathan Fine