Hi all - a friend who re-sells brought me this clever bangle (by Ed Levin) and I thought it would be fun to make. It’s quite simple. It takes a slight effort to open & springs back very tightly. I’m only part-way through playing with it, my question about the springiness - the silver I’m working with doesn’t spring back - I am assuming it’s just really good hardening that makes that happen?
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Hi,
the bangle has the spring, right? the round wire is just a stopper?…
julie
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Yes. The bangle is 2.5mm round wire but the backside is flattened to about .9 (also the flared front). The short wire is 1.3mm and is just looped around the posts.
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Yes, the hardening of the silver is the key. Generally the back is hammered flat like the flared ends around the stone. This will harden the silver and give it the spring that is needed. Also it makes for a nice transition from the flat to the round, back to the flat. Don’t anneal the bracelet after hammering. The hammering can be filed smooth, but leave it a bit heavier before you start to smooth the bracelet. The wire on the underside is a nice touch, I hadn’t see that in all my years as a jeweler.
Tjones
Goldsmith
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Thank you. I looked up the website of the jeweler and they’ve been in business about 50 years and this seems to be their signature item. As I think about it, once you’ve got the springiness you might not actually need the wire, but I will do it that way. I suppose it stops people from over-stretching it. I’ve never out-and-out copied something before, but I have a client who wants bracelets for her & daughters with their birthstones, and I think this would be perfect for the girls, so I’m gonna do it 
.
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You might want to do a little more research to determine whether Levin has the design registered or copyrighted, especially since you’ve published your intent to duplicate it. Some companies get quite testy about having their designs ripped off. If you were doing it for yourself, you might have a bit of leeway, but you’ve announced that the work is for a customer, which robs Levin of the chance to make a sale of his design. Consider the ethics here.
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Good point. There’s no real need for me to do it, anyway. I had been considering this point already and feeling slightly iffy about it, while at the same time thinking about the fact that so much jewelry is similar or identical to jewelry which has been made before. But this case is a particularly unique design. Cheerio
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I had to repair one of those recently! It had broken in half, I was able solder it together, but it was a bit tricky as it had an aquamarine in it, so I had to wrap that in paper towels, and then go in very fast with my torch. I don’t have a laser welder.
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So you annealed the part of the bracelet that creates the spring tension that keeps it shut. That’s about all you can do other than to heat harden it when you are done and hope that the stone is not damaged in the process if it wasn’t already damaged from soldering…Rob
Ed Levin designs have been around for a long time. I suspect that Ed is dead and his kids or kin are continuing the line. I also suspect that his designs are all copyrighted. Copying them becomes a question of ethics as there are lots of ways to say that you didn’t really copy someone’s design and, at least in your mind, get away with it. When someone asks me how I made something, I tell them. I also tell them that I have tools that I have used for 50 years refining my designs. If you want to copy my work, go right ahead, but your work won’t include the fifty years of trial and error that I put into my work and it better not include my marks. However, If you ask me to teach you how I do something, I am more than happy to do that with the expectation that you will then use what I teach you to make something unique to you…Rob
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Yes, I imagine they are copyrighted. They are very distinctive.
There’s a very odd woman who is part of the market world I inhabit who has started copying something of mine - there may be other people making a similar thing in other places (that I’m unaware of), but no one locally does. (She charges way more though 
, and as she sells to the same retailer as I do, I know she sells a lot less). It happened once before with someone else (and a different design).
It doesn’t bother me, I can’t control what other people do, and since I make a wide variety of things it doesn’t impact me. It’s funny though, I am friendly with most of the other jewelry makers, and we share information freely & easily. Our work is mostly pretty different. But these two give off a very different vibe, and I find myself holding back and getting a bit vague when they ask me questions.
The stone was very well wrapped and survived intact. I did some planishing afterward to reharden the metal. It worked fine afterwards and the customer was happy.
Ed Levin left this mortal plane in 2008, the company is now run and owned by his former production manager Peter Tonjes.
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Thanks for the update on Ed. I like his work a lot. Simple, high polish and unique. I am glad that just planishing did the trick. Do you have to deform the shape much?..Rob