{"id":1472,"date":"2012-02-29T00:45:28","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T00:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=1472"},"modified":"2012-03-01T22:54:58","modified_gmt":"2012-03-01T22:54:58","slug":"ants-miseretto-part-9-risk-reduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=1472","title":{"rendered":"Ants Miseretto part 9 – Risk Reduction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that my “canvas” is completed, it’s time to turn my efforts to the design phase of the project. \u00a0I’ve spent an awful lot of time making the knife, and I’m concerned about inlaying the gold ants in the shibuichi. \u00a0I’ve inlaid one in nickel before, but not shibuichi, so, in keeping with my policy of “graceful degradation” I’m going to employ a little risk reduction strategy. \u00a0In short, I’m going to practice with the offcut leftover piece of shibuichi from the handle scales, and rather than just doing a practice plate, I’ll take a small risk with my time and make a pendant with an inlaid 24karat gold ant.
\n
\n<\/a>\"\"<\/a>
\n<\/a>Above is the process I often use in designing my artwork.
\n1) On the left, I start with a scan of the leftover shibuichi offcut.
\n2) Next, tracing the edges, I print out the outline and sketch in the design, scanning it in again.
\n3) Using Adobe Photoshop, I “cut out” the pieces and arrange them on the screen, then add\/subtract\/adjust as required.
\n4) Finally, I produce a full scale pattern (the image on the right), and print it out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nAbove is that paper pattern rubber cemented onto the shibuichi. \u00a0Did I mention that this piece of shibuichi is a little more than an inch on a side?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nWhile everything is still in a convenient size and easily handled, I drill the holes I will need.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nHere, I’ve begun sawing out the two pieces with a jeweler’s saw and tiny 2\/0 blade. \u00a0I employ a little strategy here, by cutting out the small pieces around the edges first, and have partially cut the top portion away. \u00a0I do it this way trying to keep everything together as long as I can to avoid handling tiny pieces. \u00a0They tend to fly away and land in the nearest pile of sawdust or other assorted crud…no reason to make this harder than it needs to be!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nNote here I cut away the tiny and convoluted top piece first. \u00a0The larger piece is still fairly easy to handle, but if there were other chunks needing to be removed from the small piece, it would be difficult to handle.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nAnd, above, all the pieces have been cut away, along with my jeweler’s saw. \u00a0These tiny blades are amazing, they seem to be able to cut just about anything!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nAbove are the sawn pieces. \u00a0Note the edges are still pretty rough. \u00a0I’ll be filing with jeweler’s files to clean up everything, \u00a0as well as also using my NSK micromotor\u00a0grinder and carbide burrs. \u00a0Whatever it takes…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nHere is the pendant all cleaned and trimmed up. \u00a0Since shibuichi is a copper\/silver alloy, being against someone’s skin will cause the metal to corrode. \u00a0To prevent that, I’m going to solder a silver sheet on the back. \u00a0Here I’ve marked the general outline of the pendant on a piece of 28 gauge silver sheet, and will cut it out with some metal shears.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nOv course, when I cut the silver sheet with the metal shears, it will deform the metal, bending it as I cut. \u00a0Above, I’m flattening the cut bit of sheet between two thick aluminum blocks in my big blacksmith’s vise. \u00a0Just one big squeeze will do the trick!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nAbove, I’ve spread a silver-bearing easy solder paste onto the silver sheet and two shibuichi pieces, lying on a heat-resistant soldering pad. \u00a0I previously cleaned all three surfaces VERY well with my Foredom flex shaft grinder and a ScotchBrite\u2122 pad.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nHere I’m getting ready to melt the solder. \u00a0Note my two little soldering helpers holding the shibuichi pieces in close contact with the silver sheet on the bottom. \u00a0These things are really marvelous for soldering.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nThese little helpers are really simple. \u00a0Nothing but two pieces of wood, and two thick, bent copper wires filed to a not-very-sharp point, with lead blocks to provide variable amounts of weight.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nAnd above, the first image is before melting the solder, and the second image is after. \u00a0I heat the piece slowly, waiting for the water in the paste solder to boil SLOWLY and GENTLY away. \u00a0Heating it too fast will cause the water to boil too violently, moving the pieces out of alignment. \u00a0Once the water is gone, I heat faster until the solder flashes to molten silver around ALL the edges.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nAfter soldering, I wait unto the solder solidifies (usually just a few seconds), then into the Sparex pickle to dissolve the dark oxide crust that heating produces. \u00a0I keep my Sparex hot in a small crockpot from the thrift store.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nHere is the pendant after pickling and cleaning a bit with the ScotchBrite\u2122 pad.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nHere is the pendant after sawing around the shibuichi with the jeweler’s saw, then cleaned up with files and the Foredom ScotchBrite\u2122 pad. \u00a0The silver back is the image on the left, and the shibuichi side on the right. Since the silver is just 28 gauge sheet, the sawing and filing go pretty fast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that my “canvas” is completed, it’s time to turn my efforts to the design phase of the project. \u00a0I’ve spent an awful lot of time making the knife, and I’m concerned about inlaying the gold ants in the shibuichi. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[23,5,28,27],"tags":[9,8,3,7,17,16,4,10,26],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6qLAy-nK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1631,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=1631","url_meta":{"origin":1472,"position":0},"title":"Ants Miseretto part 14","date":"April 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm back in the saddle again! I've installed the dagger in my engraver's vise and used my three \"ant punches\" to lightly punch three ants in the shibuichi handle scale. Here's a closer view, just lightly punched. \u00a0I wouldn't be doing this if the handle scales were steel or titanium,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Engraved Knife"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Ants_Miseretto_52.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1833,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=1833","url_meta":{"origin":1472,"position":1},"title":"Ants Miseretto part 21 – FINISHED!","date":"July 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"On the final stretch! \u00a0Today I finished up the centipede legs and the bark, as well as finalizing the patina. \u00a0I'll look it over for a few days for anything I might have missed, but otherwise I think it's done! Above, I've been using a tiny scraper to round over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Ants_Miseretto_108.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1647,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=1647","url_meta":{"origin":1472,"position":2},"title":"Ants Miseretto part 15","date":"April 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Inlaying the 24 karat gold wire - I folded the wire to fit into the rear part of the inlay pocket, then annealed the wire. Above is the entire ant, with three folded wire inlays. All three ants with filled inlay pockets. I've used the ant punches to do the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Engraved Knife"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Ants_Miseretto_61.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1792,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=1792","url_meta":{"origin":1472,"position":3},"title":"Ants Miseretto part 17","date":"July 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm back to working on the Ants Miseretto after a hiatus. \u00a0I've been wracking my brains trying to figure out what should go on the other side handle scale, and I've finally decided. Above, I've drawn on a knothole and the beginning of some wood texture, being cognizant of where\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Ants_Miseretto_80.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1575,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=1575","url_meta":{"origin":1472,"position":4},"title":"Ants Miseretto part 12 – Risk Reduction","date":"March 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"OK. no more dancing around, time to add the gold legs. I started by engraving the cuts for the legs, first with a Lindsay Universal graver, followed by a Carl Bleile narrow graver, so the cuts are quite deep. \u00a0The golden color of the legs is just the raw shibuichi\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Shibuichi_Pendant_62.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1563,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=1563","url_meta":{"origin":1472,"position":5},"title":"Ants Miseretto part 11 – Risk Reduction","date":"March 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Further work on the ant pendant. \u00a0I began carving the wood texture and knothole, using carbide burrs, and engraving the thin lines for the knothole. \u00a0Above is how the shibuichi looks without the patina. And a quick patina to see how things are coming along... More shaping to look like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Shibuichi_Pendant_54.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1472"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1472"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1499,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1472\/revisions\/1499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}