{"id":2447,"date":"2013-11-23T19:29:36","date_gmt":"2013-11-23T19:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2447"},"modified":"2013-11-23T19:29:36","modified_gmt":"2013-11-23T19:29:36","slug":"clockwork-trilobite-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2447","title":{"rendered":"Clockwork Trilobite – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s the start of a commission for an engraved and carved silver trilobite, with copper gears.<\/p>\n

\"Clockwork_Trilobite_Pendant_1\"<\/a>
\nAbove, I\u2019m weighing out scrap sterling silver (looking for about an ounce).\u00a0\u00a0The scrap needs to be clean, and free of any solder. \u00a0If it has been melted a couple of times, you probably shouldn’t use it without deoxidizers in the melt.<\/p>\n

\"Clockwork_Trilobite_Pendant_2\"<\/a>
\nAbove is my setup for melting the silver, and casting a small ingot.\u00a0 The steel ingot mold needs\u00a0 to be heavily smoked so the molten silver doesn\u2019t solder itself to the mold – I use the smoky acetylene-only (no oxygen) flame for the smoke – you can see the heavy black smoke in the image.\u00a0 Don\u2019t do this inside the studio – the fluffy and filthy black carbon from the smoke will settle on and in everything!<\/p>\n

\"Clockwork_Trilobite_Pendant_4\"<\/a>
\nHere\u2019s the cast ingot, shown inside the mold.\u00a0 Don\u2019t touch, it\u2019s still really hot!<\/p>\n

\"Clockwork_Trilobite_Pendant_6\"<\/a>
\nHere\u2019s the final weight for the ingot.\u00a0 There\u2019s always loss in the melting and casting process.\u00a0 There\u2019s even more in the engraving and carving afterwards – lots ends up as fine dust that really can\u2019t be recovered, and the other little recovered bits must go back to a refiner before it is really useful again.\u00a0 Bummer, because silver is becoming pretty expensive!\u00a0 After this, there are a fair number of trips through the rolling mill, along with multiple annealings and picklings to \u00a0\u00a0s \u00a0 t \u00a0 r \u00a0 e \u00a0 t \u00a0 c \u00a0 h \u00a0 and thin the metal.<\/p>\n

\"Clockwork_Trilobite_Pendant_9\"<\/a>
\nAbove is the completed (and pretty thick!) silver plate.\u00a0 As well as rolling, I\u2019ve forged this plate on the\u00a0 anvil a bit to make sure it is flat.\u00a0 I\u2019ll rubber cement the pattern to the ingot and begin sawing it to shape with a jeweler’s saw.<\/p>\n

\"Clockwork_Trilobite_Pendant_10\"<\/a>
\nAnd here are both sterling silver plates I\u2019ll be using – the one we just made is for the top highly carved part, and the thinner plate will be the bottom.\u00a0 Now to get sawing\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

Thanks for looking!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s the start of a commission for an engraved and carved silver trilobite, with copper gears. Above, I\u2019m weighing out scrap sterling silver (looking for about an ounce).\u00a0\u00a0The scrap needs to be clean, and free of any solder. \u00a0If it … 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":[23,28,31,11],"tags":[9,3,7,17,16,10,26,12],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6qLAy-Dt","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2484,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2484","url_meta":{"origin":2447,"position":0},"title":"Clockwork Trilobite – Part 5","date":"November 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I\u2019m adding all of the rivets and completing the engraving for the pendant back. Above are the wires I\u2019m going to make my rivets out of, along with my blacksmith\u2019s \u201cnail header.\u201d\u00a0 The silver wire is 16 gauge silver, and the copper is 12 gauge.\u00a0 You can see the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Clockwork_Trilobite_Pendant_66.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2471,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2471","url_meta":{"origin":2447,"position":1},"title":"Clockwork Trilobite – Part 4","date":"November 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I need to make the last little gear, solder everything together and do the initial shaping. Above, I\u2019m using a computer printout as a pattern for the tiny gear, and drilling the starting holes.\u00a0 I used a scan of the top silver trilobite plate and carefully scaled the gear\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Clockwork_Trilobite_Pendant_50.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2462,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2462","url_meta":{"origin":2447,"position":2},"title":"Clockwork Trilobite – Part 3","date":"November 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In order for the parts to solder well, I need to flatten all the mating surfaces - the top surface of the bottom plate, the bottom surface of the top plate, and the bottom of the gears (there\u2019s a parsing conundrum for you!). I use a file most often for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Clockwork_Trilobite_Pendant_31.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2455,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2455","url_meta":{"origin":2447,"position":3},"title":"Clockwork Trilobite – Part 2","date":"November 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Today was just a lot of sawing.\u00a0 A lot\u2026I had forgotten how gummy and resisting sterling silver could be, especially in thicker pieces.\u00a0 Now I remember why I much prefer sawing, engraving and carving in steel\u2026 Above are the two trilobite pieces sawn from my two silver plates.\u00a0 On the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Toadsticker_Shiv_Box.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1266,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=1266","url_meta":{"origin":2447,"position":4},"title":"Making Shibuichi part 1","date":"February 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Since I've spent the last week working on my web site format change, my wife is making me get serious about starting a new knife, so I have to make some shibuichi ingots for the knife handle scales. Shibuichi is an ancient Japanese precious bronze art alloy, typically made of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Engraved Knife"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Shibuichi_Ingots_5.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2494,"url":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/?p=2494","url_meta":{"origin":2447,"position":5},"title":"Clockwork Trilobite – Part 6","date":"December 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Starting the carving today. Here I\u2019ve set the trilobite (right side up this time) in Thermolock\u2122 and drawn in the exoskeleton.\u00a0 I\u2019ve also used a tiny carbide bur to do a \u201cscribble\u201d texture on the gears and the surface they sit on. Those huge rivets for the eyes have been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carving"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Clockwork_Trilobite_Pendant_77.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447"}],"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=2447"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2454,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447\/revisions\/2454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sterlingsculptures.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}