The Ganoksin Project S i n c e 1 9 9 6 Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Techniques
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Circulation: 45,000
View this issue in colors:
- David Secrest - The Man with X-Ray Vision 2. Wire Works! - The Work of Three Contemporary Wire Artists 3. Hot Enough for You? - What kind of torch do you need? 4. Road Testing Argentium Sterling 5. Chinese Freshwater Pearls - Fresh Possibilities 6. A Simple Method for China Painting on Enamel
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In This Edition of Tips From The Jeweler's Bench
- David Secrest - The Man with X-Ray Vision By Barbra Brady
David Secrest is to the manor of craftsmen born. Coming from a family of creative people - his father a potter, his mother a painter, his brother Peter now a respected contemporary glass artist - he notes that his training derived from hands on observing and assisting, rather than through formal education. His father and brother Phil built and operated a ceramics studio in New York State, which Secrest considers his primary training ground. His uncle later opened a small gallery and studio in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, where Secrest worked during summers while in high school....
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- Wire Works! - The Work of Three Contemporary Wire Artists By Nina Graci
Working on the most meticulous and precise scale, three contemporary wire artists, Barbara SilverStein, Nikki Feldbaum and Biba Schutz create jewelry that is broad in appeal and expansive in effect....
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- Hot Enough for You? - What kind of torch do you need? By Nina Graci
With so many torches on the market, a first-time buyer can be quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of decisions that have to be made. Choosing a fuel, fitting the right tips, and determining the type of flame you need are just the beginning. To make decision-making tougher, all torches look pretty much alike. They have two open- ended tubes for the attachment of two color-coded rubber hoses, conducting air to one and fuel to the other. They are either single-fuel or a combination of oxygen and fuel, which tend to be hotter. Some torches accommodate different fuels simply by changing the tip. Each gas produces a different flame. Which brings us to the burning question: which torch will produce the flame power needed to get the job done?....
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- Road Testing Argentium Sterling By Cynthia Eid
Invented in 1996 by Peter Johns, a professor of silversmithing at England's Middlesex University, Argentium[R] Sterling Silver, like traditional sterling silver, is at least 92.5 percent pure silver. But unlike traditional sterling, which is 7.5 percent copper, Argentium sterling has a small amount of germanium instead of some of the copper. So how does that change things?....
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- Chinese Freshwater Pearls - Fresh Possibilities By Suzanne Wade
When Chinese freshwater pearls began flooding the market several years ago, craft artists took notice. It's not that pearls were new to them. Studio jewelers had been incorporating pearls into their designs for decades, long before the current wave of Chinese freshwater pearls reached these shores. But the growing availability of Chinese freshwater pearls has allowed artists to indulge their passion for pearls as they never could before....
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- A Simple Method for China Painting on Enamel By Cynthia Roode
Although enameling is a new art form for me, I came to it with many years of china painting experience. Painting on porcelain is a time consuming process. Each firing requires several hours, and three or more firings may be needed to complete one painting. A while ago, a friend showed me how to apply enamel to a small piece of domed copper. I was fascinated with the process and very impressed with the speed of the firing, and decided to try it using a propane torch. Playing with this new media was very exciting and before long I wondered if I could use the same china paint materials and techniques on enamel that I had used on porcelain. Much to my delight I found I could! What follows is a description of the simple painting process I currently use....
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