January/February 2016^53
10 YEARS OF
"ASK THE EXPERTS"
Want more advice and
tips from Tom and Kay
Benham? The first 10
years of “Ask the Experts”
has been compiled into
one digital volume — “10
Years of Jewelry-Making
Questions, Answers, and
Tips: Ask the Experts,
2002-2011.”Available now at
http://www.bit.ly/
10YearsAskTheExperts.ASK THE EXPERTS VIA EMAIL
OR SOCIAL MEDIA!
?Send your questions and tips to:
[email protected].
Or post them to http://www.Facebook.com/
JewelryMakingDaily or http://www.Twitter.
com/JewelMakingDaily. Use the
hashtag #AskTheExperts.
(Send snail mail to: Lapidary Journal
Jewelry Artist, Attn.: Ask the Experts,
88 Glocker Way #299, Pottstown, PA
19465.)
Please include your full name and where
you live. Answers may appear in a future
issue.TIP: DIY FLARING TOOL
We are on constant alert for ways to add fl air to our jewelry pieces,
especially for projects in our beginning chasing and repoussé classes.
Luckily, Tom loves to putter in the workshop. This time, he came up with a
simple fl aring tool, converting both ends of a piece of tool stock. He used a
hack saw to cut a slot, then shaped and rounded the ends on a belt sander,
then used jewelers’ fi les and sandpaper for a fi nal smoothing.
To use the tool, just slip the slot over the edge of the metal, bending it up
and down alternately to ruffl e the edge. Take care not to mar the surface.
Each end of the tool is slightly diff erent in width, so it is two tools in one.
Pretty slick.
TIP: SHOOT AS YOU MAKE
A friend of ours recently related by email that she was exhausted from the
process of updating her Etsy page. It seems that as she began posting photos
of her work, imperfections in the surface of her silver immediately caught
her eye, sending her back to the studio on cleanup detail. We thought her
experience would be a valuable lesson for us to share with everyone.
Modern technology continues to aid jewelers to push the envelope. In the
early days of 35mm slide cameras, it could take as much as a week or more to
see the results of a photo shoot, often with no time for a reshoot. With digital
photography, graphics programs and giant monitors produce instantaneous
and obvious results. The camera becomes a valuable tool during the process
of making jewelry not just for recording and displaying the jewelry at the end.
It is sometimes diffi cult to recognize if or when a piece is done. A quick photo
aids us in identifying any imperfections we may have overlooked in our rush
to complete the piece. It always amazes us at what the naked eye misses but
that a single glance at a video screen makes so clear in glaring detail such as
fi re scale or unwanted marks or scratches to the surface. The image makes
us double our eff orts at each fabrication step. And when we are ready for the
beauty shot, that immediate preview also draws our attention to specks of
dust or lint before it’s too late!