Ghost Rider

 Howdy! I've got a fun piece today! I found a lovely little agate from Montana over at Handleys. At first I was all ho hum, then I saw it: A cowboy riding through sage brush! So that what I did, and here's how.

First came designing the piece. Getting a decent cowboy silhouetteis one thing, getting it in the right proportion is another! It took me several tries, but i finally got my cowboy and horse the right size.

 

Next came making the piece. I switched over to a  new torch setup in the middle of making this. From acetylene/air with a big torch tip to oxy-propane with a MINI torch tip. Well, I had some trouble getting it hot enough to solder up right, but I kept trying and finally got it. yikes, though, what a nightmare!

So I got the bezel made and all ready to go, and drew on my little cowboy

  

 I cut him out

 I was careful in my sawing as I couldn't add metal if i screwed up! But he turned out okay

Now one thing i did take into consideration was the possibility of the back plate tarnishing. I am trying to mitigate that by creating a fine silver layer (using depletion guilting) under where the stone sits. We'll see...at the very least it makes the stone appear whiter.

 I set the agate in and it looks pretty darn good. One thing I didn't realize was the stone tapers off by a millimeter on one side! so to get it to fit into the piece I had to do a bit of resizing. Anyway, it looks pretty good. The camera didn't want to pick up on it, but you get the idea. he comes out pretty clearly in real life.

 Anyway, That's my coyboy!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/83692954/cowboy-western-silver-brooch-with

Work in Progress

I'm BAAAAAck! I'm back in the saddle again!

Yeah, and my radio station is still classic rock. It's the only station i can pick up, but luckily I have inherited some country cds from my Grandma, so I'll be honkeytonking around my bench soon enough. Anyway, I spied some sexy stones over at Handleys the otherday and decided to pick them up...plus an extra stone. Join me as I design a piece.

Let me say about myself, I am not formally trained in design. I grew up surrounded by fine art and have a pretty keen instinct as to what looks good, but the process of design is pretty organic. Sometimes I know right away what I want, like this piece, othertimes I'm not totally sure so I design as I go. This is how I work some of the times.

Three matching calcedony and a lovely rutilated quartz

At first I was thinking maybe putting the rutilated quartz with this fantastic set of calcedony, but eventually decided on garnet.

Hum....im thinking something along the lines of this....

Alright, i wasnt totally sure about the design, something wasn't groovin'...so i decided to do the main piece first, then the settings for the two smaller stones depending on how everything worked out.

The other item i got was a planishing hammer. I LOVE the mark that a planishing hammer leaves on metal and have been wishing for one for quite a while. I decided to use my new tool to texturize the silver. Additionally, I decided not to cut out the back bezel. I felt like the textured silver kinda sparkled behind the calcedony, so I will leave it closed. Hopefully it doesnt tarnish too quickly.



I actually was terribly spaced out when I soldered the bezel to the silver backing....and accidently melted the bezel. boohoo.



yeah, something along these lines. now how will i attach it to the chain. hurm.....I'll figure that out later. I have an inclination to do something different with the tubeing...but nothing with the tubing is really making me satisfied. Part of the problem is the garnet bezel is on a different plane from the rest of the piece, and its making it difficult to design around. I suppose i'll just drop the tubing idea. Now I make the other two settings.

Yup, thats them being soldered.

There we go! Now I just need the right kind of chain (or to make some myself), polish up the silver and set the stones. I can't wait for it be done!

While I worked my dog was keeping watch. Watching adorably at that.

How do you design? Do you draw out your design and stick with it, or do you start working without a design and just see what happens? What are some of your favorite designs? You do you look for inspiration?