Lets get to the meat of it

NOW we’re talking.


Enough of this namby-pamby silver working stuff for us.


With a swift kick in the metalsmithing pants, we were thrust into the heart and soul of gemstone handling and gold work this week.

We started the week off by just soldering head after head (and by head I mean the prongy claw looking thing you set stones in) on to brass rings and cutting seats. Now, I’ve never done this. I’ve watched it done, but never done it personally. Its pretty rad.

Yes I said rad.

Following that we got to learn how to set round brilliant cuts and shape prongs in eighty jillion shapes. Now, they don’t give us real diamonds to set seeing as we’re all pretty new at this, so what we get are pretty good looking representations called spinels. it’s a rock, just not the one you would pay big bucks for. For the most part I found the cutting of the seats and the setting of the stones pretty easy, it’s the attempting not to chip or disfigure the stone that’s the problem. Plenty of classmates had to get new stones due to chipping. I was fortunate enough to not have to. ALTHOUGH I did have to replace one head at some point because I managed to successfully melt one prong into a tiny ball of metal. Sweet.



I do!
We also dove right into installing our own heads onto bands that we had to shape to fit ourselves. Which, dear friend, involves filing precise angles. Which sounds deceptively easy the first time you hear about it and attempt it. But I managed to get the hang of it pretty quickly.

If you try and pick up a stone with tweezers, or your large fat fingers, or you jam on it too hard trying to set it, the stones fly.
Did I mention stones flying? Stones fly. Like how birds do, but no wings.

What do you do when they do this? You go hunting in the direction of the stones flight path and pray that you find it. I heard more colorful phrases then I care to repeat as people watched their stones take flight. I also saw lots of folks in the downward search crouch which is a universal sign for everyone else in the class to help look for something tiny and lost.

See:
For the most part this week was all new to me, but working on gold is way easier then silver just because its so much harder of a metal, therefore less susceptible to dings, dents, scratches. I like it. Its also starting to get really fun in class. We’re all bonding pretty well and I feel like ive been blessed with a great group of folks that im relating to really well and developing great friendships with . I’m looking forward to meeting these guys out in the field and forging awesome working relationships with.

speaking of bonding,

This week we organized a get together. Our first “bar night” as a class. Hooray! So last night I dragged my roommate and co-conspirator out to meet some of these people I talk about nonstop. There were about 5 or 6 of my actual classmates and some of the kids from the graduate gemology program there. It was SO much fun, and we all just sat around and talked about other things then class. But let me tell you, when we really did talk about class (to vent of course), it was so so so nice to be surrounded by people who spoke my language! People that I could use words like porosity, facet, culet, and alloy around and they knew what I was talking about. I don’t feel so nerdy around them. Ha. Ha.

Hand injury tally for week five:

• Miscellaneous grabbed metal while its hot burns: 3
  
• Combination file stabslash on left thumb: 1
  
• Mizzy wheel took off and ran across my finger: 2

Also accidentally inhaled half of metal scrap dust when I accidentally knocked the tray off my bench with my big awkward shrek sized elbow. My lungs will be worth more then my funeral will cost one day, so please, dump me off at a refinery.



Until next week, my friends. Be well.