george wilson
07-25-2013, 10:31 PM
This was just hardened and drawn to a brown color today. Then polished bright again. Made from 01 steel. It will be used in the 50 ton coining press I also made. I have to be careful the press doesn't shatter the die. Dark brown will toughen the die enough. Sterling silver will be annealed and pressed into this die. It will be the front for a locket. It takes 75 tons to coin a U.S. quarter. I will have to press,anneal,and press again 3 or 4 times as the relief in the picture is pretty deep.
My wife and I have a jewelry making business. She has been at it 17 years by now,and is pretty independent,but I used to make more of the master models than I now do. If you Google Dawn Estrin(my wife) you will see jewelry we make.
The dolphin basks under an Art Deco Sun,swimming in a Japanese style ocean. Large Art Deco clouds are in the sky. A school of small fish breaks the surface. The spouting dolphin sees them. I added a raised eyebrow for effect. I hope the ladies like it!!
Actually,I made all the tools used to make the locket,though I hadn't realized it until just now. I have posted pictures of the Hammers,chisels,and riffler files used on the locket. I do not have pictures of the punches I made to make the clouds. I have shown the punch of the small,"classical" little fish before. I think 5 is the picture limit,though.
The Dolphin was chiseled out as smoothly as possible. Then,the rifflers were used to smooth the chiseling. Beyond that,small,specially shaped stones were used to smooth it. The picture is a small part of the rifflers I have made. The rest of the pictures are not well focused,though. My camera has an unreliable focus on it. I need a newer one.
The Art Deco Sun rays are reminiscent of ancient Egyptian sun rays seen in their carvings,though I added a few variations of my own. In fact,the exciting major ancient Egyptian finds in the 20's were the inspiration for the Art Deco style,which originated in France.
When the locket gets further along,I'll post pictures of it. I will press silver into the dolphin,because it is soft. The rest of the master model will be in brass. It will be cast in all silver in the end.
The pewter practice sheet shows the Art Deco cloud punch and other punches,except there are also stylized lightening strikes too. They will be used in a future piece. The Delphia name is only 1/32" tall. It is done in style evocative of ancient Greek lettering. I had to do that on a GOOD day! I coined the name Delphia for a line we used to make. The pewter was used to check out punches before I hardened them as proofs that they read well.
You can click 3 times to make the pictures larger and larger.
My wife and I have a jewelry making business. She has been at it 17 years by now,and is pretty independent,but I used to make more of the master models than I now do. If you Google Dawn Estrin(my wife) you will see jewelry we make.
The dolphin basks under an Art Deco Sun,swimming in a Japanese style ocean. Large Art Deco clouds are in the sky. A school of small fish breaks the surface. The spouting dolphin sees them. I added a raised eyebrow for effect. I hope the ladies like it!!
Actually,I made all the tools used to make the locket,though I hadn't realized it until just now. I have posted pictures of the Hammers,chisels,and riffler files used on the locket. I do not have pictures of the punches I made to make the clouds. I have shown the punch of the small,"classical" little fish before. I think 5 is the picture limit,though.
The Dolphin was chiseled out as smoothly as possible. Then,the rifflers were used to smooth the chiseling. Beyond that,small,specially shaped stones were used to smooth it. The picture is a small part of the rifflers I have made. The rest of the pictures are not well focused,though. My camera has an unreliable focus on it. I need a newer one.
The Art Deco Sun rays are reminiscent of ancient Egyptian sun rays seen in their carvings,though I added a few variations of my own. In fact,the exciting major ancient Egyptian finds in the 20's were the inspiration for the Art Deco style,which originated in France.
When the locket gets further along,I'll post pictures of it. I will press silver into the dolphin,because it is soft. The rest of the master model will be in brass. It will be cast in all silver in the end.
The pewter practice sheet shows the Art Deco cloud punch and other punches,except there are also stylized lightening strikes too. They will be used in a future piece. The Delphia name is only 1/32" tall. It is done in style evocative of ancient Greek lettering. I had to do that on a GOOD day! I coined the name Delphia for a line we used to make. The pewter was used to check out punches before I hardened them as proofs that they read well.
You can click 3 times to make the pictures larger and larger.