A Dolphin locket coining die I finished today

[george wilson]

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.

[Christian Castillo]

That's amazing George, I love how various art styles from the world have been incorporated and look so right together, what a great fusion.

[C Scott McDonald]

That is really cool George wow!

[Ryan Mooney]

That's really cool! The stamp is really really nice but I have to admit I find the riflers as interesting :D

[george wilson]

I need to get back and try to take some DECENT pictures of the rifflers. I'm a bad photographer,and my wife says my camera is too old. The rifflers were a LOT easier to make than the die,I can assure you. Since you are interested,I'll try to make some better pictures of them and how I made them.

[Dave Beauchesne]

A true Craftsman - thanks for sharing George - - -

[David Barnett]

The Art Deco Sun rays are reminiscent of ancient Egyptian sun rays seen in their carvings.

If I had to pick just one feature to rave about it would be your sunburst, George, but fortunately I don't. Having chosen that style from all the Art Deco suns and sunbursts shows a sensibility for the most opulent and beautiful of Art Deco ray patterns—the lively undulating versus the rigidly radial—and yes, that does retain Egyptian Revival influences transitioning from the best of late Art Nouveau through the early Art Deco, before it began imitating itself, oversimplifying and becoming more harshly geometric and proletarianized. Bravo!

The burst harmonizes gracefully with the Japonisme influenced waves, but then to set it all off, you have those overlapped concentrics that are downright Mycenæan as is the dolphin, of course...


http://www.whalesforever.com/images/dolphin-frescoes.jpg
Ruins at Knōsos, Crete — Minoan, Mycenæan

...and somehow you pulled off interweaving these distinct, diverse period elements. You took artistic risks and are rightly rewarded. You and your wife are quite a team.

And thanks so much for the photos of your die sinking rifflers, hammers, and chisels. It's been quite awhile since I've carved or even engraved steel. I pretty much wuss out and stick with silver and gold these days, although I do chase my gravers with hammers from time to time.

Recently, GRS has reprised Lynton MacKenzie's hammers machined in those patterns but they're just a burlesque of his originals and the handles show a disregard or misunderstanding for how the action should work. So much for modernity. Your hammers are beautiful.

Almost made me dig out the few Etruscan, Mycenæan and Egyptian replicas I've kept to remind me of my loop-in-loop and granulation days. It might even inspire me to... nah... if I wait long enough the urge will pass.

Thanks for all the effort it took to share this, George. Truly.

[Jim Koepke]

Wow, there is a lot going on in such a small space.

Thanks for sharing.

jtk

[george wilson]

Aw,shucks,David,Ah didn't know ah done all that!!:) Lynton was a friend of mine. His passing was a great loss to the World.

David,you are obviously well studied in art history. It is satisfying that someone with your knowledge appreciates the work.I owe much of my Art History and sculpting knowledge to William Reimann,one of the most eminent American sculptors. He was at Old Dominion in Norfolk for a time in the 60's. I stayed with him every minute I could. He became head of the Art Department at Harvard,now retired.

Glad you enjoyed it,everyone.

[David Weaver]

Really nice, very pleasing to the eye, every detail of it. I'm not nearly as studied as any of you guys who are thoroughly educated, but I can usually spot ugly, and even without any regard to the excellent execution, there is no ugly in the design. That's what really lets us know how big the divide really is. And the postage stamp for scale keeps everything in perspective.

The rifflers may have been a lot easier to make, but I like the filing that was snuck in on the second one from left. It's like a little easter egg.

[Mel Fulks]

Quite a lot to see in that small space,all beautifully knitted together .The fish all have that sense of purpose you see in ancient mosaics ....while the dolphin has a sense of porpoise.

[Ryan Mooney]

Your hammers are beautiful.

I would second that. I think the one thing that has consistently impressed me with Georges work is the attention to detail and fine touches on pretty much every tool and piece. It makes each post so much more interesting because there are things to pick up around the sides if you look hard enough (for instance the pretty curves and evenly stamped letters on some of the rifflers - necessary? perhaps not, but really highlights how it should be done imho).

I personally find a lot of the tools as interesting not because the resulting works aren't fantastic (they are :D) but because I have a fairly well developed sense of my limitations and can see making some crude emulation of the tools themselves whereas things like the die are clearly out of my reach for the foreseeable future so they are perhaps more immediately applicable. Having said that the finer work is most certainly inspirational so I would hate to miss that as well.

[bob blakeborough]

That is really some amazing work! Your talents never cease to amaze sir...

[george wilson]

I am glad you all have enjoyed the die work. I might do more,but we need to see if this dolphin will cast,as I mentioned. I might do something simpler,too,so a quick glance by a prospective customer would register more easily.

[David Weaver]

It would be a shame to lose that detail, but I guess one never knows what a customer wants unless there are a couple to compare. They can tell you pretty easily then which type they prefer by how fast they spend on them.

[george wilson]

I'm not going to lose the detail,believe me. If castings won't work,I'll coin them.

[Niels Cosman]

Wow- that is just phenomenal!