TexasCHLforum.com

SQLGeek wrote: ↑Thu Dec 27, 2018 9:22 am I swear I learn something every time I read one of your posts, Andy!

If I quit experimenting with new stuff I might actually master something finally ;)

What do you mean, 'next'? I'mma quit while I'm ahead!

JustSomeOldGuy wrote: ↑Wed Dec 26, 2018 8:10 pm Were the emeralds because
- birthstone
- she likes them, or
- that's what you already had on hand to contribute to an experiment?

Yeah, I wish I had emeralds just floating around the place She likes them.

Electric kiln, temp controlled by an add-on. The clay is tacky as it comes out of the foil package, but starts to dry slowly (can be easily re-moistened as needed).

1,300 deg F kept me toasty doing this outside past midnight on Christmas Eve/Christmas, yep

Thank you very much. I didn't either - this was brand-new to me and even as artless as I am, it was fairly straight-forward to do.

I did actually round both sides, yes, but thank you :) By "finished" I meant that the major work was done and just the finer details to get done, polishing etc.

My girlfriend is a wonderful person, so I decided to try something I'd never done before to make a Christmas present - make silver jewelry from metal clay. The basic premise is that you can carve/create something in silver-bearing clay and then "fire" it in a small forge/kiln which burns away the clay binder and sinters the silver together (shrinkage is about 10-15%), pretty much like MIM parts in some guns.

I had gotten her two emeralds - one small, one large - and went to work on a ring for the smaller one (about 6mm square, just under a carat):

Drying the finished design using my PC's warmth (can't fire it until it's dry):


In the kiln, the binder material burning off and with a sacrificial plug insert to maintain the ring-size:


15 minutes into a half-hour firing (I just had to peek):


Ring finished and the emerald set in place. There's an embossed pattern which didn't turn out perfectly, but oh well:


Ring in position - she loves it and no, we're not engaged: