Metal Forming

Here's another project from my fourth semester at George Brown. I made this pendant in Metal Forming B. I utilized two different metal forming techniques to make it, the first being the Plunkett fold. The bottom part was die formed with the use of hammers and a die that I made specifically for this purpose.

This project stood out from the others for me, because I found the class to be much more relaxed than the others I had, and I think that helped me to work much more confidently and ultimately make fewer mistakes. I also haven't had much experience with metal forming, so this really opened my eyes to the plasticity and memory of certain metals.

Ring Reconstruction

I had planned to share more of my school experiences on here shortly after leaving GBC, but just kept procrastinating. Finally, I’m here. I plan to talk about at least a couple of other projects that stood out for me.

This particular ring was not something I made initially, but something I made better in repair class by reconstructing the bezel and polishing the band.

In the “before” photo you can see how poorly the bezel around the stone was made and how banged up the ring was.

The “After” picture shows what the ring looks like now. The bezel is even and the finish is a high polish. I also opened up the back of the setting so the stone shines much more brightly. I'm quite proud of this ring because of the contrast between the before and after.

The Work of Robert K. Chen

I thought it would be interesting to share some of the work of at least one of my classmates from George Brown College. Robert Chen is a graduate of the Jewellery Arts Program at GBC, a program that differs from the one that I took in that it runs a year longer and students have the opportunity to focus on perfecting their design skills as well as their technical skills. The award-winning rings to the left are an example of some of Rob's work.

"My Formula is: 1", a composition of three rings in bronze, sterling silver, and 22k yellow gold, which have been highlighted with colour using a specialized car paint application, won Best in Show for 4th annual Zilberschmuck Art - Jewellery National Juried Exhibition of Canadian Fine Jewellery and Metalwork. For this Exhibition, Canadian jewellers and metalsmiths both professional and jewellery arts students were invited to interpret the term “FORMULA”. This word motivated Rob to make Mercedes-Benz F1 race car inspired rings, the materials referencing firsts, second, and third place winners of Formula 1 racing.

Warbler Brooch

It has been way too long since my last (new) addition to my online shop. I finally added this brooch this past Sunday.

I carved the main body of the bird for a class project in Model Making I. I added the branch at a later date and then had it cast in sterling silver. I also set a small stone in it for added interest and sparkle.

Fourth Semester

My full-time career at George Brown has come to an end. The college was kind enough to give us a week of free time in the studio to work on our own personal projects, so over the next week I will be back and fourth between home and school working on a few small things. On Monday, I will be cleaning out my bench and hopefully getting back all of my projects from the past year. I look forward to sharing photos and experiences of a few things that I've done.

Third Semeseter

Once again I have found myself way too focused on school work over the last few months to think about any projects outside of my assigned work. Since I don’t have many new things to first talk about, I would like to take this opportunity to share this older piece, it was a one-off "experiment" (from sometime in 2006). It’s a brooch that was cast from epoxy resin. It features a 4mm purple cubic zirconia suspended in the clear material, as well as imitation gold leaf. I wasn't sure how I felt about this piece at first, but it has grown on me over time and now I love it. I’m thinking about continuing this idea in a smaller, more polished form (this one is 45mm in diameter and the finding on the back is a cheap craft store finding) and in different 2D shapes.

This is one school project that I managed to get a photo of from this semester that really shows the contrast of the things I find myself working on in my free time and the thing I have to work on at school. Correctly fitting the gemstone to the setting and evenly spacing the silver components is of utmost importance. I find gemsetting to be very challenging, and was surprised with myself for doing as well as I did on this 4 claw construction and setting.

I hope to share more photos of my school work once the year is over, and my projects are returned to me. Please also take note of the new link to the left that shows photos of the majority of the work that I've done over the last three years.

First Year Projects

Over the past year, I haven't had much chance to post any of the projects that I made during my full-time studies at GBC. We mainly made and polished practice pieces in copper and brass to get a feel for the jewellery making process with less expensive materials, but nearer to the end of the year we were able to work with sterling silver as well as 10 karat gold (something that most first years don't get to do apparently!). I also had my first experience with stone setting.

The first image to the left is a sterling silver brooch that has leaves slowly emerging from the background. The second is a synthetic amethyst cabochon, set in sterling silver. Unfortunately I used the wrong tool and the area around the stone isn't as neat and smooth as it should be.

Intersession Week

Two weeks back, I had a week off from school. Of course I managed to spend just as much time on campus as I do when my regular classes are in session. I spent a lot of time catching up on work and I also took a mind opening workshop on acrylic plastic taught by the internationally recognized jeweller, Adam Paxon.

The workshop consisted of a little bit of demonstration and a lot of experimentation. Adam taught us about the properties of acrylic and the way it can be shaped and manipulated into interesting forms. I have only ever seen acrylic (in jewellery) as 2D shapes cut out from the material. The idea that it can be bent, stretched, and laminated to create beautiful works of art really excites me and I can't wait to work with it again. The image to the left is an example of some of Adam's work.

Well, I made it through my first semester at school. I learned a lot and am happy to say that my skills at things like soldering, sawing, and finishing have improved quite a bit (although I still have a long way to go). The work was always very challenging and there was never a shortage of it. There were times when things got very stressful and I thought that I wasn't doing very well, but I made it through with all B's! (including some B pluses, and minuses). I also made a lot of good friends, which was a nice added bonus. Semester 2 starts for me next week, hopefully I can use some of my free time this week and work on some creative pieces at home.

I'm very excited to say that I will be returning to school this fall (in just over a month) to study jewellery making full-time at George Brown College in Toronto. It will be nice to get to work on a real jeweller's bench again and have access to so many good tools and equipment. I'm also very excited to hear that I'll be able to work with other precious metals aside from silver during my time there. This is definitely the step that will kick-start my career as a jeweller.