nicilaskin — silver smith

made this today - gold bypass ring in shape of a guitar I started with a mock up in bronze ( much cheaper ) 20 gauge ( 0.8mm thick ) is what I use i bronze or gold as I have a hard time bending things by hand with those 2 metals 18 gauge ( 1mm thick ) I use for copper and sterling silver as both metals are softer and not as springy I drew the shape out on a piece of label paper make it 3 inches long as you have to "bypass " the ends and anything...

Just playing around with metal I started out with some sketches I always use scratch paper for the initial sketches and when i like the design I will trace the design onto a piece of label paper . label paper has already " glue " added to one side soI do not need to glue my design to sheet metal ( rubber cement works the best if you do not have label paper ) I always end up with a sticky mess if I use the glue I cut out my design and stick it to the sheet metal in...

This sterling silver flower necklace was sawed and constructed entirely by hand from 18 gauge sterling silver and features a genuine black onyx stone in the center to complete the botanical statement. Embodying the organic flow and rhythm of a flower shape, the outer pedals were sawed as one continuous shape from the flat sheet of sterling silver and dapped and domed on a shaping block to capture a realistic three dimensional form. The inner whorls or pedal structure was also sawed by hand, domed, and then soldered to the outer pedals using a hydroflux welder before setting the onyx...

anticlastic bronze cuff with copper hearts cut a 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 inch wide strip from 20 gauge bronze cut lots and lots of hearts from copper I have a heart cutter from swanstrom , flux the back of your hearts and add solder I use hard wire solder for that heat the hearts until the solder melts and then flux the bronze strip and solder the hearts to it quench in water form your bracelet Now I realize that not everybody has a metal press with the anticlastic / synclastic former ,so you can make the bracelet normal...

draw your arrow on the metal sheet or draw it on a piece of paper and stick the paper to the metal sheet . I just like to draw the easy shapes on to my metal directly cut out with your jewelry saw and 1/0 saw blades clean the arrow with steel wool for easier soldering cut a 4 inch long piece from sterling silver I used 18 gauge ( thicker then that and it gets hard to bend into shape ) flux your arrow and add your solder I use extra easy wire solder ( silver ) fire up...