STEP
1.
Draw the outline of your pin on a piece of sturdy paper. Cut it out. This will
be your template. My “Dancer” pin is roughly 27mm x 32mm.
Cut a rectangle of 22-gauge sterling silver sheet, just over the size of your
desired final piece. Texture as desired - for example, using a medium-to-coarse
wheel; embossing a soft texture using your rolling mill with sandpaper, cloth,
lace, or even paper towel; filing a fine file texture; or chasing an overall texture
with a fine stamping tool.
STEP
2.
Anneal the sterling sheet, then pickle. While it still has that frosty pickle
haze, trace your pin outline in pencil directly onto the textured sheet. Cut out
the pin using a 4/0 blade, being careful to cut along the outside of the line
to allow for cleanup with a file. At this point, I usually give the sterling some
volume by using a plastic mallet and a section of 1" dowel that has been rounded
off at one end. Put your “stake” in a vise and bend over the edges of
the textured sterling with the mallet until it has a smooth, 3-D feel.
STEP
3.
Make another template for the contrasting metal components that will decorate
the face of your pin (I used 18K yellow gold). Abrade the surface softly and evenly
with 400-grit sandpaper. Trace the shape from your template as you did in STEP
1. Cut out the shape, then cut another piece that you will later cut into
little triangles.
STEP
4.
Arrange the contrasting metal shape on top of the sterling piece to your satisfaction,
leaving room for the triangles to be soldered. Use a pencil to mark the general
area where this piece will lie on your pin. Form this piece as you did in STEP
2 so that it fits nicely to the silver piece. Draw your design to be saw-pierced
onto the contrasting metal sheet. Drill holes in the appropriate places and saw-pierce
your design. Center-punch, but don't drill divots for rivet holes.
STEP
5.
Use cyanoacrylate glue to attach the pierced piece to the silver sheet so that
the 2 pieces won't shift as you drill. Allow to cure for a few minutes, then drill
for rivet holes, using a #61 drill bit. Heat the pieces - with the exhaust fan
on - to release the glue. Pickle both sheets, then use a tiny file to clean up
any uneven lines and burrs in your piercing. Use a large drill bit to ream out
all the rivet holes, front and back. This will provide a bevel in which the rivet
can expand when you peen it over. Finish the surface again with 400-grit sandpaper.
STEP
6.
“Tin” the back of the second piece of contrasting sheets you cut with
medium silver solder. To do this, abrade one surface with a file, heavy sandpaper,
or a scraper. Next, cut small pieces of medium silver solder (sheet or wire),
flux the metal, and lay the pallions about .5mm apart on the textured side of
the piece. Heat the metal carefully, then use a titanium solder pik to spread
it evenly over the surface as soon as it flows. Pickle.
STEP
7.
File the soldered surface to flatten it and to remove any excess solder. Cut this
piece into 3 triangles. You may want to bend these pieces slightly with pliers
to match the surface of the formed silver sheet.
STEP
8.
Flux the triangles and arrange them together on your piece, keeping in mind where
the saw-pierced piece will ultimately go. I use Carborundum crystals to solder
because, as I heat the piece to soldering temperature, they support the formed
shape without distorting it.
Watch carefully as you heat the piece in preparation for soldering. Heat until
the solder flows. Stop soldering when you see a fluid halo of solder around each
triangle. Pickle.
STEP
9.
Cut a 3cm section of the 2.5mm sterling strip. Bend it to follow the curvature
of the top of your pin as a partial frame. Flux the bottom of the strip and the
top of the pin, then lay them both in place, upside down on the charcoal block.
To ensure that the strip is centered front-to-back, you may need to prop the pin
up or sink the strip down into the block. Use steel pins to keep the pieces in
place. Lay 2 2mm pieces of medium silver wire solder along the junction of frame
and sheet. Heat the pieces until the solder flows evenly across the top of the
pin. Pickle.
STEP
10.
To begin burnishing the frosty surface of the sterling, use soapy water and the
brass brush. Bend about 2mm of each end of the remaining sterling strip to right
angles, making a long U shape. Bend and file it to fit the back of the pin very
close to the bottom. This will act to lift the bottom edge of the piece when worn
so that it hangs properly. Solder using the techniques described in STEP
9. Pickle, rinse, and scrub with the brass brush.
STEP
11.
Using a tiny but very hot flame (a Little Torch works best), form tiny balls on
both ends of the 14K wire. Be sure to flux it first! Cut one end at 2.5mm, the
other at 2mm. Form a ball on one end of the last piece. It should be approx. 1.5mm.
Drill 3 holes in the frame with the #61 bit. They should be equidistant from each
other and far forward enough for the wires to lay flat on the face of the pin
when fed through. Remove the wires. Flatten the balls with a planishing hammer,
apply your center punch, and drill a hole (#61) in each one.
STEP
12.
Solder the pin findings on the back of the pin. This is tricky because you want
to avoid soldering them to an area where you will be riveting. My method is to
tin the findings with easy silver solder, abrade the area where the pieces will
be placed, flux and position the pieces, and heat to solder. Pickle, rinse, and
scrub with the brass brush.
STEP
13.
Feed the 14K wires up through the holes in the frame, then use cyanoacrylate glue
to attach the flattened balls to the face of your pin where they will be riveted.
Check the back to make sure that none of the rivet holes will be too close to
the hinge of the pin! Drill the pin for rivets. Place rivets in the holes, turn
the piece upside down, and make tiny balls on the opposite ends of the wires,
right up to the frame. Remove the rivets and heat the piece to release the glue.
Pickle, rinse, and scrub with the brass brush.
STEP
14.
Use liver-of-sulphur to blacken the entire pin, being sure to follow manufacturer's
directions. I always use a brass brush on the piece between light repeated doses,
rinsing quickly after each immersion. The 3 wires will be dangling freely, so
don't let them get bent in the process.
STEP
15.
You're ready to set and finish the rivets. Anneal the 18-gauge 14K wire, then
cut lengths that are long enough to poke through the front and back of both metals.
Put all 5 rivets through both sheets of metal. Carefully lifting the pin up from
the surface of your anvil, peen straight down onto the rivet. Peen all 5 before
turning the pin over and peening the other end. Repeat for rivets that will hold
the wires in place. To finish the rivets, use a rubberized polishing wheel. Use
a cup burr to round off the head a bit.
STEP
16.
Set the pin stem into the hinge element. I use the kind of finding that requires
a rivet to hold the stem in place. Cut off the annealed rivet, leaving only enough
wire to just stick out of the holes (front and back). Use parallel pliers to squash
the ends. Finish with a knife-edge rubberized polishing wheel.
With a background in anthropology,
Tami Dean considers her work most influenced by a lifelong fascination with natural
history and the art of indigenous cultures, as well as that of 20th century abstract
artists. She began her career as a production jeweler in Portland, OR, in 1984,
where she currently makes her home.
Silver
& Gold “Dancer” Pin
