Gloria

When I took apart Mr. and Mrs. Smith (see my previous blog), I knew I would make a bracelet with the green garnet beads. While I had enough beads to make a triple strand bracelet, I decided to hold back some beads and go with a double strand. My original sketch for the clasp, another hollow form, is too terrible to share, but I had already decided to make a pentagon shape. I’ve already made toggle clasps using the circle, arched triangle, and hexagon, so the pentagon was up next. I would need patterns for the top and bottom of the pentagon as well as one for the keepers. Below is a picture of the patterns.

To begin making the hollow form, I made the inner pentagon first using the pattern as a template. The material is sterling silver sheet, cut into a strip, then scored where I would fold the metal, until I had a pentagon. Once this inner hexagon was soldered closed, I could join it to the top of the clasp. Below is a picture of this step.

A couple of factoids here: I used charcoal to solder the inner form to the sheet because I needed to sheet to become as hot as the inner form for good soldering — the inner form was heavier than the sheet and would tend to “hog” all the heat from the torch. Notice how white the silver is. This is typical of the metal after it’s been pickled (cleaned) — it is important that the metal is chemically cleaned or the solder will not flow. And then there are those arrows — what the heck? The top of the clasp is decorated with a method known as roller printing. If you look closely at the bracelet, you will see that there is a texture to the top of the clasp. I used grosgrain ribbon to “print” onto the sterling sheet; later I will oxidize (darken) the top to bring out the printing. Because I used two pieces of ribbon, there’s a break between them. I wanted this break to appear off-set on the top, and to find that break, I used a Sharpie to indicate where the break is. I hope I’ve made clear what I am doing. If not, do contact me and I’ll answer your questions.

I’ve cleaned up the top of the clasp as you can see from the picture above, and I’ve also made the outer hexagon. Notice that the template for the bottom of the clasp has a hexagonal opening that’s smaller than actual size of the inner hexagon. It’s impossible for me to join the outer hexagon to both the top of the clasp and the bottom if the opening for the bottom is exactly sized. It’s much easier to cut away the excess material. That was true for the top as well.

I was so intent on the phase of joining the top and bottom of the clasp that I neglected to take pictures of this part of the process. The final steps in making the clasp were making the oval pieces for the bead strands to attach to. Below, however, is a picture of the completed hollow form toggle clasp after oxidizing.

The hollow form is complete but this is only one part of the entire clasp. There needs to be the part that closes the bracelet, and that is a bar. Attached to the bar, though, is another bar to which the strands of beads are attached. Below is a picture of all the components that go into this part of the clasp.

What you are looking at: the top of the picture has the bar that goes through the hollow form. The ends of this bar will have rhodolite garnet cabochons, hence the small bezel cups that will be soldered to the ends. The fancy piece on top of the bar will have the oval ring through the fancy curved piece on top of the bar and then attach to the single ring on the bar in the bottom of the picture. The two rings on this bar are for the bead strands. I decided to make this bar a bit fancy so I will solder the balls you see on the ends. A bit tricky as you will see from the picture below.

I took this picture after I soldered the ball (embedded in the charcoal) onto the bar — this was the last soldering job I needed to do for this bar. Isn’t it amazing how ugly jewelry can be when being made? In order to ensure that the previous solderings will not come undone, I use a potter’s glaze (yellow ochre) painted over the joints. Solder will not flow where the metal is dirty, so the yellow ochre does the trick. I wash the piece after soldering and then pickle it. Pickle is a mild acid bath that removes the oxide from the metal. You have seen previously in this blog how the metal looks when it comes out of the pickle.

At this point, I make the keepers; those are pieces of silver that will keep the two strands together. Now comes the part where I make up the bead strands. I aim for the usual length for bracelets, 7-1/2 inches, although if it’s a little long, I can always shorten the bracelet a bit for someone with wrists that are more slender. Below is a picture of this work-in-process.

If you look closely at the graph paper, you will see tick marks where I figured out the length of the bead strand itself, the hollow form, and the bar ends. I am stringing the beads with silk, my stringing material of choice, in a lovely green color to complement the beads. You see the keepers with the pearls and Bali spacers which, I confess, I purchase. Once I am satisfied with the length, I will take apart this work, and string the beads and then the bracelet will be completed. Here it is.