Grape Earrings

Peter_M

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Bit of a challenge to fabricate and engrave, ended up being pretty slippery little things. Turned out pleasing I think.

P1080185.jpg

Peter
 

Peter_M

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Thank you Leni, Don and the clickers.

Don, it ended up an exercise in dye making, fabricating and engraving ;)

Peter
 

John P. Anderson

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Nice work. I hope your working some leather as well.

Not much on the creative side on this end. To busy with other stuff with the nice weather. When the snow and cold get here I'll hole up by the fire and carve away. The weather has been as good as it gets. Falls hard to beat in these parts.

John
 

Peter_M

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Thank you John,
Got a bunch of saddles to do over the winter and spring I don't think I will get bored, with winter coming I better get in a good supply of wood so I can shackle myself to the bench ;)

Lenny,
I made them of a dare and for fun ;) They went to a finds wife, he was over for a visit, he brought up a round tear shape with grapes, since I never build anything hollow before it was a good challenge. He helped some by cranking the press and pouring single malt.
I was pretty pleased at the result, might just get a handle on that soldering jet since I didn't melt those little things in a puddle ;)
Might have to do some contemplating o that dye making wasn't happy with the way it turned out and to have an accurate line where to cut off the extra material, was a guess and set of your pants job ;)

Peter
 

Haraga.com

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Ya Peter, where are the die pictures!!
Maybe somebody here could use your ideas so that they don't have to put any time into figuring it out for themselves?
 

Brian Marshall

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Peter did a very respectable job of making and engraving these earrings.


But, ummm, that's a fairly simple shape to fabricate - without requiring a specifically made die or a press, Shawn...

Though obviously you can make 'em with a forming die as Peter did here.

Forming dies are usually made for at least limited editions - or if the product actually sells, maybe gazillions?


What you are looking at is a basic cone construction - and that can be shaped on a tapered mandrel. A dapped hemisphere (separate piece) can be used to "cap" or close it at the bottom.


We used to make hundreds, if not thousands of bolo tie tips in the Taxco shop by hand fabrication.

We used "primitive" wooden mandrels to taper, but we did have a modern day steel dapping block at the time.

It's only 26 or 28 gauge material and we used 950 (traditional in Taxco) not 925. You can practically shape it with your fingers.

(if you plan to engrave, think about using 24 gauge and leave the mandrel inside for support, then solder the ends closed after you've engraved and removed the mandrel)


When making a bolo tie tip the "big" end of the taper is left open and the "little" end is closed with a hollow round or lentil shaped bead.

Just reverse it for these earrings and close the big end with a hemisphere, the little end with a bead.


Carlos and KCSteve will still wanna do 'em with dies, now that they have new toy presses to play with. :)

That way they don't have to buy a dapping block set... yet.


Brian


Somewhere around here I have an old tinsmiths book and a sheet metal shop manual that explain how you work out the taper geometry and mathematics - on a slightly bigger scale... Works the same on the smaller stuff. Both are probably long out of print. No doubt there is something similar available online. Do your research.
 
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Haraga.com

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I must warn you Brian, don't do it unless you have some extra time that you need to burn up.
 

Peter_M

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Thank you Brian,

Never thought of building them the way you described, but it makes more sens since it is probably more efficient, You can figure out the blank size quite accurate so less waste and probably a lot less filing.

Still would have hat the chance to turn a small taper mandrel ;)
Thank you for the tutorial on the different way of building shapes like the earrings.

Its not much of a dye I made, just a little tapered cone with a flat spot to hold it on the press.

P1080195.jpg

For those of you that are curios I used the cross bar of a Domino Trials Handlebar but Rental should work just as well, my Urethane is a bumper of a Cat line skitter :)

Peter
 

Peter_M

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John,
I been riding Trials motorcycles a lot longer then horses started that as a kid in Germany. For a while we held a event at my pace every year. Now its more riding for fun ;)

Peter

09 15 09_1190_edited-1.jpg
 

KCSteve

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Carlos and KCSteve will still wanna do 'em with dies, now that they have new toy presses to play with.

That way they don't have to buy a dapping block set... yet.

Don't know about Carlos but I already have a dapping block set. ;)

Might have to see about making myself a little tapered mandrel so I can make cones.

Not sure why I might need to, but then again, can't see any reason not be have the capability.
 
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