Here's the full album https://imgur.com/a/B6Ot7u6 with more pics of different steps of the process

So far I started with just a raw chunk of Amber, and sanded/polished it, sliced it up with a jeweler's saw to get a pendant which I ground into a better shape, sanded and polished, and a slab that I cut into 6 cubes, which I ground into cylinders, added a bevel to, and used a pushdrill to drill a hole through, to make a halfdozen matching beads. Also drilled a hole into the pendant as an anchor for a clasp post. I'm probably gonna shape the beads a bit more, to make them a bit more uniform, but so far I'm pretty happy with the amber bits so far.

Next up is the metal part. I'm gonna alloy my own bronze out of copper, tin, zinc, and bismuth, cast it into rods, and pull that through a drawplate to get some fine wire. The wire I'll just wrap around a mandrel and cut the coil into rings, and make a few posts to go through the beads with a ring on either side, a post for the pendant, and a clasp. From there I'll probably do a really simple weave, and hope it turns out nice!

I'm trying to do the whole thing by hand too, so I havne't used any power tools yet. I like the meditative repetition of manually working jewelry like this, thus the saw and push drill.

I've done every part of the metal bit before other than drawing into wire. I'm hoping the bismuth will make it a bit easier.

Watcha think so far?

  • comi [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Does the big block really have greenish stuff in it?

    And also are you planning leaving it matte, or lacquer later?

    • Whorish_Ooze [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Sorta! Its Mexican Amber, (from Chiapas, actually, of all places!) which is known to sometimes have blueish/greenish tints. If you do a search for Mexican/Chiapas amber, you can find other pics that have that same bluegreen sublte tint in it. I've found that it only really comes out in big thick pieces, the thinner ones just look straight up pale yellow/gold. Which makes me think it might be Diachromatic, like Pumpkin Seed Oil, so that those hues only come out in thick pieces.

      And polished up, they can get pretty shiny. This pic shows it off a lil better https://i.imgur.com/jaJfi1i.jpeg So I'll prob just be leaving it with its natural surface coating.

    • Whorish_Ooze [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I used a jewelry push drill, you can kind of see it in that one pic. The twisted screw-looking part makes the bit rotate as you push down on it, so if you rapidly push up/down, it'll spin pretty fast and drill into whatever you want. Its like a yankee drill, if you've ever used one of those. The one I got came with its own bits, and was only like $12. I imagine the bits are pretty universal, if you already have drillbits, you could probably get just the pushdrill without the bits for even cheaper. This is the one I got https://www.amazon.com/iBayx-Precision-Holders-Jewelry-0-8-3-0mm/dp/B083LPR854/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=push+drill&qid=1623130603&sr=8-4