Winter Wolf Forge

Alright, the new location is getting going. I’ll take before and after photos, but it’s pretty mish-moshy right now. Hopefully we’ll get things setup soon, but we’ll see:)

I’ve been busy and life is full of surprises but hopefully this site will get back on track.

I’ve been working at Douglas FIne Jewelery since August, and in that time I’ve learned a TON. I work with James Dixon, a master platinum smith, and our boss, Steve Douglas. It’s been great. I am now very familiar with our Roland MDX-40 cad machine, as well as Protowizard and interfacing that with Rhino3D. I am also getting very good at repair and fabrication using the laser welder, which allows us to not only fully assemble a piece with laser welds if necessary, but to tack elements together for soldering. I do most of the silver repair and fabrication, both custom work and stock items, and most of those have been up on facebook, though I’ll be adding images to my picasa gallery asap.

I have now extensively experienced fabrication and repair work with 14k yellow and white gold, 14k rose gold, silver, and copper. I’ve also done some cleaning and buffing on a few platinum pieces to take some of the work off of James.

I’ve learned what it means to enjoy going to work, and I’ve also gained a solid appreciation for the guidence that James and Steve provide. I’ve also found that I know more specifically where my interests are invested. Though the high polish “bridal quality” work we do 90% of the time is a good challenge and really requires a high degree of precision, attention, and skill, my love for the slightly rougher work that belies a reference to the process has been deepened. Being able to bring a piece to a high polish is excellent, and I can and will use that in my own work, but I am more drawn to the aesthetics and the qualities of “medieval art”. My precious metal of choice is still silver, though given the funds and the customer, I do like working with gold.

More to follow!

I went in to Douglas Fine Jewelry Design for an official interview today. Very exciting! I really like the Douglas family. They have been nothing but friendly and interested in making things work. I am officially going to do a 30 day trial period in which they will assign me tasks and projects to complete to evaluate my skill and productivity within the work space. If all goes well and they feel I would be a productive employee I will be hired full time and get to work with them for at least two years! I am excited to get back into a Jewelry studio. I love blacksmithing, and bladesmithing especially, but there is a certain aspect to the precise nature of jewelry fabrication and design that appeals to me. Hopefully I’ll be able to produce some good work for them and get an exciting job learning with some professionals in the craft.

So we finally got everything moved to bend, mostly. We’ve still got two vehicles, half a dozen boxes, a table, and a few odds and ends to move tomorrow. Lots of work, and considering we used a 17ft standard lift box-van and a 6×12ft uhaul trailer, not to mention the front half of a goos-neck horse trailer and a truck cab, plus the entire empty space in my 65 mustang, a lot of stuff as well. Apparently we’re bigger packrats then we though, but considering the “donations” we got in the form of old towels and crock-pots from our parents, it’s not entirely our fault…

Good news is my metalsmithing (black and silversmithing combined) stuff filled a 2 car car port, so I have a lot of stuff to play with and get working. Can’t wait to have some shop stuff set-up and ready to go. Have to finish a feast set for a Chaos Wars 13 prize, a dutch oven lid-hook for Chris Teeter, one of the few people who supported my interest from the get-go, and I think I owe Heather a trowel since I broke hers yesterday, hah. Good projects, good practice.

On other notes. Late post, but I didn’t get accepted for Tidefest. Near as I can figure it was a combination of a few things. I think the rush to get a lot of stuff done dropped my submission quality on my third item, but also I didn’t tailor my submission selection to what I could have guessed about the judges, and instead picked submissions that would fit in the show. Unfortunately I guess that wasn’t the best plan. Either way, I’ll still be doing administration assistance with Crew Moss, so all is not lost. And with my new found freetime, I will try and apply to the Bend Street Fair, and see if I can get into that next spring.

Lot’s of work to do!

Learned something new today: retinning is the process of re-applying tin to a previously tinned object, such as copper pots. By this you might assume that tinning is the process of applying tin the first time, but tinning is in fact commonly used in modern days to refer to the process of copper plating steel and tinning that. Basically a process by which you create a very weather-proof, non leeching metal sheet.

So, technically then, I am retinning… even if its the first time.

On other notes, I have completed a forming stake, and once I get a hold of a forming hammer or two I will begin doing some basic vessels to retin and use for dish-ware. The only problem now is the flux. I’ve found that Rosin and sal amoniac are the two most commonly used for this, but how much of what mixed in what vehicle is still a little sketchy. I’ve even got a recipe that involves tallow. Cow fat in my flux? I am going to do an array of samples and determine what works the best by guess and check, because the researching is about at an end. Wish me luck!

Currently I am working on some personal experiments/projects, and some apprentice work.

I am currently apprenticing with Alan Flashing (www.flashingforge.com), and we’ve been doing a lot of projects that require me to do extensive texturing to copper sheet and cold chiseling on iron.

The experiments are a little more interesting, though not as impressive. I am attempting to discover the semi-lost art of retinning/tinning of copper. Unfortunately I am having trouble getting a hold of pure Tin, and I need to find a good source for rosin, or some other acceptable flux.

Otherwise, another curias is in order as I am having forming withdrawls, so expect to see one soon.