The Making of a Jewellery Holder

My mum has A LOT of jewellery and wanted a jewellery holder for her birthday. I couldn't find anything in the shops that would hold all of the pieces she owned as well as have them all out to view (a much better way to choose what to wear each day when you can see it all) soooo I figured I would make one instead.

I started by making the design of the back board on the computer in Illustrator I made an outline of the New York skyline with the windows of the buildings being the holes for the earrings to hang. 

The kind people at Jewsons gave me a free piece of scrap wood which I gave to the Laserman to laser cut the design out of. I also got the screw holes pre cut using the laser to make sure everything was evenly spaced and alighted correctly. 

I sanded down the top surface in preparation for the spray paint. I sanded it down very unevenly and also dropped the sander which made a big dent which I then had to cut out - oops. Very important to wear a mask and goggles as the wood dust is carsonagenic.

The whole thing was then spray painted with the base coat. It took about three even light coats to cover with a light sanding (sand paper) in between the coats.

For the necklaces and bracelets to hang I got a broom handle and some wooden dowling from B&Q which I cut to size (I did try sawing  it but my arm ached so I cheated and got the trusty dremel out. Not sure this was the right tool but it got the job done...)

I also had the discs for the front of the necklace hooks laser cut into the same piece of board along with some 'washers' to support the hooks from the back (the discs with holes in). 

All the discs were bonded to the posts using apoxy resin (I use this stuff to join everything!) it's a two part bonding glue that you mix together. The squeezy tubes are very messy, I think they have since redesigned the packaging though.

Two holes were drilled into the bracelet holder for the rods to go into. They weren't the neatest of holes (no offence Danny, thanks for drilling them for me!). I had to use some filler to fill in the gaps. 

Then I sprayed everything with primer - the grey spray paint which is a base coat for the main paint colour to adhere to. 

Each hook I drilled a hole in ready for the screws to go in, using the centre punch and a hammer to make a dent for the drill to align to.

All the pieces were screwed into place, with the wooden washers on the back, for structural support.

Washers to support the weight of the jewellery. 

Side view of washer attachments for the bracelet holder. 

Finished base coat with all the fittings attached.

Four coats later... The whole piece had a nice black gloss finish. 

It took me a good couple of months to complete, so I don't think I'll be making any others but when you can't buy what you're looking for the only other option is to make one it's very satisfying to see the finished piece.

To fix it to the wall (this actually proved to be the most confusing and complicated part for me, this is definitely not where my creative skills reside) I settled on using a wooden baton which was drilled into the wall with metal French cleats (B&Q) and then the same attached to the back of the holder but the other way round. It was important to have the baton so that the holder came away from the wall to allow the earring backs enough space behind to hook them through.

Here is the finished result, it can fit about 40 necklaces, 40 Bracelets and 40 sets of drop earrings. The only thing it doesn't hold is stud earrings and rings, this is because my mum, who I made the holder for only wears drop earrings and all the rings she owns, are on her fingers. I could have added a small shelf for these or made a separate dish to go on the table top below so it would have been possible to cater for this.

Melt Down & Remade

I was asked to melt down an existing gold ring that had been inherited to turn it into a wedding ring. As most of you know I always say yes to everything and as always this is something I had never done before.

This is the original ring. 

I tried to trace the hallmark with a hallmarking book, but it seems they don't list all the makers' marks, as this one 'JH' wasn't listed. I did manage to decipher the 9 375 which means 9ct gold, having the 9 in front is the older style of gold stamp (now it's just 375) the anchor represents Birmingham as the assay office where it was stamped. The 'S' represents the year but the book didn't have this style of font under Birmingham - there was a similar 'S' in the London list just to make things confusing. [If anyone reads this and knows anything about the hallmark get in touch]

On the other side of the ring was the markings "19 lifetime" and the maybe a "4"? I think this is a lifetime guarantee stamped by the brand that made it but I have yet to find which brand uses this stamp.

There were a number of options for ways to melt it. This was a bit of a made up way. I cut the ring into pieces. Using a heat proof block, a channel was made for the the lengths of the ring in the hope that it would melt into a long line to make it easier to shape later on. 

This theory worked a little but I hadn't anticipated how much 'working the metal' (hammering and shaping) would be involved. Definitely worth trying to melt it as close to the shape as possible early on.

So this is the ring.... The black marks are just on the surface which will come off during the shaping process. 

The piece is annealed; heated to a high temperature so the the metal is softer. 

9ct gold is a VERY strong metal. I started to put it through the rollers, but it could only go through once before it would have to be annealed again. Each time you do something to the metal it's known as 'working' it, the metal gets stronger, this is called 'work hardened'. I put it through the rollers about 5 times which flattened it slightly, with the aim of making it longer. 

After annealing it again, it went into the drawing plates. This is a metal plate with various shaped holes changing in size. I had to start with the biggest holes and work my way through 20 of them, one at a time!

The grips clamp onto the gold and is drawn through the plate using a winch at the other end. Each time the metal has been drawn it has to be annealed again.

With the 9ct gold being so strong, I managed to break the cable twice. The cable got replaced twice before they decided to use a whole new set up, which luckily I didn't break!

Oops... 

I also used this tool a few times, it's a steel block with a half round groove which I hammered it into. This gives it a flat end on one side and a curved end on the other, improving on the shape the draw plate was creating.  I gave the gold a sand so I could see how it was going to look.

Now it's starting to take shape, the ends are cut off and filed down.

Some 'pi' was used to calculate the length (thickness + required ring diameter) x 3.142 The length is cut to size using the Digital Vernier for accuracy.

The 9ct was still very strong. I bent the ring to shape, so that the ends would meet (at this point it doesn't need to be round) and I protected the metal with a cloth on the pliers so I didn't damage the metal now that it had been sanded (otherwise that's more filing later!)

Using some solder I heated the join with the blow torch. 

Once it has joined securely and pickled in an acid solution to clean up the residue left from the heating process, it can be shaped around a steel pole (I think it's called a triblet) with a rubber mallet - again so that the metal is not damaged during the process.

As you can see below it's staring to become round, more like a ring. 

Lastly, my favourite part of the ring-making is polishing it up. This involves 4-6 different levels of sandpaper, then an abrasive polish on the Dremel (Tripoli) and to finish a buffing polish (Rouge). 

The customer wanted a brushed finish on this occasion so after the polish, fine sandpaper is used to slightly dull the shine and the entire ring is coated in wax to preserve the matte finsish.

Here is the finished result, a remade ring from melting an old ring, solid 9ct gold men's wedding band with a matte finish and stamped with my hallmark.

This is the pair of rings together: