It would have been nice if it was fairy dust but no such luck. 

Why am I covered in Delrin (acetal) dust - I just finished making more tools. I made 3 different types of tools in 5 different sizes for 8 sets which means I made a total of 120 tools.  

This time I added 2 new sizes - 1/4" and 5/8" and 2 new shapes one of which can be used for under cutting or lining when doing chasing and repousse. 

​So head over to the store and buy some! 

​Here are a few pictures to tempt you.

Today I am off to not only have dinner with friends but to get a photography "lesson" from William James Warren an amazing professional photographer.  William, in my opinion has been a witness to many historical events and his pictures are well worth a good long look. 

How did I meet William? I have been fortunate to have met him and become a friend through another recent friend (recent being 2 years) Ms. Lisa T, the awesome DBA who made me not hate working in Oracle. Note: I still don't love Oracle but we have come to an understanding; a mutual appreciation that we can both live with.  After having dinner together several times over the past year, we connected via Facebook and started to trade puns and quips.  

Recently having dinner and run away conversation which went late into the night, I asked about my photography as it relates to my metal work. William commented how he "liked" my in-process picture and how they had a naivety to them. Well of course they do; they are taken on the fly while I am working and to be accurate, they are taken on my desk, on the fly with no composition; no fancy lighting or other setup. It is just there on my wood Ikea desk with the computer keyboard or mouse in the background or on my workbench with all the tools and other detritus of the craft.  The real issue is the "good" photographs I attempt to take of the finished pieces.  These, I know I need help with so the proposal was made by me that we have dinner and I buy and in trade I get some pointers on how to take better pictures.  Today is that day.   

I have in preparation put into the car my camera, mini tripod,lights, and tent in addition to some of my cuffs and mineral specimens. I depart at 2:00 pm. 

Here are two pictures - one of my messy bench and the other is from another metalsmith/jeweler (taken from his FB post without his permission).  I think you can see I have a long way to go to be "messy".
​

When I first started learning chasing & repousse, I learned how to use wood dowels to flatten the metal after the repousse was complete because it could be bowed from all the hammering. Why ? well you would like your piece to lay flat, if it is supposed to be flat.  So using a dowel allows you to get in close to the design because a mallet may be too big.  A flat down can be used to flatten large areas and a knife edge can be used to get close to the design, do a bit of undercutting and get in-between tightly grouped elements.  You can used a domed tool for repousse or to push the work out if that is what you need for something like a synclastic shape.

I also learned to use a knife edge dowel during fold forming when you need to pry your folds open. 

But over time, the dowel ends get all mushed and they start to break apart. This is not good cause you are always making new ones. 

Being the engineer that I am, I knew that a PLASTIC (and I use that term loosely) tool would last much longer.   I have been experimenting with various materials and have found Acetal (a.k.a Delrin) to be the best material as it is not brittle, it won't bend when hit, even on the smallest diameter tools, and it holds up really well over time.

I made my first 2 tools over 3 years ago and my set now has 12 tools - some are domed, some flat, some knife edge and all are different diameters depending on what I need for my projects. When I started to teach, I would bring my set to class for the students to use and of course over time, they wanted a set too.  

Last year I made 8 sets and sold them all before I even had a chance to put them up for sale in my store.  Making these 8 sets took time as I had to not only cut the rods to length but then shape them.  I have since done more research and found a new supplier who will cut the rod stock to length; which is a big time saver.   

So, here they are - 8 acetal tools: 2 different working faces in 4 different diameters with a length of 4 - 4.5 inches.  
With time, I will add domed tools and some other sizes but these should get you started.  

Use this link to buy a set for you or your metalsmith friends! 

Now that the workshop is done,  I was able to finish MINE.  I was behind on making mine because I was so sick in February.  
For my cuff, I added the gold to the blossom bodies and put tube set CZ's in the center of all 4 of the small flowers. I originally only set two and after I bent and formed the cuff I realized that it really need to have 4 set stones. 

​As usual, lots of process pictures for you to look at.