Category Archives: Jewelry

Wire Weaving – Not as Simple an Issue as it Seems – Part 1

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Knit Chain has been a form that I’ve loved for 16 years. A recent class unexpectedly expanded my understanding of this technique and changed my view of some other skills, too.

Sometimes when I go to an event I wind up taking a class on a lark. Something I hadn’t planned to take. Something that just sparked a moment of curiosity. And sometimes that class can turn out to be an entirely new thing for me – a new area of study and experimentation.

Well, that happened this year for me at Gulf Wars. I was reading through the class list, and there it was – a class on Anglo Saxon Style Knit Chain.

OK.

I have been making and teaching Knit Chains, often incorrectly called Viking Wire Weaving, for about 16 years. I took a class at the Pennsic War and took my skills home with me to the West Kingdom. Many dozens of people now do this craft as a direct result of my classes – and some of my original students have gone on to perfect and teach this skill. I’ve helped dozens of others figure out how to finish or improve their pieces, so I am VERY familiar with the technique.

Since “Viking wire weaving” fascinates me, I’ve also done a considerable amount of research on the technique. I’m always looking for evidence of how these early skills were actually performed – tools, and artifacts.

Some researchers and academic papers told me that the technical name for the technique was Trichinopoly – an unfortunate term that was applied by a British Gentleman back in the late 1800’s – but more about that later. I wondered how long the technique had been used. So I started looking for other artifacts that could be credited to specific cultures and dated. Real artifacts pushed the use of the technique back to 400 BC in Turkey – waaay before the Vikings. It was surprised to find knit chains there. Wasn’t this supposed to be a Scandinavian thing? But I kept watching for more pieces, and one day I randomly happened upon a traveling exhibit of the female Pharaoh Hapshepsut ( 1479-1458 BC) from Egypt. I was wandering through, and there was a gold necklace made with this technique.

It was now very clear to me that this technique had nothing to do with the Vikings. They may have used it, but they did not appear to have invented it. In fact when I initially went to look for Viking pieces that used the technique, I couldn’t find any. I eventually did start to find them, first in Ireland and Scotland, and then in other areas, but it was really NOT that common. In the long run I discovered that the lack of consistent terminology that was used for the technique was one of the things that made it so hard to locate true knit chains. Most museums just lump the technique in with all of the other “chains”. The only way to actually tell if a piece is wire weaving is to find a good up close picture and actually figure out the pattern of the wire in the chain. Not an easy task.

Now to the individual who is used to standard chains made from links, it may seem silly that identifying something that was woven from something that was just “joined together” would be difficult, but if you understand the actual structural forms of wire weaving, and chain making, it will become obvious.

Next time: Viking Wire Weaving, Linked Chains, and Loop in Loop

Casting Metal: Soapstone Molds Part 1

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One of the things that I specialize in, in my shop, is cast metal. I cast pewter, bronze, white bronze, and sterling silver into an assortment of pieces of jewelry and dress accessories. Customers often ask me questions about casting, so I am going to write a set of blogs to help folks understand the basics of casting.

A common, and relatively simple form of casting, that was done before and during the Middle Ages, was soapstone casting. This is a relatively straight forward process where the artist carves soapstone to create cavities that molten metal can be poured into.

This graphic shows three basic mold forms with one, two and three slabs.

soapstone molds

I am going to assume that you have purchased good quality soapstone that is designed for carving. It should not have veins or cracks in it, and the texture should be uniform.

Let’s run through the basic process of making soapstone molds. It is possible to cast a simple object by carving into a single piece of stone, but most molds are made from two or more pieces of stone. One of the critical first steps when you are using two or more slabs of stone is to make sure that the slabs fit together tightly. The easiest way to do this is to choose two pieces of slab that are identical in size, flatten them as much as possible by rubbing them on a piece of fine wet/dry sand paper and then rubbing them together against each other. Using wet/dry sandpaper means that you can use it wet if you want to. Start with a coarse grade of sandpaper and work with finer and finer grades until the faces of the slabs are smooth. At this point I should mention that you should be wearing a good dust mask when you do this. Soapstone that is sourced from reputable companies is guaranteed not to contain asbestos, but stone dust is still not good for you.

So, back to the two piece mold. The two slabs of stone are now smooth and they fit together like a glove. It is now time to mark the outsides of the mold to make it easy to see when the mold is aligned correctly. I usually just line the two slabs up carefully and then draw lines across the side with an indelible magic marker. Mark each side with a different number of lines to make it super obvious which way the blocks need to be aligned.

Once the blocks are marked it is time to lay out the design on the blocks. The design should be sized and placed so that there is at least 1/2 inch of uncut stone around the outside of the design. Having a band of stone that is narrower around the outside edge means that the mold is much more likely to break. The same properties that make the soapstone a delight to carve, also make it fragile. Your mold will eventually break, but a carefully thought out layout will greatly improve its longevity.

Next time: Carving the Design

 

The Care and Feeding of Your Metal Jewelry & Accessories

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What sort of finish do you like on your jewelry? And once you have chosen it, do you know how to take care of it?

Whether we are talking about a historical piece, or a modern piece, the way that you prefer jewelry to look is very much a personal choice. It is important to realize that some pieces of jewelry, or other metal accessories like crowns, coronets, and buckles, are designed to be maintained in very specific ways. For example, the Viking Keys that I offer are sold with a bright finish. But bronze can attain a patina over time that you may prefer. The nice thing is that if you decide that a brown or blur-green patina is not to your liking, you can always polish it to like-new condition.

Etsy 28When you buy a piece, ask the person who sells it to you what is the best way to take care of it. Generally they will know. I say generally because I have heard some very bad advice given at shows before, so I always try to make sure that my customers know what to do with my pieces. And I have helped other people’s customers on several occasions. If the advice that you receive doesn’t sound right, it is up to you to figure out what the correct process is. Most jewelers are happy to provide an explanation of why they recommend specific cleaning and care.

I highly recommend that people understand what they are willing to do before they buy a piece. Someone who purchases a piece with bright, smooth surfaces, but refuses to polish the piece regularly, may not be happy with the way that their piece looks, unless they pay to have it cleaned professionally.

For some pieces that are not damaged by liquids, buying something like a small home ultrasonic cleaner may be just the trick. Just follow the instructions and your piece will be as good as new.

The easiest, and probably the safest, solution for dirty or tarnished jewelry, is a Sunshine Cloth. They are a chemically impregnated cloth, manufactured in Japan, that is safe for all metals. The cloth is non-abrasive, so it will not damage plated metals or leave scratches. I sell them in my store, and include them whenever anyone purchases a coronet.

You can use the Sunshine Cloth to remove all of the tarnish on a smooth piece, or just polish portions of the piece to produce highlights. Gentle, but firm pressure is all that it takes to clean an amazing amount of build-up and tarnish from your pieces. Be sure to store it in a little ziplock to keep it fresh, and NEVER wash it – washing removes the chemicals that do the cleaning. The cloth will eventually become amazingly dirty, but it will continue cleaning even when it’s all black!

If your piece is really dirty, you might try something like Flitz. This is a liquid cleaning compound generally found in motorcycle shops and automotive parts stores. When we received the Baronial Coronets that we planned to use during our tenure as Baron and Baroness, they were just plain grubby. They were tarnished and also had a layer of general grime. A good scrubbing with Flitz, following the instructions of course, and the coronets were clean and shiny. Both Flitz and Sunshine Cloths will leave an invisible coating to help protect the metal. We wore our coronets a LOT. I would clean them up a tiny bit before every use with a Sunshine cloth, and about every eight months I would do a “deep cleaning” with Flitz.

And beware of lotions and perfumes! The chemicals in these concoctions can stain or tarnish your pieces.

Lastly, if you prefer the shine and patina of a new item, ask your jeweler if they offer a clear transparent coating option to help keep your item looking like the day that you bought it. There are a number of coatings that can be used to retard tarnishing, ranging from polyurethane to clear nanoceramic plating. All of these coatings will eventually wear off depending on how you use the piece. Some, like the nanoceramic coating, have been reported to last a year or more in daily use.

Metal objects can be a “living” thing – the care and feeding is up to you.