Lenses and some sketches

So here is the product of my evening, two lenses dismantled in pursuit of the innards! I love the puzzle of getting into these things, SO well made, each time I think I've beaten them another layer defeats me. But with a bit of improvisation I got the iris out undamaged (it had been OILED by someone in the past though!! Just shows I only pull apart the duff ones) and then those beautiful big lenses came next.

Regalia chain 'work in progress' images.

Just after starting this chain for the Mochdre Community Council Regalia I acquired a new camera, which meant that every little thing I did had to be photographed. :-D So here is an overview of the stages involved in making a chain, obviously I've missed things out - otherwise it would be pretty repetitive. In between each stage more or less the same thing happens, the silver is cooled, pickled to remove the flux, and rubbed over with a toothbrush and pumice powder to clean it up.


So to start with I needed, uuum, lots of little round links (can't remember how many!) which entails making a long spring-like spiral around a mandrel, then cutting along it's length to make the links. They they're soldered, pickled and pumiced to get them to this state.


I wanted the chain to lie flat against the wearers body, so these little links were to be squished in the jaws of the parallel pliers, then put through the rolling mill to give them a flat reflective surface (and also to flatten off the uneven shape).


Then I needed some medium sized links, not so many though this time. They were made in the same way as the small ones, soldered together, then pickled to remove the flux and put through the rolling mill. Next I cut a slit along the join to open them up again, this will allow me to slip the 'squished' links onto the round link without having to worry about re-forming the circle afterwards. They can then be re-heated and the solder will flow again closing the joint. It's THAT easy, and no I didn't swear once... no really I didn't!


Here are the 'squished' links soldered to the medium round ones, six on each except for the ends which have three and a hook to be added later.


Next step was to make the large oval shapes, this was done by making large round links the same size, they were then soldered together to make the forming of the oval easier. After some fiddling with a jig, and some tweaking by eye, I had eight ellipses more or less the same.


The large ovals after being soldered and pickled, ready to be flattened in the rolling mill, again to give them a more reflective profile.


The large ovals after they've been through the rolling mill and cut open again ready to be assembled.


The last bit of assembly and soldering - it's easy to loose concentration and solder the wrong bits together here!


The finished chain, in all it's shiny glory after being pickled, pumiced and polished. :-) I've found this quite useful, who knows, if I'm organised enough to actually have the camera in the workshop with me next time there might be more where this came from!