PROJECT COVER STORY INTERMEDIATE METAL/PLASTIC Cold-connect Silver & ACR YLI C in a Layered Ring Learn to work with modern, lightweight acrylic sheet to introduce transparent color to your work. by Maria Apostolou exploring the interconnections between precious and non-precious materials is one of the main themes of my work. Acrylic sheet is a strong, lightweight, industrial material, and it becomes even more interesting for jewelry making due to its availability in a wide array of colors and the play of light that happens when multiple layers of transparent acrylic are stacked together. In this cold-connected ring, I combined two transparent, colored sheets of acrylic with sterling silver. You can mix up the colors of acrylic, add layers, or change the shape of the ring to create a design that is truly your own. FCT-MWON0216_ART14 2012 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. facetjewelry.com
1 2 3 4 5 6 materials Sterling silver sheet: 24-gauge (0.5 mm), 13/8 x 1 3/16 in. (35 x 30 mm) Transparent acrylic sheet: 1½ x 1¼ in. (38 x 32 mm), 5/32 in. (4 mm) thick, 2 colors (red, brown) Sterling silver wire: 18-gauge (1.0 mm), round, 2 in. toolboxes Sawing/piercing Finishing additional tools & supplies Tracing paper Carbon paper Plastic circle template Mini-fiber wheel, coarse (brown) Wide masking tape Spiral wax saw blades Wood block Sewing needle (optional) Ball bur: 1.8 mm Riveting hammer Polishing compound for plastics (such as Dialux Jaune [yellow] or Vonax) Toothbrush (optional) SAFETY TIP: Sawing, drilling, filing, and sanding acrylic sheet generates dust and fumes that you don t want to inhale. Protect yourself by wearing a respirator rated for dust and fumes, and always use wet sandpaper. Sterling silver and acrylic components Cut the sterling silver sheet. Trace Template 1 onto tracing paper. Use carbon paper to transfer the design onto a 13/8 x 1 3/16 in. (35 x 30 mm) piece of 24-gauge (0.5 mm) sterling silver sheet. Choose a circle on a plastic circle template that corresponds to your ring size. Place the circle template on the silver near the bottom edge of the ring. Trace the circle onto the silver with a scribe. Use a jeweler s saw with a 4/0 blade to carefully saw out the silver [1]. Drill a hole inside the circle with a #61 (0.039-in./1 mm) drill bit. Thread the saw blade through the hole, and pierce the circle [2]. File and sand the silver component. File the edges of the silver to remove any saw marks and to refine its shape. Sand the silver with 320-grit sandpaper to remove the file marks. Drill holes in the silver component. Place Template 1 on the silver, and use a scribe to mark the spots where you will drill holes. Drill a hole at each mark with a #61 (0.039-in./1 mm) drill bit. NOTE: The wire rivets will be set in four holes, one in each corner of the ring; position these holes for maximum stability. The other holes are decorative, and can be positioned wherever you want them. Template 1 Template 2 Template 3 Template 4 36
Look at the back! The silver rivets pop against the two colors of stacked transparent acrylic. 7 designed for metal. Their advantages are that they cut acrylic faster than standard jeweler s saw blades and they re less likely to get stuck in the acrylic sheet due to heat from friction. 8 Finish the silver component. Sand the back of the silver component to smooth any burrs left from drilling. Use a coarse (brown) mini-fiber wheel in a flex shaft to give the back of the silver a matte finish, or sand the silver with any other product you prefer. This surface will not be accessible after the ring is riveted together, so it s important to clean and finish it at this stage. Saw out the acrylic. Trace Template 2 and Template 3 onto two pieces of masking tape. Place Template 2 onto a 1½ x 1¼ -in. (38 x 32 mm) red acrylic sheet and Template 3 to a brown acrylic sheet of the same size [3]. NOTE: Acrylic sheet usually comes with a protective sheet of plastic or paper attached to its surface. I removed the film to take clear pictures, but I suggest you leave it on until you re ready to assemble your ring to prevent scratching the surface of the acrylic. Thread a spiral saw blade into your saw frame. Lubricate your blade, and saw outside of the designs edges, leaving enough material for filing and sanding [4]. NOTE: Spiral blades, which are designed for wax, are less accurate than saw blades Be precise when you saw the top, curved edges of the acrylic components. It s not necessary to be as careful sawing the straight edges of your acrylic [5], because you ll align, file, and sand all three layers together after riveting the ring. File and sand the acrylic. Use a halfround needle file to file the top, curved edges of the two acrylic components [6]. Sand the top, curved edge of the red acrylic component with 320-grit wet sandpaper [7]. Move through progressively finer grits of sandpaper until you reach 2000 grit. This gives your piece a frosted finish [8] that can be polished along with everything else at the final stage. NOTE: It s important to sand the top, curved edge of the piece of acrylic sheet that will be in the center of the stacked ring at this stage (in my ring, it s the red acrylic). It will be difficult to sand after you ve riveted the ring together. learn more about thermoplastics Acrylic, or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), is a thermoplastic. It s a manufactured (cast or extruded), industrial plastic that becomes soft and malleable when it s heated. While it s warm, it can be shaped and formed, and after it cools down, it hardens and holds its shape. One perk of thermoplastics is that they can be reheated, formed, and cooled repeatedly while still maintaining their strength and clarity. Acrylic sheet can be found under different brand names, including Plexiglas, Perspex, Acrylite, and Lucite. 37
9 10 11 how to choose acrylic sheet for your project There are three main factors to consider when choosing acrylic sheet for your project. 1. Thickness: You can find acrylic sheet in a variety of thicknesses. For rings and other jewelry-scale projects, 1/8 3/16-in. (3 5 mm) sheet is adequate. 2. Color: In addition to the many color options available from suppliers, clear acrylic is also suitable for dyeing, using disperse dyes formulated for plastics (the same type of dye used for acrylic fabric). Follow the dye manufacturer s instructions, and test the dye on scrap acrylic before dyeing your ring. Note that the dye only penetrates the top layer of the acrylic and the color can be removed by sanding, so be sure to dye the acrylic after finishing its surface. 3. Transparency: Acrylic sheet is available in a variety of transparency levels, including transparent, translucent, frosted, fluorescent, and opaque. Transparent acrylic is a bit more brittle than opaque acrylic, but the advantage of the transparent is that it allows the light to come through. And, depending on the colors you choose to layer, you can create a wide range of color effects. Riveting Drill the first hole in the acrylic. Arrange the three components in this order: Sterling silver on top, red acrylic in the middle, and brown acrylic in the back [Template 4]. Place the three components on a wood block, and hold them together firmly. Drill through the two layers of acrylic with the #61 (0.039-in./1 mm) drill bit, using the hole in the top left corner of the sterling silver component as a guide. TIP: You don t need to make a divot in acrylic before drilling, as you would in metal. The acrylic is soft enough that the tip of the drill bit will catch immediately. Drill slowly to avoid shattering the acrylic around the hole. After drilling, use a sewing needle to remove any acrylic that may be trapped inside the hole. Set the first wire rivet. Use a 1.8 mm ball bur to slightly enlarge and countersink the top left hole on the top of the silver [9] and the back of the brown acrylic component. You can do this by hand: Hold the ball bur steady with your index finger and thumb, place it in the drilled hole, and rotate the bur in your fingertips. To make the rivet, insert a small piece of 18-gauge (1.0 mm) sterling silver wire into the hole, and trim it 1 mm above the hole with flush cutters. Make sure both ends of the wire are smooth and flush; sand the ends if necessary. Place the three stacked components on a bench block. Make sure half the diameter of the wire extends from each side of the stack. Lightly hammer one end of the wire with the cross-peen face of a riveting hammer until the wire slightly upsets [10]. 38 Art Jewelry November 2012
12 13 14 Process photos by Maria Apostolou and Anastasios Baltas. Flip the assembly over, and repeat to upset the opposite side of the wire. Keep flipping the assembly as necessary until the rivet head is even and round on each side. Set the remaining rivets. Repeat to drill and countersink a hole and set a rivet in the bottom right corner of the stacked components. After the first two rivets are set, drill the holes and set the rivets in the two remaining corners of the ring. Saw out the interior circle. Drill a hole in the acrylic inside the circle with the #61 (0.039-in./1 mm) drill bit. Thread a spiral wax blade through the hole and saw out the interior circle, leaving a slight border to allow room for filing [11]. Finishing File the edges of the ring. File the straight outside edges and interior edges of the ring with a coarse half-round file. After you remove the excess material, use a fine needle file to get rid of all the coarse file marks. File the interior circle until it s smooth and the ring size is correct. NOTE: Filing after the layers are riveted together ensures that all three layers will be aligned perfectly. Sand the edges of the ring. Use wet sandpaper to sand the outside and interior edges of the ring. Begin with 320-grit wet sandpaper, and move through progressively finer grits of sandpaper until you reach 2000 grit. Be meticulous when sanding the ring. Do not move onto the next-finer grit of sandpaper until you ve removed all of the marks from the previous grit. If you miss any, they will show up after polishing and you ll need to repeat the sanding process. NOTE: To sand the flat edges of the ring, place a piece of sandpaper on a flat, level surface, and sand each side in a circular or figure-8 motion [12]. To sand the interior circle, use your index finger as a mandrel. Wrap a piece of sandpaper around your finger, and rotate it inside the hole [13]. Polish the acrylic. Insert a miniature cotton buffing wheel in your flex shaft. Charge it with plastic-polishing compound, and polish the acrylic parts of the ring until it is uniformly polished [14]. Recharge the buff with polishing compound as needed. NOTE: Polishing brings out the transparency of the acrylic sheet; it also highlights any imperfections on its surface. If you notice any imperfections left from sanding, go back through progressively finer grits of sandpaper to remove any marks. After you polish the acrylic, clean any residual polishing compound off of the ring with a soft toothbrush and dishwashing liquid. Rinse and dry the ring. Cover the acrylic with masking tape, and use a coarse mini-fiber wheel to give the silver a matte finish. NOTE: If you want a shiny finish, polish the silver with tripoli and then rouge. ASK THE ARTIST: MARIA APOSTOLOU design variations The ring in this project calls for one piece of silver and two pieces of acrylic, but you can easily adjust the number of layers in your ring. Add or remove a layer of acrylic, or add a layer of silver to the back of the ring, sandwiching the acrylic between two layers of silver. For an easier alternative, omit the curved edges at the top of the ring. Choose a square, rectangular, or even circular design. Keep in mind that straight lines are easier to saw, sand, and polish than complex, curved lines. Once you practice and become familiar with the working properties of acrylics, you will come up with endless variations on this theme by changing the shape of the ring, the color, and the number of layers. What s the most unusual material you ve used to make jewelry? I often incorporate natural materials and found objects in my work. Recently, I chose a tiny green urchin shell, filled it with resin to make it more durable, and combined it with a shell and a found piece of white coral to make a brooch. Contact: www.createjewelry.gr 39