Quartz is one of the most plentiful minerals on the planet. Humans have been using quartz in jewelry for thousands of years. Read on to learn more about the colors of Quartz.
Members of the quartz family may look different but they are essentially made up of the same elements, silicon and oxygen. They crystallize in the trigonal crystal system and they differ mostly in the size of their crystals.
Today I made two cuffs for a customer so I wanted to show you the process.
I first start out with sheet brass and cut the shapes out.
Then I hand finish all of the edges and round the corners using files and increasing grits of sand paper, so that there are no sharp edges.
I always stamp my maker's mark on all of my metal jewelry.
Next, I shape the metal blanks over an oval bracelet mandrel. I like oval mandrels because our wrists are not round.
Here are the two blanks after the first stage of forming. The cuff on the mandrel has a chevron shape and the one on the workbench is a tall 3 inch cuff.
This is a picture of the tall cuff getting a hammered finish. I am using a Fretz hammer :)
Here is a picture of the finished tall cuff. I have turned up the edges to go away from the arm and to give it a better shape.
And here is what the cuff looks like on the inside. It has been hand finished and hand polished and is ready for shipping. These two cuffs are for a small wrist, but I can make all sizes, all the way up to extra large. Each one is made for you.