Metalsmithing - Week Three - Creating the bail...

Today we soldered all the pieces of my Ying and Yang pendant. I had to place the piece on the fire brick, set the copper pieces onto the nickle silver round where I wanted them and pin them into place. Pinning the pieces is done with pieces of wire and T-pins to keep the pieces from moving while they are being torched. With assistance from Jo, the pieces were easily soldered, quenched in water, and placed in the pickle for about 10 minutes for cleaning.

Next we set about creating a bail. I did several tracings on paper, cut them out, and folded them in half in the form of a bail to try different sizes against the focal piece. Once I found the tracing of choice, it was traced on tracing paper and wrapped around the nickle silver (set with glue stick) and I was off to the bench pin to saw out another piece of metal. I did get a few scratches on the metal and broke, not just one, but three saw blades getting the job done! However, the final cut piece came out well. Using grits 240, 400, and 600, in that order, I sanded out the scratches.  The bail was torched to soften the metal so the bail could be formed. Out of time today, so until next week, here is a picture of the focal piece and the half-formed bail. I think the next step will be to solder the bail to the focal. I plan on hammering the bail and one of the pieces on the focal, so we'll see which step will be next! Until next week, here is a picture of what we have up to now. See you next week! Blessings, Anita