Steampunk Jewelry - A Present From the Past

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May 152012


The world of Steampunk is beginning to emerge into the mainstream from the various, underground circles where it has long been a well-kept secret.

Steampunk fashion is now appearing on the catwalks and beginning to catch the eye of the media and it will be interesting to see if the whole movement will evolve or whether its followers will forsake it once it hits the high street.

There is so much to Steampunk, from the classic books of Jules Verne and HG Wells to the “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” Graphic Novels of Alan Moore, art, role playing games, clothes, but for me its Steampunk Jewelry that I love the most.

I have been making my own Jewelry for quite some time and have always been interested in vintage pieces, the remnants of yesteryear. So when I saw that there was a whole new way to reappropriate the past and give it a modern context, via Jewelry – I was in heaven!

As a main component, I’ll buy old watches and timepieces anywhere I can find them but the bulk of my material has come via the Internet. Over the past year the cost has been increasing as sellers realize that there is a market for vintage watches (broken at that) and instead of listing “Watches for repair or parts” they are now rebranding them as “Steampunk” and upping the prices.

I love to take these old timepieces apart and discover the treasures they contain.

A lot of the time, you find plastic workings from modern watches, but often when you find a watch that was made pre-sixties, you will find tiny rubies that are used as bearings because they are so resilient.

When you look at the workings of these old watches you can only marvel at the craftsmanship that has gone into making them. It is little wonder that all these intricate pieces have inspired another art form, Horological Collage, which uses watch parts to create pictures. This translates beautifully into Steampunk Art and some of my favourite pieces utilise this technique.

Once I have an abundant supply of vintage watch parts to fashion into Steampunk Jewelry, it’s simply a question of finding the best way to reappropriate the cogs and movements and it’s never long before inspiration strikes.

I love the fact that I’m giving something so skilfully made, which was sadly discarded as junk, a new life.

Surely that is the ultimate form of upcycling!

By: Lora Sutton

About the Author:




Lora Sutton
Steampunk Jewelry Maker and Artist
http://www.steampunkjewelry.ffxoh.com



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Posted by GBoyd at 12:52 am Tagged with: , ,

Tormek's T7 Sharpening System - Wet Grinder

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Nov 092011


Tormek’s new T7 is the latest in a line of widely acclaimed sharpening systems. The grinder is well made and will take years of hard use. The system comes with a squaring jig, this holds your blades automatically squared to the grinding wheel. Chisels and plane blades are attached with their backs flat against a large reference surface, this then prevents rocking or tipping once the jig is tightened down. Included with the system is Tormek’s new truing and dressing Tool TT-50.

The TT-50 is Tormek’s latest stone truing tool and will make getting a flat parallel surface a simple and quick task. The truing and dressing tool comes in the T7 sharpening system and if like me you have an earlier Tormek system you can also use the TT-50 on the existing Universal Support, but setting up the cut is more difficult. However Tormek advise you to retrofit the latest Universal Support with Micro Adjust.

The Tormek T7 system has a slow running speed which will give you full control over your blades that are being ground. The low running speed and heavy wheel also reduces noise and vibration, giving a smoother grind and so a sharper blade.

As the grinding and sharpening system utilizes water cooling (wet grinding – the grinding wheel rotates in a tray of water), there is no risk of overheating or burning the edges of your blades and drawing the temper from them. Honing and polishing is carried out on another leather honing wheel. The leather honing wheel needs to be lubricated with a grinding paste.

The T7 sharpening system is not cheap, however for the professional woodworker the time savings over the life of the product will make it more than worth while to own, for the amateur woodworker it could be overkill, but if you have the money it is a really nice piece of kit, and should last you for years reliving hours and hours of tedious sharpening.

Main Features:

3″ wide Water cooled grinding wheel. The wheel rotates in a water bath, which you need to keep topped up. Square Edge Jig takes blades up to 76mm or 3″ in width. TT-50 Truing and Dressing Tool with screw feed. Universal Support, which also guides the jigs. Leather honing and polishing wheel.

About the Company

Tormek started in 1973. Today Tormek exports to over 30 countries world­wide. Their products used by cabinet makers, carpenters, wood carvers and wood turners world wide. All product development, and manufacture is carried out in Lindesberg Sweden.

By: Mark E. C. Hunt

About the Author:




Mark E. C. Hunt has been a professional woodworker for the past ten years, making replica antique print frames and gallery furniture.

He currently runs the Woodworkers Guide. A guide to the best of woodworking on-line. Find out more here: http://www.woodworkers-online.com



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Posted by GBoyd at 9:20 am Tagged with: , ,

Tips For Differential Diamond VS Cubic Zirconia (CZ)

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Nov 062011


Most of the people know that diamond is so precious and it’s very hard. Its sparkle, brilliant and hardness symbolize the eternal love. Jeweler likes to use diamond for making many kinds of jewelry. However, the price of diamond jewelry is expensive, then some people and merchant are looking for some imitation stones such as cubic zirconia or moissanite stone to make jewelry. It really much attract some kind of people.

The cubic zirconia is very rarely found in nature, but is often synthetically manufactured from zirconium dioxide and yttrium oxide. Cubic Zirconia is well known as a substitute for diamond, due to its high hardness and great fire.

Even though cubic zirconia is become popular in the market, diamond is timeless and classic and never replace by any kind of the gemstone. To be own the diamond jewelry is a great pleasure and so important for a woman. Therefore, we should know more about how to differentiate the real diamond and the CZ is very important.

Most people, even trained gemologists, cannot tell the difference between diamond and cubic zirconia with naked eye. For the untrained eye, CZ looks identical to a good quality diamond. However, under closer inspection, CZ appears to have slightly less brilliance (or sparkle) than a diamond. A kind of easy feather to distinguish diamond or cubic zirconia, the majority of diamonds have inclusions, or flaws. CZs are optically flawless and they are colorless, another characteristics that is found in few diamonds as most diamonds have some yellow shading to them. Here, we have the below tips for you to find out which is the diamond or cubic zirconia.

That is the small tool, an electronic tester. It can help you to check if it’s the real diamond. Another way, hold the stone or the diamond near your mouth and blow it. If you find the fog appears on the stone that means this is not a real diamond. If the fog disappears instantly, that is the real diamond. In here, I remind you that, before you use this testing, you should make sure the stones surface is very clean, no dirt and oily layers, otherwise, it should be affect the result of the testing.

By: Angela Yeung

About the Author:




As a matter of fact, if you go to buy diamond jewelry, suggest you ask the jewelry shop or online jewelry sellers to have a qualified certificate to certify the diamond jewelry that you want to buy is the real diamond. DiamondJewelrySelling.com provides real diamond with gold or white gold jewelry. All the jewelry must be attached the qualified certificate.

Angela is the founder of [http://www.DiamondJewelrySelling.com], a website that offers Diamond Jewelry. Angela has been worked for the diamonds and gemstones industrial for more than ten years. Angela and her partners are the gemstone experts, particularly the gemstone cutting and design. Angela insists Diamond is valuable and forever. She and her partners created a manufacturing site and produce their own designed diamond jewelry.



More article for the diamond jewelry, visit the Diamond Jewelry blog at [http://www.1diamondjewelry.com]

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Posted by GBoyd at 8:51 pm Tagged with: , ,

Diamond FAQs - How Are Diamonds Cut?

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Oct 032011


Diamonds are the hardest natural substance known to man. On the Mohs Scale of Hardness they score 10, which is the top rating. Nothing scores higher. So how on Earth are diamonds cut?

Cutting is the process which transforms the rough gemstone into a certain shape. Cutting allows the luster and color to be brought out, and gives the gemstone its fire and sparkle. But in its journey through the cutting process to become a sparkling faceted gemstone, a rough diamond can easily lose up to 60% of its weight!

Most cutting techniques were developed centuries ago. They are still used today because they are the most effective way of cutting a diamond, although some of the tools have been refined into precision instruments over the years! And for every diamond cut, a skilled cutter will use several processes to get the desired shape.

Two of the most common ways of cutting a rough diamond include cleaving and grinding.

Cleaving is an ancient technique and it involves a great deal of skill. A diamond cutter will inspect the rough stone carefully, sometimes for days or even weeks if it is a significant or priceless gemstone, in order to find a point of weakness. A chisel is placed at this flaw and tapped with a hammer to fracture the diamond at this point. Medieval diamond cutters used harder diamonds to cleave rough gemstones, using oil to lubricate the cutting and polishing process. This practise is still used even today.

If the cleaving goes badly, the diamond will be damaged or even completely destroyed. But if it goes well, it will split into smaller workable gemstones.

The smaller gemstones can be cut into round shapes using diamond coated saws. From this point, other shapes, such as heart shapes are cut. Facets are then added to the diamond using more minute saws.

Grinding is the process by which the facets are finished and polished. This is done using the scaif. This is a polishing wheel infused with olive oil and diamond dust, originally developed 1456. It is so important to the industry that some have described it as essentially creating a retail market for diamond jewelry. The scaif allows every facet of a diamond to be polished at precisely the best angle in a very short time.

These days coating cutting tools with diamond dust to improve their performance is commonplace. Cutting and polishing machines are powered with electricity and the faceting process is guided by computers. Nonetheless, little has changed in the diamond cutting process over the centuries and it is still the skill of the cutter, rather than the shape of the diamond which gives a diamond its value!

By: Elizabeth Henderson

About the Author:




For more information on diamond jewelry or for a wide selection of affordable diamond engagement rings, or if you want to build your own engagement ring, please click on the links.

© 2010 EHJewels

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Posted by GBoyd at 2:48 pm Tagged with: , ,
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