Week 12 (Platinum Week!)

 

                                   The prongs can be moved back to form but I just left it like that after polishing
                                                 Platinum head, entirely hand made, on a 14k shank


Eleven weeks of waiting had lead up to this point. It was the beginning of platinum week! I was so excited I couldn't stand it. After a little talking about the metal Blaine did a demo of fusing a ring. I had never seen it up close/in person but the camera never lies. This was the coolest demo he did in the entire twelve weeks. The camera even had a special dark lens so it wouldn't burn out! Unlike normal soldering fusion is much different. The flame is an oxidizing one and this sounded like a jet engine with a very loud hiss. The light is blinding, from the platinum taking on so much heat, so dark shades are a must or a trip to the emergency room is inevitable. The metal melts at just over 3,200F and does not transfer heat very well. Blaine actually was able to fuse the metal while holding the piece of paper thin fusion stock in his bare hand! Any other metal would have burnt him severely. After Blaine did the demo each of us had the opportunity to do the same. He coached us through it one at a time and everyone did just fine.
   After some more lecturing Blaine told us that we were going to start on the trellis ring a couple days early. We went over how this ring was going to be made and the task looked both simple and daunting at the same time. One thing was for sure; I did not want to tank this puppy.
   The first task was to anneal the wire Blaine had pulled down to size and given us. This was easy enough and no glasses were needed. Next we had to bend three jump rings around the mandrel to make the first part of the setting. This was a little harder as the metal tended to spring back. After this the project began to take off. We had to put slits into the jump rings at the appropriate points for the prongs. Any miscalculation could prove disastrous. I took around four hours to get this done. My hands were shaking much of the time and I took it very slowly. Some people finished this easily but I kept having to expel the demon in my head and his doubting ways. It was not easy but I got over it.
   After that we had to make the prongs and the steps in bending them, which I can't give here, were nothing short of inventive, as was how we assembled them and soldered them on. the ring was really taking shape. This was done over a few days, of course. As with all projects we had to wait for a couple people while those ahead had to occupy their time. After the head was assembled we were given a 14k gold shank and asked to finish and file it so that the head could be put on. This went better than previous for me, as I had learned a lot in the previous weeks. Soldering the head to the shank was almost a joke because we used a small, light flame versus the intense heat we had been using the whole week. One student melted the shank a little, but other than that they all came out good. The great thing was that everyone in the class finished the ring, unlike the previous three stone sterling ring we made in week five.

  Looking at this ring and holding it in my hand was a great accomplishment. I felt like I could do anything now. Before I was to leave school, though, I had one more task that I had to do; create two platinum wedding bands for the upcoming wedding I was in. I needed to melt, bend, shape, fit and polish to the best of my ability. This rings were going to be worn, in public, not just something I could do and forget about. I mean the trellis ring was great but things were about to get real. These bands would be my first true test of what I had learned.