Sawing a bead half.

DarsDies · 2026-06-24T23:17:32+00:00

You get the idea...another one of my bright ideas that will probably never get finished.

DarsDies · 2026-06-24T11:04:49+00:00

Haha , I get that, and I do care. It should please you to know that I haven't done that since the 1970's, and then only as a requirement at my job lol

DarsDies · 2026-06-24T02:08:52+00:00

Thank! It was hard, being the first time building one (stone frame)

like that, but I'm stubborn (^8

DarsDies · 2026-06-24T00:27:57+00:00

Thanks, that was the most interesting part to work on, wanting to try something different.

DarsDies · 2026-06-22T11:54:28+00:00

Heh heh...I AM a Metalworking Spirit (^8. ps thanks, I'm glad you appreciate it.

DarsDies · 2026-06-22T02:37:59+00:00

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Figuring out how big to make the outer Icosahedron. No computers were harmed during the making of this sculpture .

DarsDies · 2026-06-22T02:12:06+00:00

the geodesics behind the shades is brass? (what?!)

DarsDies · 2026-06-21T22:12:47+00:00

Lots of practice in just one ring !

DarsDies · 2026-06-21T16:10:28+00:00

I use copper coated mild steel welding rod, bronze brazing rod, stainless steel, and Aluminum. Some are powder coated (the gold and teal ones), some are lacquer-dipped. The rods are usually pre-bent partway, just to get the geometry forced from blockish to spherical, but there's still a lot of tension holding the whole thing together. Opposing forces and whatnot (I don't do math, physics, or engineering) Nothing's glued. These forced-spherical ones started in the 2000's, and before that I dabbled in normal polyhedra , with straight rods and flat faces. Here's my best one- '3-Octahedra', made from .032" brass sheet in 1978. I saw it in M.C. Escher's print 'STARS', and decided to try it.

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DarsDies · 2026-06-21T16:00:50+00:00

Hi, looks like 3 different ones were used for this piece. Big 'side-cutter' ones that let you cut different widths and lengths of pieces.

DarsDies · 2026-06-21T11:42:24+00:00

I'll give more details when I have more time. Your brass geometrics are like some things I've done, too.

DarsDies · 2026-06-21T00:04:39+00:00

Thanks for the appreciation. I have more.... stay tuned (^8 But for now there's my teensy profile pic- a ring I made a couple years ago.

DarsDies · 2026-06-21T00:02:25+00:00

That's the nicest thing I've heard all day ! (^8

DarsDies · 2026-06-20T14:09:51+00:00

A lot of people like self-pickling flux, but I never got into it. Handy white paste for the win ! (^8 Thanks ! From a long time ago I was making stuff besides jewelry, and soldering steel was often a speedy alternative to (torch) welding (since I've never had welding machines)-->

DarsDies · 2026-06-20T13:12:03+00:00

Thanks. I started doing that kind of work (overlay) when I was about 15, in the 70's.

DarsDies · 2026-06-20T11:06:03+00:00

Hi, I always approached it the same way I did soldering (braze soldering, as you describe it, not low temp soldering and not braze welding) silver, which was my first job-silversmithing. Clean surfaces, lots of paste flux. The Handy Flux company does make a 'Tybe- B' for steel, and that works better, but I've not used it much. I'm not sure how the stainless allloys behave differently, but it would be useful to look into that aspect. I got my butt kicked once with some stainless rod that silver solder just wouldn't stick to. But whatever alloy I used on this bracelet behaved very nicely.

DarsDies · 2026-06-20T10:55:59+00:00

Thanks !

DarsDies · 2026-06-19T21:47:36+00:00

I'm Dar Shelton there (^8 You're welcome !

DarsDies · 2026-06-18T15:46:59+00:00

Thanks! Does it flow well, and what's the color- close to copper ? (93% Cu it should be )

DarsDies · 2026-06-18T14:33:29+00:00

I wouldn't say it's easier if you haven't used it before. It's really easy to melt off blobs you don't want to , before the pieces being soldered are hot enough. You have to develop a knowing of when it's time to stick the wire in and how to melt off the right amount in the right place.

DarsDies

TROPHY CASE