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Our teacher taught us all the basics: how to saw (how to replace a broken saw blade), how to make a bezel, how to solder, how to file and sand, and how to polish our finished pieces. We learned about all the different tools, the different hammers, torches, rolling mills, polishers, and so on. When she turned us loose on our first project, she provided a small piece of sterling silver sheet metal, bezel wire--for those who needed it--and a choice of a few different stones.

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I chose a black onyx oval cabochon. I had this idea in my head--an irregular shape that I lovingly referred to as the \"splat\". After sketching this shape around the stone, on my scratch paper, attached the paper to the surface of my sheet metal and cut along the lines to transfer the shape.

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After filing and sanding the metal shape, I proceeded to make the bezel using flat bezel wire and a pair of safety scissors. That's right, the bezel is that thin and soft. I used the safety scissors to trim the length and height of the bezel. With help from my teacher, I soldered the bezel to the metal \"splat\". I cleaned up the piece once more and pressed the stone into the bezel...perfect fit! All that was left was pressing the bezel over the edge of the stone, to hold it in place, and then a final polish.

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There it was, my first piece of metal jewelry.

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The \"Splat\", my first piece of handmade metal jewelry.
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(It must've looked delicious because, before I was able to get a chain for it, our dog pulled it off the dresser and chewed on it. It was sitting in a plastic bag, and he just snagged it and started gnawing on it. Bad dog. Fortunately, I was able to take it back to class, hammer the edges flat and remove most of the scratches.)

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In the final sessions of the class, I made a second piece--more or less by accident. Having finished by big project (the \"splat\") and not thinking I would have enough time to start another project, I started playing around with some scrap wire. I thought, if nothing else, I could practice soldering. Two pieces of wire, two large-ish hoops. By sheer coincidence, they were concentric circles, and one fit perfectly inside the other. When I held them up together, one of the women in the class remarked that it was beautiful, and then I saw it.

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I made another, smaller hoop, and soldered it closed around the two larger hoops. That was my bail. I ran a chain through it and I had a second necklace. If I had tried to make those two hoops fit together like they did, I don't think I could've done it on purpose. It's now one of my wife's favorite necklaces.

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A happy accident--my second piece of handmade metal jewelry and still one of my favorites.
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