Making More Bangles!

At the moment, I working on trying to make the wooden bangles thinner, because I feel that my bangles at the moment are too wide and with thinner widths the bangles are more for market than for statement pieces. I wanting to cut it in half.

New Pieces!

I have finished these two pieces, a bangle and a pendant. I have enjoyed working with wood and the things you can do with this material. I'm hoping that the vein on the bangle resembles of just looks like a vein plant.

Processing Thoughts!

Over the last few days I have been working on a project that takes a lot of time, wire and hammering. I have made a few wooden bangles and am not working on the wire work for the top of the bangle. I'm hoping that the wire work will resemble veins for a plant.

Design Ideas!

These are a few design Ideas that I have been working on at the moment all incorporating wood and silver.

Private Work!

Sometimes I wonder if it wasn't for my mother I wouldn't be in business. Last week I made a ring for her that came out very well. At least I thought anyway. It was a black Diamond that my mom brought off Bidorbuy and I set it in a square setting, on the claws each claw had a diamond set, on the shank on either side of the main setting 3 diamonds where set. These are very good pictures.

The Next Process

After cutting the wooden bangles, I have to sandpaper the bangles down as they have rough edge's and patches on the surface of the wood. I have to make sure that the wooden bangle is smooth as anything, its very important as if it isn't smooth it will cause a delay at a later stage in the process. Once its sanded properly, we mix polyurethane and water it down with turpentine. With that I paint a thin layer onto the wood and leace it to dry for 2 - 4 hours , once its dry, I sandpaper it down as there maybe bumbs or bubbles, once sandpapered I repeat the process with the paint. This process is repeated 3 - 4 times. This solution makes the wooden bangle a lot stronger and brings out the grain of the wood.

At a later stage of today I will be posting some pictures of the process.

Making a wooden bangle!

Over the last week I have been thinking about making my own wooden bangles and using my designs to incorporate the wooden bangles. So I started on a long search for the equipment. First I had to ask around on who had a bench drill and from there I had to find out where I could find the drills I was looking for. I had to buy a set of round tube drills, which was a little bit expensive, but if you buy them in a set it worked out cheaper than buying them separately.

While setting up the bench drill, you have to make sure every thing is lined up well otherwise if while drilling and the drill isn't lined up you could hit the drill with the steal stand, making the drill blunt.

Once cutting the outside I use a vice to hole the solid piece but I don't make it too hard because once the inside is cut out I was scared the it would snap, so I don't crank it too tight. Once the middle is cut you have a bangle that just needs tons of sanding.