Pat Pruitt - stainless steel in all its grandeur

Well, Im starting to do some serious traveling with the up and coming ACC shows Ill be doing.  Before the shows Ive done have been within driving distance, but now having to take everything on the plane is proving to be quite the challange.

That being said, the project is going to commence with a checkable, indestructable case by Pelican.  The 1700 case is primarily designed for transporting firearms, but this will work extreemly well for my purposes.  The backdrop and case will be designed with structural aluminium extrusion from Tslots.  This is a super lightweight, erector set style of construction.  Having the ability to machine the parts here makes it affordable and expandable

The goal is to build a 10′x10′ back drop with integral display case that is collapsable, lightweight, and can be setup in a couple of hours.  Must be under 50lbs (including case) and pretty indestructable.  Im guessing the total cost for this will be under $1000.  Details will be featured in the DIY section as the progression begins.

Twisted wire (3 - 6 ga wires) Bracelet with bead set 2mm Peridot faceted stones, there are 15 of them along the crest of the bracelet.

Okay, time for me to shut off all comments on my blog, the spammers are doing a great job at wasting my time during the day.  I hate to do this, but for now its necessary. 

Well here we go.  First I want to thank Kevin Lindsey and the Orchid List for bringing TIG welding for jewelry to my attention.  I had been thinking about tackling this venture for quite some time.  After doing some research, I decided that Plasma Arc Welding would be better suited for my needs.  I got lucky and scored a Thermal Arc Ultima 150 for a fair price on ebay.  After collecting the assorted missing items for the welder I was ready to try some stuff….so here is the first project, welding two pieces of wire together to form an earring.

The project starts with two 10ga pieces of stainless steel wire (0.102″ dia), putting a curve in them, then grinding a flat angle for the two pieces to fit appropriately.  Fittment is pretty critical, this is so we dont have to do a lot of filling with the welding aspect.

Here is a shot on how the pieces fit together.

 Now that we have a good fittment, its time to tack the pieces together.  I used masking tape as my *clamp* for welding.

From here, I tried to just do a fusion weld (no filler rod) and get the two halves to weld together, mild success, but to make a better bond I brought in the filler rod (0.051″ wire).  The photos below show some of the welding on the project.

a bit of file work on this one

After some moderate filing work with both regular and needle files, you start to see the outcome of the project.

Next hit it on the polishing machine.

There you go, a nicely welded joint that will withstand the abuse any ear will give it.  Up until this point, the only options for creating such an attractive joint would have been to laser weld (which I dont have, nor afford), or to solder the two pieces together.  The down side about silver soldering and stainless steel, is that you will always see the solder joint.

Ill post a finished photo of the earrings down the road, all in all, I must say, Im really going to like this new welder and its capacities.  In addition, there is a LOT of energy related to this type of welding, you can tell by the heat discoloration of the stainless.  With only a fraction of time behind this machine, things can only get better.

This past weekend was pretty exciting indeed.  With the invitation in hand to the prestigious Saul Bell Awards presentation, We headed out to Las Vegas for a quick trip and some fun.

Having the chance to be part of this event is defaintely one of those highlights in life.  It was great to see fellow contemporaries, Kate Wolf, Charles Lewton-Brain, Jeffrey Appling once again, and later on that evening, the ever vigilant Chris Ploof.  

 A big Congrats to Tom Dailing for his Grand Prize winning piece, yet another award to add to his already impressive list of accomplishments.   In addition, congratulations to all the finalists and award winners of the Saul Bell Award, the caliber of work is purely inspirational.

And finally, a big THANK YOU to the entire Rio Grande crew for putting on such a spectacular event. 

To our second annual Heard Indian Market - Artist Reception Party!!!

Where:
     Halo
     10 West Camelback
     Phoenix, AZ 85013
     602-230-0044

When:
     Thursday February 28th
     6pm to 9pm

Preview the latest works by myself, Marla Allison, Cody Sanderson, and Introducing Chris Pruitt

Refreshments will be served, so for a fun time hanging out with me and the rest of these fine artists, please drop by.

I am pretty stoked about this, Donald Friedlich is curating an Exhibition called “Art/Industry” over at the Pinnicle Gallery at the Savannah College of Arts and Design (SCAD).  This exhibit focuses on jewelry made with industrial techniques.  I was one of the fortunate to be selected.  This is one of the three pieces of mine that will be on exhibit.

Cuff Bracelet - Machined from type 316L Stainless Steel, with Fine Silver Inlay, and Industrial Diamonds that are compression set, Hydraulic Press Formed, sanded and diamond cut finishes.

“Many American studio artists are utilizing manufacturing methods and technology such as laser cutting, photo-chemical machining and electroforming to create both one-of-a kind and production objects that blur the line between the worlds of craft and design. The work showcased in this exhibition will explore the dichotomy of objects created using collaborative processes between the hand and the machine. This event is free and open to the public.”

The show will run from Feb 21-Mar 31, more info can be found at the SCAD site.

http://www.scad.edu/exhibitions/savannah/exhibitions.cfm

Bout time I started using this blog, and to kick it off with a bang, the first in a multi-part series on building yourself a Pro Jewelry Bench.  This is a simple how to on building the base of the bench using 2″ steel tubing.  Not for the beginner by any means, but if your handy and want to save a buck, heres how.

Click here or on the image to get to the DIY, from there look for the Pro Jewelery Bench links.

Well, just getting things setup and trying new things out, this will be eventually deleted.

P@