Wings of Silver
An angel pin in agate and silver.
by Liz Kuhns and Sylvia Youell

Liz Kuhns profiles silversmith Sylvia Youell in “Playing with Silver,” page 18 of February 2003's Lapidary Journal. They also offer detailed descriptions of an essential part of any jeweler’s toolbox in “Basic Pliers” at www.lapidaryjournal.com's Resource section.

Intermediate project

Find a neat stone that can be used as the body of the piece — stones with interesting patterns, shapes, or textures add more interest to the finished piece. The stone used in this example is an agate. Depending on the shape of the stone, the design can be asymmetrical or symmetrical.

Design around the stone, letting the shape of the stone inspire the design. This is a good exercise in training one’s eye to create a design to complement the flow lines of the shape of the stone, yet still end up with a balanced appearance.

Select a stone to use as the head. A good choice would be a stone that complements the main stone. It is important to select stones that work well together, not just in color, but also in texture and shape and also complement the design you have in mind. In this case, I chose an oval onyx.

Make the bezels.

Wrap the bezel strip around the stone, then cut to a slightly larger size (1-2mm). File the ends of the bezel to make a flat butt-end joint for a good solder join. Flux and solder the bezel joint using as little solder as possible. The soldered bezel should drop easily around the stone. If the bezel must be pushed down around the stone, it’s too tight — make another bezel! Repeat for the second stone.

Create the background
Select your silver sheet, 20-gauge in this case, and roughly cut out the background shape to hold the design. Stamp your silver with a sterling stamp on the back, as well as your name, date, or symbol — as you prefer.

Flux both sides of the base and position the bezels. Make sure the bezels have even contact on the base before soldering. Solder with small pellets of medium solder inside the bezel. Pickle, quench, and clean.

The background piece should be a little larger than the bezels. It can always be trimmed back afterwards, but it just makes it easier to position the bezels onto a piece of metal bigger than its own shape.

Once the bezels are attached, trim away the excess silver and saw out the final shape of the background. Shape the feet, and saw the shoulders and head as an extension of the body.

Clean up your work by filing where needed. Sand the piece with a 320-grit wet or dry sanding stick.

Shape the wings.
If the design requires solid wings with perhaps a textured surface, the wing pattern is sawed. In this case, the framework for the wings was shaped out of 16-gauge round silver wire, with an interior design of 18-gauge round wire. If you choose to do this type of wing, assemble and solder each wing together before soldering it to the body.

Cut the pieces of wire to meet your design. File the ends flat. Using medium solder, first solder the 16-gauge wire together to create the shape of the wing. Cut the 18-gauge wire and shape using pliers to create the interior pattern of the wing. Use easy solder to add these elements to the wings.

Place the wings onto the base. Make sure the wings fit well against the body of the piece. Check against your concept drawing then solder the wings to the body.

Finishing
When buffing, remember to use leather finger guards on thumbs and first two fingers as a safety measure.

Use the bristle brush and bobbing compound to remove any fire scale on the front and back of the piece.

Polish the front and back on the buffing wheel with white diamond compound.

Clean with an ammonia-based cleaning product. The ammonia dissolves the greasy, black residue of the polishing compound left behind on the silver after polishing.

Solder a brooch pin and/or a pendant loop onto the back. Use a ruler to measure the distance between the pin joint and clasp. This distance is determined by the length of the pin stem that will best fit the back of the brooch. Mark the distance with a pen on the back. Protect the wings by covering them with ceramic wool or any other type of heat-resistant material. Flux the front and back of the piece. Place easy solder pellets where the pin findings will be soldered. Heat the entire piece slowly until the solder pellets melt. Solder the pin joint on. Use a saw blade to hold the pin clasp in a straight line with the pin joint while you solder the clasp into place. Remove the saw blade.

If you would like to make the piece more versatile, and your design allows for it, you can add a pendant loop in addition to the pin finding. This option would give the wearer the option to wear the piece as a brooch or a pendant.

To add the pendant loop, solder on by using easy solder. Put the piece in warm pickle for a few minutes to remove flux.

Buff and polish the piece again — as in Step 7.

Set the 2 gemstones.
The stones are always set after polishing. Due to the extreme points on this stone, it’s easier to set if the pointed bezel corners are filed slightly lower.

Use the rocker to press the bezel against the stone, alternating sides. The best way to center a stone in a setting is to use a rocker to press the edge over, onto the stone; first at 12 o’clock, then at 6 o’clock, followed by 9 o’clock, and lastly at 3 o’clock. With a rocking movement, continue to compress the rest of the bezel tightly against the stone until the stone is securely set. A burnisher can be used for the final smoothing of the bezel edge against the stone.

Set the pin stem, using chain nose pliers to squeeze the pin joint around the pin stem rivet.

Do a final quality check of the front and back of the piece. Enjoy your new pin.