Bracelet

So far I have worked on my bracelet twice and both times have gone pretty well. I started out with a long piece of silver wire. The wire was then put into a vice and wrapped around a metal bar to create twenty eight jump rings (pictured). I then had to take the jump rings and saw them so they were individual instead of one larger spring. This was fairly easy in the beginning, but once I got closer to the bottom, the spring was harder to hold and I kept sawing my fingers. The next step was to link the jump rings together and make it so they were touching perfectly on both sides. That got to be pretty difficult. I had to take two pairs of pliers and twist them back and forth until they meet perfectly which was difficult because the metal is so stiff. The last thing I did was solder each individual jump ring together. I plan on finishing my bracelet by this weekend. 

Luke Mendola's Presentation

Last week, all WISE students were required to attend Luke Mendola's sample presentation. Ms. Lord made it a point that it is not an EXAMPLE presentation but rather a SAMPLE presentation. I thought Luke's presentation went pretty well. He used to play the harmonica on the hockey bus and he was not very good at all so it was very interesting to see how far he has come in the sixteen weeks he had been working on his project. I definitely liked the way he structured his powerpoint and it definitely helped me outline how I want to create my presentation. He did a good job explaining how he got originally got involved with playing the harmonica but I wish that he had explained what he learned a little more. He also said that he learned a lot of new songs but he never went through and played any of them. Overall, only based on his presentation, I would give Luke a B+/A-.

Mentor Meeting May 23rd

This meeting with Mr. Johnson was by far the most eventful one we have had. We went through my entire project and created an outline of my presentation. The plan is to outline why I decided to work on jewelry as my project followed by a background of my Uncle Fareed and why and how he became a jeweler. Then, I will go through and describe my original proposal and what has changed since I originally made it. the biggest part of the project will be when I go over the process of making the pieces. I plan on going through and describing how I made each of the three pieces (I am not done with the bracelet yet) and the different obstacles I faced. Next, I plan on going over the successes of the project and the things I have learned as well as how I plan to use what I have learned in the future.

Red Flag 5

This week has had many ups and downs. Since last red flag class I made a Mother's Day pendant for my mother which had a heart shaped blue topaz stone set in it. This was much different from the ring because I actually had to free hand shape the mold of the pendant instead of being able to shape it with any round object. I learned how to make a heart using pliers to shape the metal. I also had to do a lot of filing which hurts my hands a lot because a stab myself every two seconds. 

My presentation is on June 5th at 3:45. I need to have my papers in by May 29th. I think the most important thing to get done with my papers is the research because right now I pretty much only have the people at the jewelry shop as resources. 

My goal for the coming week is to start my bracelet and hopefully finish it by the end of next week. 

Mentor Meeting May 15th

My mentor meeting with Mr. Johnson went pretty well today. I brought in my pendant and showed him what I had accomplished and shared with him how I made it. We went through the steps and I told him how it was a Mothers Day present. Other than that, today's meeting was pretty much just to set up what we were going to discuss the coming week. We decided that it would be best to go through my presentation plan and decide what I am going to say.

Mother's Day Success

After finishing my mother's pendant at about one in the morning on Saturday, I finally got the chance to give it to my mother on today. I waited until the whole family came home before I gave it to her and she loved it! She was incredibly surprised at how well it came out and how I got it done in only two days of working on it. I am incredibly happy that she was so satisfied with the piece despite it not being the design she asked for!

The Final Pendant

Here is the final pendant. It is much easier to explain the side pattern using a picture. If you look on the sides you can see where I filed the triangles and the round parts so that there was a nice design and it isn't just one solid piece of metal. I realized that I am very happy that my uncle made me use a heart shaped stone rather than a round stone because pushing me out of my comfort zone was actually a good thing. It made me challenge myself and realize that I can actually do it if I try hard enough.

Finishing the Pendant

      Tonight was very easy to work on my project because I could have my Uncle Fareed's full attention and no one else to bother us. I had to work at the Community Recreation Center until about 8:30 P.M. and when I got off the ice I had a phone call from my uncle. I called him back and he said since I have prom in the morning and mothers day is on Sunday, we should go into the shop and work on the project tonight.

     The last thing I had completed was soldering all the pieces together so they looked nice. The next step was filing down the sides so they are smooth and even with one another. I then had to go all the way through and sand the sides down so they were even smoother. I then had to set the stone. Setting the stone was very similar to setting the round stone other than the fact that they are different shapes. I simply set the stone in the center of the bezel and used the bezel roller to fold the sides over the stone. Lastly, I took the stone into the polishing room and polished it off so it looked nice and shiny and finally I was done with my second piece of jewelry!

Change of Plans

        Upon arrival to the workplace today, I was expecting to begin working on the bracelet like my uncle and I decided, but plans changed when my mother asked me to make her a pendant for mothers day so my uncle decided we should work on that. She told be she loved the ring and wanted a round bezel set stone with a chain that could go through the pendant. My Uncle Fareed asked me what I wanted to do, so I told him what my mom asked for and he thought it was a great idea. He took me into the giant walk in safe and asked me what stone I wanted to use. I told him that my moms favorite color is purple so I thought a nice amethyst stone would be nice. I also recommended a ruby because of her July birthday in which he thought were both excellent ideas. I left the vault for a minute to go and grab a drink of water and my Uncle Fareed followed me out with a box of heart shaped blue topaz stones.... not even close to what I was planning on using. He gave me a stone and told me we would use that instead of something round which made me a little frustrated because I knew it would push me out of my comfort zone, but I kept my cool.

       The first thing I had to do was take a sheet of metal and shape it into a heart. This was damn near impossible for me. I sat there for about an hour trying to shape the metal into a heart and I could not do it. I found myself getting so frustrated that every few minutes I would end up throwing the piece into the drawer and dropping the pliers that I was using to shape the metal out of frustration. Then my Uncle Marwan, the comedian of the family, showed back up to work and watched me only to laugh at my constant mistakes. Surprisingly this cheered me up a little because he was standing there laughing which made me realize how funny I actually looked from an outsiders perspective. Eventually, my Uncle Fareed came back to help me out and realized that I could not shape the silver into the heart. He was shocked that I couldn't do it and as he was telling me how easy it is and that I should be able to do it, he shaped the heart in about five seconds that would fit the stone perfectly.

       I then had to solder the heart shaped piece onto a flat metal sheet and saw out the shape of the heart for the bottom. Uncle Fareed told me to to file the sides of the metal sheet so that it was even all the way around but I misunderstood and filed all the way down to the original metal heart piece. this meant that we had to solder another flat metal sheet to the bottom. We then had to shape another heart shaped piece so it would match the original piece. This piece was used as the side. Next came the most tedious part of the entire pendant. I had to sit there, using a small triangular file, and file small triangles into the piece that we had shaped into a heart with about two millimeters in between. I then had to flip it over and solder small, round pieces into the other side of the metal so there was a nice design when I soldered the original piece that my uncle shaped to the filed piece. I had to have stabbed myself in the fingers ten times while trying to file this down. The last part of the solder work was adding when more heart shaped plate to the bottom of the pendant, that way the points from the filed triangles wouldn't poke the person wearing them. This was the last thing I did before leaving for practice.

Creating the Ring Step By Step

1- Get your metal and stone.
2- Measure the circumference and depth of your stone.
3- Cut a strip from a flat sheet of metal using the depth of your stone as the width.
4- Use rounded pliers to shave the metal into a circle as best as you can.
5- Place the stone in the top of the metal and cut the excess metal.
6- Solder the two sides together.
7- Put the soldered piece onto a mandrel (image attached) so it is on tight and will move.
8- Hammer the piece on the mandrel the it is round. Turn the piece over and hammer the other side so the whole thing is a circle. The bezel is now finished.
9- Use a piece of thick wire and shape it so it fits perfectly on the sides of the bezel using pliers to make it round.
10 - Once the thick wire (the shank) is somewhat rounded and is lying flat on the sides of the bezel, solder both sides.
11- Place the shank attached the the bezel on the mandrel and hammer until it is perfectly round.
12- At this point, the bezel is flat on the bottom so if you try to put the ring on, it won't fit. In order to make it fit, the bottom of the bezel needs to be filed down using a small round file so that it is well rounded with the shank.
13- Next, the inside and outside of the shank, as well as the bezel, need to be filed so they are smooth and even. This is done by using a rounded file on the inside of the shank and twisting side to side. Since the sides are flat, a flat surfaced file is used to smooth it out. Finally, a very small, fine file is used on the bezel in order to get in the smaller areas that way there is a smaller risk of mistake.
14. The next step is polishing. There are a few different attachments that are put on the polishing machine. First, a small rubber attachment is put on to smooth the inside of the shank, but be careful, this one gets very hot and can easily burn your fingers. The polishing disc is used next which is a soft pad that gets the outside of the shank, the sides, and the bezel.
14- After the ring is nice and shiny, it is time to set the stone. The stone is placed in the center of the bezel and then a bezel roller is used to press against the edges at about a 45 degree angle which pushes the sides of the bezel of the stone so barely covers the sides.
15- The final step of the ring making process is to go back and polish the ring once again to get it as shiny as possible so none of the marks are showing from the stone setting.

The Ring

This is the final ring! I couldn't have been more excited to get it done and see what I can do. I brought it around school and showed it off to all my friends and teachers and they were shocked at how well it came out. It is made out of sterling silver with a blue topaz stone. The bottom picture is of the bezel roller. The metal part is the piece that you press against the sides of the bezel. As you can see, it is slightly rounded so it is easier to move side to side against the bezel. 

Completed Ring

Today was a very eventful and very exciting one. I finally finished my first piece of jewelry! I didn't have much left to do when I walked into M.F. Abdulky today but the few things I did have were some of the hardest parts. First, I had to finish polishing the ring which gets incredibly frustrating because I keep burning my darn fingers from all the friction against the machine. The hardest part of the entire ring was next... setting the stone. My uncle seems to make me want to do everything the hard way so I had to use this device called a bezel roller that looked like it was about about forty years old. The way a bezel works is you sit the stone in the center and you fold the sites of the bezel of the stone so they are slightly overlapping. The bezel roller is what you use to fold the sides over. You place the metal part of the roller on the sides of the bezel and press as hard as you can and rock back and forth until you see the sides folding over. This was not a simple task because my hand was killing me about half way through from pushing so hard but eventually I got the sides to fold over well. Then, my uncle noticed the bezel was covering the stone a little more than we wanted, so he used a carving tool to remove the excess silver covering the blue topaz stone. Finally, I took the ring into the polishing room and polished it off so it was nice and shiny.

Red Flag Day 4

This week I have spent about 6 hours on my project so far and I hope to work more on Sunday. I worked on polishing my ring on Tuesday, but when my uncle found solder spots on the bezel, he made me restart. I once again reshaped the bezel into a circle and soldered it onto the shank. On Thursday, I filed the ring so it was nice and even, followed by starting to polish it and make it shiny.

Unfortunately, on Wednesday, I had to get fitted for my prom tux and completely forgot to see Mr. Johnson. But, I have been staying caught up on my journal creating about four this week. Class was different because Ms. Lord wasn't there so we all went around class and shared something about our project. I shared my gold bracelet because I plan on making a bracelet similar to the one I wear.

For the remainder of the week, I plan Togo in on Sunday and finish up my ring.

Progress

Today I returned to the shop and continued creating my ring. Some days a lot of work is done, and noticed, and I leave confident in myself, other days you do a lot of work, but it seems like nothing is done at all because nothing is added or looks too altered. Today was one of the days where it seemed like I did nothing. The main focus today was filing the ring so it was nice and smooth on each side and even as well. I had to flatten out the sides of the shank so they weren't uneven but it always seemed like I would create more and more nicks the were incredibly difficult to file out. I would sit the and file out when nick and then create new ones on accident. Once I evened out the bezel and shank, it was time to polish, but I ran out of time. I hope to return on Sunday, when it is just me and my uncle, to do more work and finish my ring.

Restart

When I went to my Uncle Fareed's shop today, I was expecting to polish my ring and set the stone. I was dead wrong. My Uncle Marwan, who also works at F.M. Abdulky, taught me how to polish which is a fairly simple task, other than the fact that the metal gets really hot and burns your hands. I had to have burned my fingers about fifteen times. After I polished my ring and was prepared to set my stone, my Uncle Fareed noticed spots where I used too much solder which resulted in small bubbles on the bezel, so he made me start the ring all over again.... I once again created the bezel by shaping it into a circle, then curved the shank and also made it a circle followed by soldering the two together before time ran out and I had to go to track practice.

Mentor Meeting 4/26

This was probably the best mentor meeting Mr. Johnson and I have had since the project started. It was the first time we really got the chance to sit down and discuss everything I had done with my project and my plans for the remainder of the project. We talked about the things that I have learned during my work. One of the things I learned is that jewelry manufacturing is a different kind of art. I have taken plenty of art classes throughout the years and I have always been horrible at painting and drawing. It seems much different because I feel like no matter how hard I try, I will never be good at drawing, but with jewelry, it is something you really have to work hard for rather than be gifted with. Another thing we discussed is how I want to work at a jewelry store next year because I will need a job. My plan is to continue learning from my uncle after the project is over so I can do simple jobs when I am living in Massachusetts next year.

Red Flag 3

This week has been very slow for my project. With track going on and Ithaca Relays quickly approaching, I have found myself putting track before school work. I plan to get back on track today by going to work on my ring fifth period.

I don't have nearly as many mentor meetings as I should. Both Mr. Johnson and I have been very busy and finding time for our meetings can often be difficult. Whether one of us is sick or I forget to go to the meeting, something always seems to prevent us from seeing each other. The plan is to meet fifth period today to catch up on about five weeks of missed meetings.

As for journaling, this is my second one this week. I will be blogging about both my mentor meeting and my visit to my
Uncle's shop today. The only problem is, my Uncle Fareed has meetings for a club he is in so I'm not sure if he will be at the shop today.

This week in class, most of my classmates, including myself, shared our progress on our projects. It was interesting to see how each person's project has evolved since the beginning of the semester.

My fulfillment of the WISE requirements is decent this week. I definitely need to do more work in the shop in order to finish the project. My goal is to have the ring done by the end of next week and start the bracelet.

Partner Research

Last week, in class, we were asked to pair up with a partner and do research for one another. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to do so. On top of me forgetting to do my research, my partner also isn't in class today. I paired up with Luke Stevenson who is in the process of welding a TV stand. My plan is to do the research this week and remind Luke to research my topic and swap information by the end of the week.

Red Flag Day 2

Over the past week I have spent much more time on my project than usual. On Sunday, my uncle and I went into the shop alone so we could start the ring. I spent about six hours working on the ring and finished that day by soldering the bezel I made to the shank. The next day I went in was Monday which ended up being a very difficult day. I sat down to do my project and I instantly melted the bezel. Big mistake. I had to go back trough and file it down and solder two small silver pieces in the melted place to even the bezel and shank out. In the workplace, I spent about 10 hours so far this week.

For class, we need to pick a partner and do research on one another's project and give it to them so they will learn some information that they wouldn't research for their own project. Unfortunately, I did not blog about class.

The only research I have done this week is by watching the other craftsman in the shop and seeing how they work. I learned about the things you are supposed to put on the ring before you solder such as the boric acid and flux. The boric acid keeps the metal from oxidizing while the flux keeps the solder flowing.

I went to meet with Mr. Johnson yesterday and it turned out that he wasn't feeling well and stayed home. I plan to visit him fifth period today and see if he is able to have a quick catch up meeting.

I have made catching up with entries a big goal of mine and I am trying to stay caught up. Since last Monday I have about seventeen blog entries with about five this week alone. Most of my entries are talking about my plans for the following visits and what I did in the shop that day such as soldering or fixing my mistakes.

My fulfillment if WISE requirements has been very good this week because I have been working hard on my ring and I am actually starting to get very interested in my project. It has actually sparked an idea for me. Next year I will be playing hockey in Andover, Massachusetts and taking a few classes at a community college. I asked my uncle if he will continue to train me over the summer so I can work in a jewelry store next year that way I can make somewhat decent money an do something I enjoy.

For the following week, I hope to finish my ring and start the bracelet. I also want to create a nice pendant that I will probably give to my mother. Since the start of my project, many things have changed. I don't think I am going to make both a bracelet and a necklace because it seems redundant. Hopefully I can finish the ring, make a pendant, maybe make The Lord of the Rings ring, and possibly a few other ideas that spark within the next few weeks.

The Melted Bezel

Yesterday was fairly productive. I soldered the the silver piece I cut out into into the space I melted until it fit almost perfectly. Then, I had to go through and file down the pieces that were overlapping the bezel so they wouldn't cut anyone's finger. Once I had everything filed down, I had to go back through and file down the bezel and reshape it into a smooth circle.

Unfortunately, when I was filing the bezel, I accidentally filed one side a lot lower than the other so part of it is much skinnier. I approached my uncle about this and it is possible that I may start the ring over now that I have the idea of how things work.

I also have had some other ideas for things to make. Some of my favorite childhood movies ( even though I never read the books) are The Lord of the Rings so I am thinking about creating the ring out of silver and gold or brass plating it and finding a way to engrave the script around it.

Failed Meeting

Today during fifth period I had a mentor meeting with Mr. Johnson scheduled. I waited in his room for about 15 minutes when a substitute teacher came in and said he wasn't in school. This is unfortunate because I was looking forward to telling him about my progress. My plan is to try and go visit him tomorrow and and see if he has time for a quick meeting.

Frustration

I returned to F.M. Abdulky yesterday incredibly excited that I would finish the ring. All I had left to do was solder one small piece, set the stone, and polish the ring. The hardest part would be setting the stone, second hardest would be polishing, and I've soldered a hundred times by now so that's just a piece of cake, right? .... Wrong.... When I went to solder a small crack between the shank and bezel I forgot to put flux, which keeps the solder flowing, on one of the pieces, which resulted in melting part of the bezel.

Once I realized I made a mistake, I screamed some words that probably shouldn't be said around my family, but I was incredibly frustrated. I then had to file down the melted part so it was flat. Then, I cut a small piece of silver to fit in the melted spot and solder it in place. This took much longer than it should have. The piece I had to solder was very small so it was very difficult to handle and solder down.

I was at my uncles for two hours and pretty much all I did was move backwards. Tomorrow, when I return, I have to make sure the solder is in place and then file down the mistake. I also have a mentor meeting fifth period tomorrow so it should be interesting to share my experiences with Mr. Johnson.

The ring

I took this picture after I soldered the bezel to the shank but I did a few more things to it afterwards. The changes are minor but will make the ring look much better at the end. The bottom of the bezel is now more rounded so a finger will fit better inside. The top of the bezel is also filed down more so it is smaller and the blue topaz stone will fit perfectly inside.

Progress!

Well today was very eventful! My uncle and I went into the shop at around 2:30 and didn't end up leaving until 8:30. We decided to restart the bezel and make it better. I had to cut another piece of silver out and shape it into a circle again. I am incredibly glad I learned how to solder because that seemed to be one of the most important things in jewelry making (other than patience). I soldered the bezel shut and then had to make it a perfect circle. This was a big challenge. While I was shaping it, the solder came undone so I went back and soldered it again, and then it broke again.... I soldered it shut about three times before it finally stayed.

I then had to shape the shank (the ring band) into a circle so it would fit on a finger and solder that shut which came undone several times as well. I then shaped the shank into a circle by placing it on a round ring sizer and hammering it down.

The next step was finding a way to solder the bezel to the shank. I had to file the bezel down on two sides so it would fit perfectly around the shank. Surprisingly this was the hardest part because it took so much time and frustration. I had to make sure both sides were even lengths and width so the shank would fit perfectly. Once I got them to fit, I had to solder the bezel onto the shank which took about 4 tries to finally get it to stay. The next step was filing the bottom of the bezel to make sure it was round. I took a large filing tool and went at it for about twenty minutes until it was finally perfect.

I then had to cut a piece of metal for the stone to rest on in the bezel. I took the piece of metal and shaped it into a ring shape and soldered it. I the. Had to shape it by placing it on the ring sizer and hammering away once again. That piece was then placed inside the bezel and the stone will rest right on top.

Upon doing all of this, I faced a few challenges. I made many soldering mistakes where the solder didn't go in the direction I wanted or I completely burned the solder off. I also had to saw a few things down and I ended up cutting them in an angle.

Tomorrow I will return to the shop. All I have left to do with the ring is set the stone and polish it. I'm incredibly excited to see the final product.

A plan

Last Friday, my uncle and I discussed a way for me to speed up my project in order to get it all done on time. I asked him if he is willing to go to the shop on Sundays and possibly at night after track practice is over. He thought this was an excellent idea which makes things for me much less hectic especially because it is hard to get his help when the other workers are there.

I plan to go work on my project today at three where I will continue to bezel set my blue topaz stone.

Stone

This is the stone I will be using. My favorite color is light blue, so I picked out a beautiful blue topaz to set in the bezel. The final product of the ring will be a sterling silver band with the blue topaz bezel set stone on top. I would like to learn how to do many different parts of jewelry making so right now I am brain storming ideas for what I can engrave on the inside of the ring.

Bezel

This is the bezel I made the other day. It is sterling silver and the way it will work is the metal will wrap around the stone, holding it firmly in place. The reason why I chose to bezel set the stone is because when I worked for my uncle a few years back, the bezel always caught my eye. I think that it is one of the most beautiful way to set a stone.

Day 4

Upon retuning to the workshop yesterday, I was determined to get this project going. My uncle and I discussed what I will be doing for this project and I decided that I want to bezel set (sample picture attached) a stone. I went into the vault and decided that I want to use a blue topaz stone to work with.

I began by cutting a strip of silver out of a big sheet. Next, I brushed some acid on it and began to anele the piece. I did this by heating the piece up until it turns a lightish brown color. Once the piece turned brown, I dropped it in a tub of acid for about two minutes. I then rinsed it off and began my next step which was shaping the bezel. I had to take rounded pliers and shape the silver in a circle to fit the stone by pinching it with the pliers and turning the piece.

Red Flag

The past week of my project has been more productive but definitely has not been as good as I would like it to be. I mentioned in my last journal that I went to work on my project and my uncle was home sick and one of my main goals has been to catch up on my blog posts. I met with Mr. Johnson yesterday and we had a very brief meeting because of my lack of work. We discussed working on my blog and trying to get more hours in the shop by working about three times a week.

As a mentioned before, my hands on work has been slacking big time but I will be working in the shop tomorrow. The only research I have done is finding out the price of gold and silver. Gold is $1564.95 per ounce and silver is about $27.50 per ounce.

My mentor, Mr. Johnson, and I met on Wednesday this week and like I said before it was very brief. We talked about how to improve my project and my blogs. I have definitely stepped up my journal game this week adding about six entries this week about the obstacles I have faced.

This week in class was very laid back. Ms. Lord passed out lollipops to the class and we discussed our journals amongst our groups. I have quickly realized that my work has been very poor and I need to step up my game because I haven't actually worked on my project in about three weeks.

Bad timing

Over the past few weeks there has been a bug going around in my family and it has gotten pretty much all of us. Yesterday I was excited to finally be able to go work on my project so I left school after fifth period. I got to my uncles shop only to find out that the bug had gotten him and that he left work early to see the doctor. I sat in the shop for about an hour only to find out that he was taking the rest of the day of to rest. Talk about bad timing!

Mentor meeting 4

Mr. Johnson and I had our weekly mentor meeting today and it was once again brief because of my lack of improvement. We discussed my goals for the next week and it was decided that I will work on my project today as well as Monday of next week and possibly Tuesday before we see each other next on Wednesday. I also told him how I am falling behind on my blog so we set a goal to have ten more blogs by the time we meet next but I think I am going to try and catch up with a few more than that.

After my meeting with Mr. Johnson, I ran into Coach Bernstein who has always been an excellent motivator. He has been following my blog so he asked how it has been going. I explained to him that it is not going nearly as well as I hoped due to my laziness and lack of dedication. It is nice to know that someone is following my blog because it gives me more of an incentive to work on my project to show the people around me what I am doing.

The struggle

Unfortunately, I could not work on my project today because I had a track meet in Susquehanna Valley. With track, it is difficult to find time to work because practice doesn't end until 6 and my Uncle Fareed's shop closes at 5:30 so I need to find a way to make all of this work either by taking advantage of my free periods better or by leaving practice early.

I also have a mentor meeting tomorrow and I can't see Mr. Johnson being too thrilled that I am in the same position that I was in three weeks ago. I think the meeting will be longer and more interesting than usual because we will most likely try to find a schedule for when I can work on my project and how often I should be blogging.

Red Flag

Well class, it looks like I'm red flagged. Today I received an email from Ms. Lord letting me know that I will be attending class on Thursdays. I think this will help me a lot considering I am about three week behind in my blogs and being in class more often will help me get back on my feet and make WISE more of a priority.

Task Force Reflection

My blog was viewed by Mrs. Amy Cronin who I have known for a few years now. As I read through her reflection, I realized that the things she pointed out are definitely true. I do not have anything near the amount of entries I should have and Mrs. Cronin pointed out that I should set a schedule for blogging. I will make it my goal to blog on Monday's, Tuesday's, and Friday's. I also do not elaborate on the changes I am making such as changing the type of metal used so I will try to be more specific and have details and the changes and why I am making them. She also pointed out that I for some reason expect people to know the jewelry terms I am using, even though I just learned them, and not explaining what they mean.

Overall, I need to set a better schedule for when I will work on my project and when I will be blogging as well as a clear explanation for each one of the steps taken in my project.

Oh boy...

Well it looks like I have successfully blown off my project for three weeks like a moron. I was not in town the week before break because I had hockey tryouts in Massachusetts so working in the shop wasn't possible. As for spring break... I took advantage of being a lazy high school student and practically forgot I even go to school. Unfortunately, the tryouts and my laziness have put me far behind schedule and I need to work much harder if I want to get this done by June. I plan to get back on my feet this week and try and get in the shop at least three times so I can fix this big problem.

Day 3

Today I revisited my uncles shop and I continued to solder small pegs onto a metal sheet. The process is getting much easier each time I do it and I believe that it is definitely time to move on. On my next visit, I hope to be able to begin creating the ring starting with a sketch. It has been decided by my uncle and I that we will no longer be using gold because it is so expensive and stick with sterling silver.

Gleaning from the past: Anna Bornstein

Gems:
•Very enthusiastic about doing her project.
•A lot of planning before actually performing each step.
•A lot of detail.
Oops:
•Some entries were forced and seemed like they were only in there to meet each deadline. One of her entries was "it's my birthday!!!! Happy 18th to me!!!!" and I felt like that's not something that should be in the journal.
•Some entries were just pictures and didn't have very much description.
Things I'm going to borrow:
•I am a bit of a slacker.... so I plan on getting my head out of my ass and putting more of an effort into staying caught up with my journals.
•I liked how Anna planned her next few steps out before actually doing them. I want to start doing that by asking my uncle what I will be doing beforehand so I don't go into the stop not knowing what I have in store.

March 6th mentor meeting

Wednesday was my last mentor meeting and, although it was brief, it went well. Mr. Johnson was in a bit of a rush so I quickly summarized what my week was like. I told him about how I practiced soldering again and it went much better than the previous time. I then showed him the picture that I posted in my blog earlier and he said he was impressed with the work.

Mentor meeting 2

Today I had planned to have a second mentor meeting with Mr. Johnson during fifth period. As I walked into his room, I saw that there was a lady sitting in his chair. I proceeded to ask her where he is and it turned out that he had to attend to something else at the time so he left school early. I'm not sure when we will have our next meeting but I am going to talk to him on Monday about rescheduling our meeting and hopefully have two instead of one next week.

Solder

This is the solder I have been spending the last few days on. It really doesn't look like much, but it was incredibly difficult to put together.

Day 2

Yesterday I headed back to F.M. Abdulky to start the second day of my project and it went much better than my first experience. I returned to my bench, obtained a new sheet of metal, and continued to solder the pieces of sterling silver. I managed to solder all of the silver pegs without melting any or having any fall over. I took my piece over to my Uncle and showed him what I had created. He looked at my piece, told me it was decent, then proceeded to take it apart because the pegs were too far apart. I then had to resolder each peg back on and closer together.

Mentor

Wednesday was my first meeting with my mentor, Mr. Johnson, and although it was short, it went pretty well. We discussed my goals for my project and how I plan on achieving him. I told him about my first experience soldering the pegs onto the sheet of metal and he found it to be quite funny. I think proceeded to tell him the metals I plan to make the ring, bracelet, and necklace out of.

Day 1

Today was my first day in the workshop and it definitely wasn't a simple task. My Uncle Fareed had my start the same way as all the past people he has trained, by soldering. He gave me a sheet of metal and sterling silver wire and had me cut the wire into pieces about five millimeters long. He showed me how to solder and it seemed fairly simple, you take the metal sheet and poor some acid on it, cut sterling silver solder off of a very thin sheet of silver, brush alcohol on the five millimeter pieces of silver, heat the silver and touch it to the thin sheet of solder, and top it off by melting the solder and the silver onto the metal sheet.
As I was watching him I thought it would be a fairly simple task but I was quickly proven wrong. He started out by soldering two pieces before he let me try and it didn't take me too long to mess the entire thing up. I managed to put the first one on my first try, but when I went to put the next one on I accidentally completely melted the one I had previously put on and knocked over the two pieces my uncle soldered. I quickly learned that this would be no simple task as I continued to mess up several times before finally making the pegs stay up. I had finished one row and as I went to solder another peg in the second row, all of the ones in the first row either fell over because I accidentally heated them or completely melted.
By the time I had knocked all of the pegs over, it was closing time. I proceeded to turn off my blow torch and pack away the stuff I worked with. I plan to return Thursday and continue soldering the pegs and hopefully have a little bit more success than today.

Changes

As I have gone on my own and been around the workshop more, I have realized how expensive my project actually is. So rather than making all three pieces in 14 karat gold, I am going to make the ring in sterling silver and I will hopefully still make the necklace and ring out of white gold. I have also decided that instead of using a casting to create the ring, I will hand make the entire thing. This will definitely be more difficult but it will be more interesting and a better experience in the end.

Journal 2

I think the first two weeks of my project will be the most challenging because it is the setup of the 16 week project. It could potentially take a few weeks to get used to being on my own without anyone pushing me to move forward. I think I will begin my project by learning how to use my hands in the workshop. I will most likely begin cutting different metals and learning how to solder as well as shadow one of the more experienced manufactures at my Uncle Fareed's shop. My plan is to attend class once a week and meet with my mentor once a week as well. Staying caught up with the journals may be the more challenging part. With how much work I have to do working up to make the pieces, remembering the journals could end up drifting out of my mind but hopefully this is not the case.

Journal 1

Dear Reader,
My goal for the next 16 weeks is to learn how to create jewelry using 14 karat gold. My father, David, owns Mansour Jewelers on the Commons while my uncle, Fareed, owns F.M. Abdulky Inc. so I come from a big jewelry family. I hope to learn how to create a ring, bracelet, and necklace using 14 karat gold and I also hope to learn how to set a stone, I am not quite sure what kind yet, in the ring. I have two fears, one being having some sort of freak accident and get hurt, or not being able to create the three pieces in time for my presentation. My overall goal is to learn how to be a jeweler like my Uncle and Father and potentially have something to fall back on in the future.