My Inspiration
Jewellery-making has always interested me, particularly cut stones and stone settings. taking precious stones and semi-precious stones and affixing them to silver and gold, so for this project I wanted to make something that would stand out in that crowd.
and what’s a better way to show off as a blacksmith than some pattern-welded steel?
So I started designing, learning patterns and putting together a strategy on how to forge down the patterns to fit within the profile of a gemstone.
I decided to start simple with a simple cut and fold from seven layers to fourteen then cut those into gems.
I then took it up a notch, forging a new billet steel and folding it four times to make 112 layers, this billet once forged down to 10mm square is a beautiful mix of controlled forging practice and random elements like heat distortion that make the pattern move in uncontrollable ways. very subtle variations but those distortions make each pattern unique.
Lets Try Something Differant
I wanted to try a new pattern for the next set of gems, so why not a herringbone pattern? And it’s among the more complicated patterns. certainly way more complicated than my other gems.
requiring more positions and technique, to get the pattern to layer correctly.
My Pattern Welded Gems are still in the experimentation phase of their development but the prototypes are available in my shop, so stop by to see what is available.