Hans Meevis

New Titanium and Gold Ring

hansmeevis — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:52:20 +0000

I have made a similar titanium ring like this before.

This one, however, has an emerald cut diamond in the center with little diamonds around it.

And my client wanted it higher and broader than the first one.

This type of ring is quite tricky to make.

One reason is that the size has to be right first time, it cannot be sized easily afterwards.

In fact if the size is wrong it would be best to start over, rather than try size it.

I start with some serious grunt work.

This is a 20mm thick piece of titanium.

Once I have cut out the block I drill a hole into it and the file it to the right size for the finger.

I took pictures of the filing process, but for the life of me I cannot find them, so they were probably deleted.

This happens to older people………………

Anyway there was a whole lot of filing done after this picture was taken, believe me.

So then the two sides are pierced out of 18kt gold plate and then I drilled holes through them and the titanium.

With temporary wires holding everything in place, I soldered the top part on, so the top plate is held in place by the two sides which will be riveted together later.

Then I removed the titanium center and finished it up and blued it.

I get that type of blue by first polishing and rouge-ing it and then heating it slowly until it goes to that blue.

One can’t do it electrically. ( at least, I have never succeeded )

All that was left to do was to rivet the sides on and set the diamonds.

Carefully.

Total work time 25 hours.

Weight 17.7 grams

Jewellery, Aquamarines and Lathe Work.

hansmeevis — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:31:08 +0000

This ring, made on commission and my clients design.

18ct white gold and a yellow gold tube.

The opal doesn’t photograph so good, but it is actually a very nice stone

I always sweat to set a delicate stone like this, because it isn’t mine and if I break it I can’t replace it.

I am not afraid of pounding my own stuff, but a client’s stone gives me the shivers.

So what I did with this tube is to solder a 22ct band on the top and that is the metal that is folded over.

She wanted the tube to be 18ct colour, but bugger that, better 22ct on top than a busted stone.

A fused bangle in yellow gold.

This aqua weighs 5.44ct.

It would have been bigger, but I was chasing the dragon on this stone something terrible.

I know the phrase “chasing the dragon” is heroin related, but I use it when I am carving.

This fracking crack, you chase to kill.

Sometimes the crack wins, sometimes you do.

This one was better behaved.

At 9.90ct, it will go into a ring.

Thing is, I sold all the aqua jewellery that is on my front page of my website
http://www.meevis.com so I am making new stuff.

This is a VERY convoluted aqua that is destined to become a pendant.

The colour looks enhanced, but it is true, at 6.50cts

It is the finest aqua material, colour wise, that I have ever carved.
I tried to get some more, but nada, it was a small pocket and none was left.

Unheated,too.

( aqua is normally heated to remove the green component of the colour)

I am really enjoying my new little lathe I bought.

I know I can buy a drill chuck arbour cheap but it’s much more fun to turn out a Morse taper and then fit a chuck to it.

The second thing I made was a live center out of stainless steel.

I know, they only cost $70 but I wanted to make on so I can get the feel of the lathe.

I fitted two bearings in it.

Then I made a inside thread cutting tool out of tool steel, hardened it and cut a 40 teeth per inch thread on the inside,

I turned out a threaded stainless steel washer that holds the bearings in place.

The live point is removable, so I can change it to another profile if I want.

Show time.

Okay, so this lathe is not a Myford, ( I sold mine because it’s to big for my workshop), but it can do some nice turning work, once the wrinkles have been smoothed out.

At $650 a really nice addition to any jewellery workshop.

New Titanium Pendant and Carved Intarsia.

hansmeevis — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:59:36 +0000

This is my latest Carved Aquamarine -Titanium- Gold-Diamond-Emerald pendant.

It’s about 50mm high.

About 30 hours of work.

The Aqua can be spun, if you so desire.

Everything is mechanically joined.

The four screws at the bottom of the picture are made in this sequence:

Head soldered onto threaded wire, and cut to length.

Spacer tubing cut to fit into threaded wire.

Tubing threaded and then I assembled the pendant.

Then I filed the threaded tubing to the right length and the I set a diamond into it.

The I unscrewed the threaded tubing, with the diamond now set in it.

That way the diamond tube can be screwed on and off without the diamond being popped out by the threaded screw.

Does that make sense?

This is my first attempt at some carved intarsia.

I laminated some onyx/larimar/onyx and then carved this design out of it.

It’s about 60mm high and not quite finished, because I want to make a reversible pendant out of it, so, many a slip between the cup and the lip…..

Anyway, I think it’s quite unusual, sort of sculptural.

And to answer the previous post’s questions in the comment section:

The stones are CZ’s. The reason is that all this is experimental, so to use ‘real’ stones would get too expensive.

All the ‘glue’, (which is actually a resin) I use is Hxtal-NYL.

This material does not yellow on exposure to UV and is stable for ( I’m told) fifty years.

It takes five days to harden and is immensely strong.

For instance, in trying to break a laminated stone apart it is the stone that breaks, not the joint.

So it’s okay with me.

New Laminations and a New Concept Stone.

hansmeevis — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:20:06 +0000

With this one, I had hoped to get a vibrant purple.
But it figures, because blue and red make purple, so pink and blue would give a sort of mauve colour.
That would be the two triangles on either side.

Ok, so this one I actually didn’t know what would come out.
I made the blue piece a bit bigger because I figured that it was the weaker colour.
This is called the ‘thinking too much effect’ because nothing much happened.

This one came out quite nice.
I photo’d it so that the original yellow colour can be seen, and the olive green when the blue and yellow are mixed.

This stone is the first of a brand new concept.
I call this one the “Labyrinth Stone”
Basically, I preformed a pavilion and polished the top.
And then I pierced out a 18kt gold ” Labyrinth” design and laminated it onto the pavilion.

Then I laminated a clear top onto it.
I also inserted a three gold balls into the stone at the same time.
You can see them at the bottom left side.
Then I faceted the top in a standard emerald cut.
So now the trick is to tilt the stone so that all three balls wind up in the tri-angle shape on the right.
It is not at all easy.

This stone is 15mm x 10mm and the gold girdle is 1.2mm.
The next one will have a couple of improvements.
The pavilion will be of a darker colour because the gold and the bottom facets merge too much.
The crown will have fewer facets because the little balls tend to disappear under the break facets.
And the gold design will be much more complex.
We live, we learn.

A New Lathe and a New Sign.

hansmeevis — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:09:56 +0000

Got my new lathe.
This is a small one, mostly for gem related work.
I must say, for $650 from Grizzly.com it is probably one of the nicest bang for your buck machines that a jewellery shop can have.
Nice and compact.
Ok, you need to do some adjustments, tighten various things up, but that is to be expected at this price point.
But it can even cut threads, and it comes with a faceplate and even a steady rest.
Most impressive.

My first lathe is a Myford ML7B and I ain’t about to slop diamond dust and quartz chips all over it.
This will be a sacrificial machine, in as much that I am going to be doing a lot of gem work on it, and I imagine the diamond dust and quartz chips are going to shorten this machines life somewhat.

The first thing I did was to shape some quartz, just to get the feel of it and what it actually feel like to turn stone.
I am familiar with metal, but stone was something new to me.

Then I core drilled an amethyst that I dopped onto a dop of my Imahashi gem cutting machine.
I used to do this in my drill press and that works ok, but now it is so much easier.

I made a dop holder so that I can remove the dop and replace it in the same position.

Bingo, concentric circles. After I finish faceting this stone, I want to inlay gold into the circle and then set diamonds pavé into the gold..
Lots of new things I am going to do………

The corner shop in this building closed down.
So some space became available for us to put a sign up.

When I do things like this I don’t actually ask the landlord for permission. I just do it, because I live my life on the principle that is is much easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
I had to shift my gem cutting machine to make some space temporarily.
My workshop is getting a bit crowded, which is a typical symptom of tool junkie disease.
Anne prints out the letters and then after they cut out I use them as templates to draw and paint them onto a sheet of sign board.
In the old days I used to make illuminated signs and install them for a living and then I would draw the letters free hand, but now with computers, it becomes so much easier.
Gotta love technology.

Ol’ bright eyes on the ladder. This sign cost less that $200 and took two days to make.
Simple and effective.
Like the saying goes, ” Make your shop easy to find”

The Tale of the Three Swinging Stones–Part 1

hansmeevis — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:01:31 +0000

Once upon a time in land far, far away there lived an itsty beeni teeni weeni little diamond, called ‘Fraidy cat.
She was a tiny little diamond, and even though she had 57 facets, she was only 1.2 mm across.
So she was afraid of everything
At night she used to shiver in fear when the safe closed and all the other big big stones would fight and swear at each other.
“Hey diamond, you just full of black inclusions, and your mother was a piece of coal.”
“Oh yeah?” “Well you can kiss my fissure, you stupid tourmaline crack head”
Such harsh language made ‘Fraidy cat crouch down and hope no one wold notice her.
So she prayed and prayed for someone to save her.

And one day the safe opened and she was taken to a real workbench with warm incandescent light, and there she met Em the Gem.
He was a beautiful grass green Emerald and he came from the dark continent of Africa, all the way from a cesspool of a country called Zimbabwe.
So Em the Gem escaped from the Sandawana mine and he traveled across the ocean and straight to the third world island of St Maarten.
St Maarten also had potholes in the roads and stupid politicians in charge, so Em the Gem immediately felt right at home.
And verily, there lived a handsome and clever goldsmith and he drilled and polished a hole into Em the Gem–just for little ‘Fraidy cat.
And she was put in the hole of Em the Gem and suddenly all her prayers were answered.
She was safe at last, as snug as Carbon can be in Beryllium Aluminium Silicate with Chromium.
Em the Gem who was only 2,8mm across was very happy.
He was treated like a king.

And when the kind goldsmith put an 18kt gold tube around him, his happiness was complete.
And they both lived like that for a very long time.
But after a while Em the Gem got tired of ‘Fraidy cat’s 57 facets.
After all 57 facets aren’t many and he just wanted some more manly company.
So he cast around for another friend and soon he met a guy from Silicon di-ox land called Am Bam.
Am Bam was a very handsome Brazilian, and even though he was only 6 mm across, he was articulate and rich and could dance a mean Salsa.

And then Em the Gem discovered that he was bi-sexual and so not long after meeting Am Bam, he and ‘Fraidy cat moved into Am Bam’s place.
And the nice goldsmith then made a gold house around AM Bam for all them.
And there the threesome all fell in love with each other and they lived happily for a long time, because ‘Fraidy cat found out also didn’t mind a little silicone-di-oxide on the side now and then!

And this children is the end of part one of the adventures of our intrepid swingers.
Part two is coming soon, so don’t worry your little hearts even a little bit……..

Hans Meevis’ Workshops Announce Two Major Achievements.

hansmeevis — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:22:56 +0000

Ladies and Gentlemen, Behold! The first CZ in the world with a three phase inclusion. A solid, which in this case is a gold ball (AU), then a liquid, which is Di-Hydrogen Mono-Oxide and two gasses, namely Nitrogen and Oxygen. Produced in the workshops of Hans Meevis. Difficult to photograph too. This is the first sucessful stone. In all the others the bubble didn’t move, and just sat there in the stone and laughed at me.

And in those same workshops another major achievement was produced..

An ant–entombed in an assembled Cubic Zirconia .

An ancient ant trapped in the resin for nearly 604800 seconds and counting.

Being a life long student of myrmecology, and having studied ants from pre-teen years,

Hans has identified this ancient creature from

the Kingdom animalia,

and the Phylum Anthropoda,

and the Class Insecta

and the Order Hymenoptera

and the Family Formicidae

and the genus Anoplolepis,

and thus a specis of Anoplolepis gracilipes.

I say this just so every one thinks I am clever.

The darned bubble in the front is found to be approximately 80% Nitrogen and 20% Oxygen.

Frack knows where it came from, but it was NOT the ant’s last breath, as some wags have suggested.

Also, while on the subject of wags, do not accuse me of cruelty towards ants.

Only those who have never pressed the button of a bug poison can, may cast the first stone.

A close up of Anoplolepis gracilipes. Other wise, in lay man’s terms, known as a Crazy Ant.

( I am not making this up)

Unfortunately, a heavy price had to be paid by this ant and so in remembrance of the ultimate sacrifice, we have issued a Death Certificate.

Our sincere condolences go out to Mrs Ant and her royal highness the Queen.

Amen.

Quest for Fire.

hansmeevis — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:43:00 +0000

Remember the movie”Quest for Fire”?
Well this has got nothing to do with that.
That movie came to an abrupt end after the invention of the Bic lighter.
This is in search of CZ lamination fire. So now you know.
Above are the laminated preforms.

I cut this one in the Wilf Ross rectangular cut.
This is the second one I have done.
The first one I put in a Niobium and Gold pendant.
In this cut there are eight ’star’ facets on the pavilion that I left out this time, because, although I was well satisfied with the first one, I wanted this stone to be less crishy.
It sort of does not jumble the colours up so much.
And it worked.
The violet is actually colour change CZ so there is a large play of colours in different lighting conditions.

Shot from the bottom.

This cut is called the “Hans cutting by the seat of his pants” cut.
Yellow and blue CZ.
I knew I would get something green but it was seriously experimental.
I’ll do another one in the Ross cut soon.

Bottoms up

This Aqua carved and finished.
It goes into a ring with a diamond set in white gold in the middle.
6 carats.

This is the rough Nigerian Aqua.

And this is the finished piece.

I call it an ‘Architectural carving’.

It will go into a titanium and diamond pendant, coming soon to a computer near you.

In my previous post I posted how I had a near miss soldering some gold pieces together.Making the Coptic Cross.

I got a couple of e-mails asking me why do I put my mistakes online.

As in ‘you will ruin your reputation’.

Not really.

Everybody makes mistakes, and if you think that one was bad, try this one.
From 10cts down to 6.6cts.

The hole is drilled and all is well on the western front.

Then I dopped it onto a dop of my gem cutting machine.

Through the hole.

What was I thinking?

Well, I was going to carve the design on the bottom, then complete the faceting and polishing.

Then I was going to heat up the dop and pull it out.

And realign and dop it and then facet the top.

That is how I remove all the dops of stones I cut, with heat.

Oh dearie me, that was dumb.

The dop heated up, expanded, and since it had nowhere to go, split the stone into three parts.

Sigh, we learn, we learn.

Even at my age………

A Coptic Cross and Rings

hansmeevis — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:33:53 +0000

Classic fused sapphire and diamond ring.

The diamonds had to be set randomly.

This ring was commissioned. It has lots of symbolism attached.

It’s called the “Broken Promise” ring—’nuff said.

Can I call this a Coptic cross?

Commissioned work.

Made out of yellow and white gold with a blued titanium background.

First I pierced it out and then made a white gold circle the right size.

Then I cut it into four and set it up in wax.

This has to be done very accurately, because visually the four pieces of gold that make up a circle go wonky very easily.

Then I make a small strip of copper and bend it around the cross.

Dental plaster. Doesn’t have to be though. I have used Satin Cast as well before.

So now the plaster is set and ready to be heated up for soldering.

Oh boy, I have done this a million times before, and here things nearly went pear-shaped.

Why?

‘Ol bright eyes decided to use a new paste flux, instead of my usual Pripps flux.

And then the solder didn’t penetrate in between the joints, so it only flowed on the top.

Ah well, I broke the cross out and cleaned it out and then soldered it from the other side.

Then I filed the excess solder off from the back, so it was all good in the end.

As Oscar said “Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. “

The Lecture, an Aquamarine and The Fish.

hansmeevis — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:08:41 +0000

I had a new experience the other day.

There was this tour group called Gems and Jewels that wanted me to give a lecture on jewellery.

Anne and I had no idea what to expect, so I sort of prepared the whole gamut of things I can speak of.

As it turned out, they were a bunch of delightful ol’ folks who did the tour just because they liked jewellery and gem stones—my kind of people, to be honest.

Luckily you can gooi some serious action in a workshop if you like.

So I started with some melting and rolling

Then I went onto the whole casting process, showing the master/mould/injecting thing

And ending up with an actual cast.

That is always punchy, but you can make a big doos of yourself if things go wrong.

Luckily it all went well.

Then onto gemstones and gem cutting.

Believe me, if you want to get ‘ol bright eyes fired up and into the motor mouth mode, just ask him to talk about gemstones and the various processes connected to them.

Eventually the tour leader had to stop me because the two hours were up.

It felt like a half hour to me.

Anne did the hostess/co-ordinater thing as good as she always is.

Like these were the snacks she made, just sommer on a workbench.

Check the bench grinder in the top left.

Right next to the salmon cream cheese stacks.

It becomes more understandable why I got a boep..

I got this Nigerian gem dealer who I buy rough from.

Believe me when I tell you that dealing with Nigerians is a whole different exercise.

They could be called— uummmm— slippery, for want of a gentle description.

But eventually, I received some nice aqua crystal.

Which I carved into this shape, at about 7cts.

I would have had a better recovery, but the fracking stuff had a crack that kept running, and I was only able to kill it halfway up the stone.

This pic has a green overtone, but that is just the photo picking up the background.

It is a nice flawless aquamarine now.

Soon to replace the sold one on the front page of my website.

In high season all the mega yachts pull into St Maarten.

And then the broken stuff starts appearing in my workshop.

From overblown Italian vases to seriously fugly stone carved fishes.

This one’s tail had been broken off by one of the crew members.

So I used Hxtal to start and then filled up all the chip with a epoxy resin, layer by layer.

Then I sanded and filed the resin flush.

Nearly finished.

I have not the faintest idea what this stone is.

Suffice to say that it is very soft, like about 3 or 4 on the Mohs scale, works like soapstone and chips like calcite.

And has a colour called ’shutter’, that is a mixture between shit and butter.

Anyway, the work puts porridge on the table, so who am I to moan……

I would be appreciative if any of the orchid Gem Guru’s could comment on the material.

Also, I have a sister blog in Blogger.

I am dead tired of Blogger.

It is a lousy program.

Is there anyway I could migrate my entire Blogger blog to an independent Wordpress blog?

I only swing in the lower branches of computer stuff, but I’m sure there’s has got to be a way .