What is a "Shellac Stick", how and where is it used?

"Shellac Sticks" were used by this Diamond Setter since 1963. Prior to this earlier date, they were mainly used to "grab & hold" onto items for setting. Although these photos have been seen in my earlier blog photos, they will still be used for complex and very wide jewellery pieces.

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 This photo shows what the shellac looks like when bought from your tool supplier.

This flame is too intense and will 100% boil & destroy the new "Flake Shellac".

You only need to warm the flakes into a semi-liquid state.

 

 When you need to "gently" remove the shellac from your item, just drop the piece into Methyl Hydrate into a jar. Afterwards, you could put this jar into your ultrasonic machine and in literally minutes everything will be cleaned.

 The next large group of photos shows how this shellac stick holds your items.

 On this one wooden stick, I formed two sizes of shellac. Each size is for different sizes of items.

 

 Even on the large size of shellac, I can easily drill holes in any metal.

 This stick has been 'my good friend' for (?) decades. If the shellac gets worn from constant usage, just break off the shellac and heat another new layer for your items.

 Shellac can be used for bracelets or nameplates. It all depends on the wooden stick you eventually need. The wooden round piece can be put into your ring clamp.

   This item was previously set, all I did was add many more periphery stones.

 I created the 'mini-claws' not by soldering or by CAD, but by drilling and splitting the remaining metal. (That will be another essay).

 Now imagine if I put this large pendant on a large oversized clamp. There would be deep indentations everywhere. I and my client would be extremely angry.

 The close proximity of the gold to the shellac surely solved all problems.

  I needed to "Bright-Cut" all of the silver models prior to the stone setting. This shellac allowed me to circumvent any movement while using my gravers.

   I kept the "casting gates" to be used as an anchor while I was graver cutting.

 There was additional shellac underneath to give additional support if warranted.

 This additional shellac was hot enough to "bleed through" the holes. This process gave me more support while working on this very thin plate.

 In this photo, you can now observe that even drilling 54 holes didn't cause me any undo hardship.

   Again, I used this shellac stick to hold this multi-stone pendant rigid on and in the shellac.

 Even any slight heating from drilling the claws had no effect on the shellac.

 There would have been many problems if I used a mini-clamp, non-stop.

 I counter-sunk each hole for the Pavilion for every stone and THERE WAS NO MOVEMENT THAT TOOK PLACE.

 This holding process is even great for when I do my Pave cutting. Not once have I ever had any problems with having the shellac break away. 

 I like to mold the still-warm shellac around the wooden stick, why so? When the soft skin on the fingers grips the rough texture of the newly formed shellac, there are chances of hurting the fingers.

 Here is the smoothed texture after I formed the shellac. DON'T LET THE HOT SHELLAC DRIP ON YOUR FINGERS. I still have the 'battle scars' to prove what can happen. Blisters were galore!

  Even during intricate and extensive "Bright-Cutting" not once had there been any problems with any gemstone setting and graver cutting.

 

 Here is the proof of why I prefer shellac over any other method of holding an item.

 Even if I had the need to file an object, the results are g-r-e-a-t.

 As in the previous photo, I have the option of heating this extra wide man's nameplate and repositioning it further. There could be many disastrous implications for my gemstone setting.

 You can see just how close to the edge the shellac is getting to the rim of the circle of metal. I WANT THAT TO BE ON PURPOSE. I want total freedom to the cutting of the areas to be graver cut.

Get rid of those sharp edges, don't let those sharp corners cut into your skin.

  Consider this shellac stick to be your new holding device. You'll thank me for this writing this essay.

gerrylewy18 @ gmail.com

"Princess Cruise Lines" logo!

 On one of our cruise vacations I saw the ship logo and here is what I did with this emblem. I don't have too much to write about the planning, as these photos speak for themselves.

  I used CAD extensively in creating from the picture of the logo directly from the ship. All I can say is that I was fascinated with its pattern. The bottom photo of the word "PRINCESS" was my idea and it looks just great, do you agree?

TEXT ONLY for "Bezel Setting"

 This essay is only for Bezel Setting in my blog there are many photos just on this topic. This essay can be used easily in conjunction with the "Bezel Setting, Video-C."

 

TEXT ONLY, for "Princess-Cut" Diamond Setting.

    In this tutorial essay there are many very detailed facts for setting a Princess Diamond. There are 3 pages of notes for you to read through. My blog has photos just on this topic that will greatly assist you in the reading of this text essay.            

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Antique & hand-made, Diamond Brooches, circa 1920's (?)

 I've saved many views of these brooches before 'some' were dismantled and the metal was eventually recycled, just to save the diamonds.

 My clients asked to do the most heartbreaking task of doing this while I had my downtown Toronto office. Suffice it to say, I took photos of every conceivable angle before I did these 'unspeakable' chores. My camera was an integral 'gem-setting tool' as I always kept my camera inside my setting bench. 

  Although some of these brooches pre-date the last century, I took all of these photos, circa 2001<=>2003 A.D.

 The technology in those days was unbelievable and so refined. I think that these photos speak for the jeweller's hard work in the Diamond Setting "Bright-Cutting" process that ensued.

  I am truly at a loss for words at the fine quality that each claw had to be created 'one at a time'. Truly amazing, aren't they?

 You can barely see that under each diamond there is a graver twisted sliver of metal preventing any or each diamond from falling through each of the metal openings.

  The fine and intricate work in cutting out the 'undercarriage' of the baguette setting areas. I believe that this was not cast, but cut out by a saw blade.

  The constant use of a 'Milgrained edge' was not for any personal need. It was a 'fashion statement' of that long ago, bygone era.

 

  Look at the height of those claws, amazing? I have a solution to that question.

 Even as I'm examining each photo, I am attempting to understand how these brooches were eventually pieced together. 

 The separation of each diamond section was with a thick saw blade, maybe equivalent to our #2/0. I believe that every individual post or claw was soldered into place. The metal carving was prepared before these claws were created.

  The baguettes were equally set with the agility of a fine-quality Diamond Setter. The mini-claws on the "X" link were hand-crafted from a flat plate. I've done this myself and this is not easy to learn, trust me on this point.

  For every baguette, there had to be 5-6 stones given to the setter to 'mix & match'. Remember that with a row of tapered stones there had to be many stones to 'have on hand'. I personally learned this process myself, about 65 years ago!

 

   Two beads held this large "Mein-Cut" stone into place. Once the stone was permanently set, extra wire beads were created opposite where the two beads are positioned. These are just barely visible.

 The 'claw settings' were attached after the fancy-cut Baguette stones were set. Metal polishing was imperative before any soldering took place.   

 These beads were hand-made using a specially designed graver named a "Bull Stick". I still have the one that my teacher gave me.

 I made this brooch just to look like a butterfly with "Princess-Cut" diamonds. The oval pearl was found in South America and he brought it home.

 I had the opportunity in working with the pearl owner himself before he died 7 months after this was completed.

 The pattern was created in many flat plates of gold. All the setter had to use was his variety of gravers, nothing else.

 Each section was set with diamonds and then soldered together to make a bracelet.

  All of these diamonds were "Mein-Cut" stones, that is these were all hand-polished and not by any computer-driven polishing wheel as of today.

 This sliding bar allowed a sharp pin to be exposed, thus giving the wearer a secure method of locking the brooch into her cloth.

 The little 'graver made hooks' underneath each diamond can be seen. I firmly believe that the metal was made too thin and another process of preventing any diamond from getting lost.

 Each segment that you see at the bottom of the screen, was originally a flat plate. The jeweller just drilled a hole and then used his saw-blade to create these segments.

 I'm hoping that you can fully understand and appreciate the many long hours in creating these beautiful brooches. This was a study of a long-gone technology.

Gerrylewy18(at)gmail.com