Gem Silica Wave Bangle

gem silica wave bangle hand forged and formed using heirloom silver by hkm jewelry Ann came to me with a bar of fine silver asking if I could melt it down and forge a bangle. I said.. "EASY!"

alloying sterling silver with fine silver bar and copper alloy

I alloyed the fine silver into sterling by adding some copper alloy and calculating the weight according to a metal conversion chart. Weighed it a few times and cut it down to smaller portions before melting.

molten metals in the hkm jewelry studio - alloying sterling silver I melted the alloy into an ingot and forged it out into square wire, then drew it down to round wire. I created a bezel for the gem silica stone she chose for the inside of the wave detail.

silver ingot for custom bangle by hkm hkmjewelry forging a silver ingot for custom bangle by hkm hkmjewelry rolling and forging silver ingot for custom bangle by hkm hkmjewelry creating wire with a rolling mill from an ingot for custom bangle by hkm hkmjewelry

Between each forge, roll or form I needed to anneal the metal with the torch to soften it back to a malleable form. When changing the shape of silver it becomes harder and harder and would eventually break if not annealed.

annealing sterling silver ingot for custom bangle by hkm hkmjewelry drawing down square wire to make round wire silver ingot for custom bangle by hkm hkmjewelry forming the wave pattern for custom bangle by hkmjewelry soldering the custom wave bangle and bezel by hkm jewelry

I formed the wave, soldered the bangle and polished. Last thing to do was set the stone!

back view of gem silica wave bangle by hkm jewelry side view of gem silica wave bangle by hkm jewelry front view of gem silica wave bangle by hkm jewelry Anne wearing her custom gem silica wave bangle by hkm jewelry