Buckle Alchemy

This project started when a collector called me to see if I could make a buckle for 1 1/2 belts from a spear head he found about 20 years ago. It all depended on how wide the spear point was of course so I had him send it to me. That size is pretty rare in a perfect condition spear point so I was pretty amazed when this beauty shower up.  

As luck would have it, this one was just barely wide enough for 1 1/2 belts.

I made an open face box mold with silicon and then made a wax impression from it

The wax is then changed into silver using the ancient process of lost wax casting. The wax model is surrounded with a special high temp plaster and the wax is burned out.  The hollow left in the plaster is then filled with the molten silver using centrifugal force or vacuum assist. Shown here is the rough casting after an acid bath to remove oxides from the surface leaving a layer of frosty white pure silver. 

Pictured here is the original stone point on the left and a bronze patinated casting. The bronze version looks a little smaller but that is mostly a camera thing. There is some shrinkage in the wax model as it cools and in the metal as it cools but it's not really noticeable  it still fit the 1 1/2 belts

This is a silver copy with the stone original. This project was for a custom limited edition buckle, It's not available on my site.

I have also made a buckle from a spear head found by my brother in New England. It fits 1 1/4 in belts.  You can see that here. I make it in silver and bronze.
If you have an object like a sharks tooth or arrow head or even a sea shell that you think would make a unique belt buckle, get in touch with me and we will see if I can perform some magic and turn it into silver.
 contact me at www.jewelryartstudio.com/studio

Buckle Castings in Precess

 
 I'm running through a series of buckles. You can see the progress from rough castings to ready to patina and the finished buckles ready for this weekend show, my website or my etsy store.  This first photo is mostly rough castings with some sanding already started

this second picture is casting mostly finished and ready for patina

Here is some of them finished and waxed and ready to go  

I took this Blue crab claw buckle to the next level by giving it Multiple layers of different patinas. Blues, greens, browns and some black. The final step is wax. The Wax actually saturates the colors and give it depth.

The blue crab claw buckle before patina started

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I'm tempted to keep this one for myself. But I'll take it to the show this weekend to give other people a chance and put it on the etsy store and website next Monday if it doesn't sell. If you see it and want to claim it before the show on Saturday just contact me and I'll send it to you. It's 95.00

Patina table

This is a shot of the patina table just before Christmas. Most of these parts are for earrings. They are copper and brass.  The brass are the green. There is also one bronze Redfish buckle that I was trying the red patina on. It's perfect for that buckle. 

This is a pair from that series. The parts are jointed so they move.  Sterling and brass 

Tarpon Bronze Buckles

This new buckle has what I call a flake patina. It essentially colors the bronze the way it will look after wearing so you don't have to go through the "finger print "stage.

New Gator Buckles

This series of 4 smooth textured gator buckles came out great! I'm really happy with the patinas on these. I especially like the green on # 518-50. All my buckle are signed and numbered. If you order one by number, that is the buckle you will recieve.

The color of 518-50 on my screen shows it pretty close to the actual colors, maybe a little more brown and less green in direct sunlight. It is really difficult to photograph these patinas. There is a certain depth to the color that is hard to capture. Even looking at them in different light gives them different color
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This is # 520-52  I used a more basic brown coloring on this one but as it ages the darks and lights will become more pronounced and the color texturing,mottling will get more contrast. It will get a little darker over time

#517-49 has a light brown antiqued undertone with some light green on top. It looks a little greener than it is in this picture.  It's more subtle on the actual buckle

#519-51 has what I call the basic brown bronze finish.  This is a pre- aged look of dark and light brown
They are all still 75.00, even though the ones with the one of a kind patinas take alot longer to do.

Swamp

The biggest batch of gators so far. Textured and smooth. I couldn't resist so I put some patina on a couple just to see what they would look like. The one in the center is the only one that is finshed. The others are all rough castings ready for finishing. There a few red fish in there too.

New Grouper

This is a new grouper buckle with a very different patina. I did several layers of brown and green using heat to get a darker color in some places. I was going for a more patterned surface because the grouper has a very distinct random looking pattern of darks and lights. This one off is available for 65.00 on the one of a kind page of my website.

Branch cuffs

A sampling of some of the Branch Cuff bracelets I'll be showing and shipping to galleries this month.

New Buckle and Bracelets

Here's a new lab buckle in sterling. this one is shown on an 1 1/8 in. belt but will fit on 1 1/4. I also have a bulldog and a corgi buckle that are profiles like this.

Two views of the first of a new series of bracelets I'm calling "Blue Ridge"

Three new bracelets made of bronze and silver. Wrapping the bronze in silver keeps the bronze off your wrist and wont give you a green mark. the bronze will ozidize to a nice dark brown and have a nice contrast with the silver vine.

Bronze Patina buckles

Salmon bronze Patina This is a salmon head that I did the same patina to. Again this is a one of kind finish. They always come out different and there is no predicting how they will look. This is the actual buckle you will get. 58.00 including free shipping. This patina is not shown in the collection for sale on my website www.jewelryartstudio.com but I have all the other designs shown there in polished bronze and siver and the patina can be applied to any of the other designs.

Here's another idea for dad's day. I'm offering a free belt with these bronze buckles. These are one-off buckles because of the patina I applied. They have an almost iridescent quality. The bronze takes on a crystalline surface when lightly etched with a certain mild acid. This effect is permanent but the color will darken. However it just increases the contrast and makes them look better with age. 58.00 including free shipping.

bronze

I am working with with bronze more lately, since gold is at almost $1000.00/oz. and silver is at $15.00/oz. That's about triple for both in about 3 years. We are in a squeeze between high material costs and low retail prices. Bronze is a great alternative. It has long-standing value as an art metal and it ages beautifully. It's great for buckles. I have been using it for my fish-face buckles and in other jewelry for many years.A free $30.00 belt is included with these buckles.


This is a cast bronze salmon or trout that fits on a 1 1/2 belt. It has a high polish finish but will patina to a golden brown with greenish highligts. Shown on a brown belt. This is one I can do over and I'm selling this first one on the blog and to my facebook fan club for 45.00 Free belt and shipping

The belts I use are snap on so they can be used with other buckles. The 1 1/2 inch belts are all dark chocolate brown. These pictures look a little blue greenish on my lap top but teh actual color is a very nice dark brown

This buckle is cast and then forged. It's a heavy duty buckle with a nice weight to it. One of the nice things about bronze is I can use more of it. This buckle in silver would have to be 170.00. (I'll be happy to done like it in silver for you ) It's about as heavy as one of my fish head buckles but actually has more hand work in it. This is a one off buckle. No mold was made. The wax for the casting was hand manipulated and formed into the basic shape. After casting the final shape and finish was done with a hammer. It has a bright, high polish finish but will patina to a beautiful brown.

If you want it before it goes on my website or to a gallery it's 55.00 That includes the 1 1/2 belt and shipping. If you want it without the belt it's 55.00 (that's what I mean by a free belt)