Finally!! Someone explaining the process! I've been looking for a long time trying to find someone to teach me how to do this, and there are very few videos out there. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and talent with us. You've been a Godsend! I can't wait to watch your other videos now... 😃😃

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Seriously, there's literally nothing out there on any of this--maybe except chip inlay but I'm not really a fan of that style. I'm so glad to be able to help out, hope this enables you to make some awesome things soon! :)

Thank you! You had beautiful clear directions. I watched the video just one time and my cabochons look awesome!

@calbrittonjewelry

Ай бұрын

I love to hear this!! I’m glad you were able to make some gorgeous intarsias from my video ☺️

I’ve been looking for more information on intarsia and inlay on KZread. Thank you so much for posting this. I have learned some valuable tips from you.

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Yea there’s not much out there in advanced lapidary techniques besides chip inlay, which looks totally different. If you have any tutorial requests, just let me know and I’ll see what I can do 😊

Fabulous tutorial! I loved it! Thank you so much!

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

I’m so glad to hear this, Anne! Hope you give it a try soon! 😋 let me know how it goes!

That was a very good, informative video for this technique. Thank you so much for sharing.

@calbrittonjewelry

10 ай бұрын

Thanks for taking the time to respond, it makes me happy to hear it’s been useful for you! Good luck with your projects 😊

Great video. Looking forward to seeing more. Thank you!

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Thanks, and you’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed it!

An excellent tutorial, thanks!

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for sayin so! 😊 Good luck if you decide to go for it!

Fantastic video Catlin really looking forward to trying this out later this week. Love your videos they are awesome

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Nancy! This will be a bit more of a challenge, but seeing your other work, I know you’ve got this! Good luck!

Ha. I have that slant cab. I may look into creating a 90° step so I can get a good flat surface. I learned a lot from watching your videos

@calbrittonjewelry

11 ай бұрын

I need to find the time to do that, but I have to many tutorials to get to before then 😂 but honestly it wouldn’t be too hard to just take a 2x4 or the like and cut slots to rest the wood on the black splash guard that would bring the bottom just a few mm above the lap surface. You could either hold it with your other hand, or I was trying to figure out a good way to pretty much clamp it to the machine itself. Let me know how yours turns out! 😁

Great video, so helpful thank you so much!!!!

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

My pleasure, Dwayne! I hope this cuts out some of the frustration of adding metal to intarsias :)

Fabulous video. Thank our so much for explaining the process.

@calbrittonjewelry

7 ай бұрын

You’re welcome, I’m glad you enjoyed it! 😊

Right on time.thankyou!

@calbrittonjewelry

2 жыл бұрын

Hope it will help you out!

Beautiful! I’ve always wanted to try this technique!

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Thank you, it’s a fun change from the usual cab! Hope you give it a try sometime!

Amazing!

@calbrittonjewelry

9 ай бұрын

Thank you! 😊

Great video!

@calbrittonjewelry

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you, Chrissy! :)

Beautiful, thank you

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Leona, glad you enjoyed!

This's very creative.... nice job 👌👌👋

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Thanks, I appreciate it!

Fabulous stone and beautiful job done too. Love how you made its with the silver metal in between the stone it’s amazing, it’s stands up so beautiful and thin….I love it’s.💖💖💖

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Thanks, Rosaelina! I’ve made quite a few of these for wire wrappers recently, and they love them! I still have the cabochon from this tutorial if you’re interested 💜 you reach me at info@c-albritton.com

@rosaelinav8036

Жыл бұрын

@@calbrittonjewelry thank you so much, I have two friends who like them two. I’ll give her the website too…have a lovely Sunday morning.💖🙋‍♀️💖

Fun project, I had to subscribe and look forward to many more videos! My dad studied geology and has so many rocks and rock slices. I love to make jewelry and am ready to go to the next step with more artisanal designs so your channel is perfect!

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

I feel like it’s easier to get into lapidary from jewelry than vice versa, but you’re really going to love the flexibility it will afford you to make exactly the stones you want for your designs! 😊

Gorgeous, thank you for this tutorial ❤😊

@calbrittonjewelry

6 ай бұрын

It’s my pleasure, I hope it’s helpful for you! 😊

@mixedmediaartgirl300

6 ай бұрын

@@calbrittonjewelry it IS!! I just found your channel and subbed. I am brand spanking new to metalsmithing and just made my first couple pieces without melting parts off 🤭. What amazed me is that with every single tiny detail you decide to create there are a billion ways to tackle it! It's extremely helpful for people with my learning styles to have someone like you guide you through every detail and explaining why they do what they do, and the results, and even trouble shooting and other nuances. I have made videos before and know not only do you spend more time than people realize as an artist, but filming on top! Thank you so much. Looking forward to applying what you have shown me ( already excited thinking of new materials to use your techniques with). By the way I looked at a bunch of your work and ooh la la!! It's so well done and visually appealing and lots of interesting detail. It mixes wild and elegance. .....sorry for the novel, nice to meet you have a great day 👩‍🎨

@calbrittonjewelry

5 ай бұрын

Sorry I didn't see your reply until now! Congrats on your journey into metalsmithing, I hope you've been enjoying it! and absolutely, I always say that just because I do it one way, doesn't mean you can't do it a different way since that may be easier or makes more sense to do. I just like to introduce ideas for people to try out. It's always hard to know exactly how best to teach on here, but I try as best I can to be proactive about what hangups people may face. And thank you for the kind words about my work! I hope to see some of your inlay work someday :) feel free to send me some pictures sometime!

Really good tips and a great tutorial. Thanks for sharing.😊 😷⚒

@calbrittonjewelry

10 ай бұрын

Thanks for the kind words, and good luck on your inlays! 😁

You are living making my fantasy life that I've had since HS.

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Hahaha, it’s never to late to get into the game!!! 💜

I just found your channel and I'm so in awe over your impressive work! Everyone should check out your shop to see your phenomenal talent and vision on display. Just wow! Thank you for sharing your skills and techniques!

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for the high praise, Typhenus! :) I’m glad my work is inspirational, and hope the videos are helpful to the lapidary community!

Muy buen Video ! gracias por la explicación ! un Saludo desde Bariloche Argentina !

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

De nada! 😊

Thank you!

@calbrittonjewelry

8 ай бұрын

You’re absolutely welcome, have fun making some fancy intarsias! 😊

I like your style- you move at a good clip and put resources below. Keep up the good work! I subscribed and will refer back to this.

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the feedback, Donna! I’ll make sure to keep doing that moving forward. Glad you’ve been enjoying my channel!

LOVE! ❤

@calbrittonjewelry

2 ай бұрын

Thank you! 😊

I've done a lot of intarsia. Most of the time I am very successful you have given some really good tips!

@calbrittonjewelry

9 ай бұрын

So glad you were able to get a few things from my video! 😊 Thanks for watching!

👍

@calbrittonjewelry

11 ай бұрын

Hope you enjoyed!

And you do lovely, tasteful, careful work, too. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and passion. Makes me want to hunt down one of those goofy machines. Intarsia machines (just fixed typo for "madchines" which is probably closer to the truth) made by Alcizona ( or Al Tizona?). Wow.

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for the kind words, Richard! It is a nutty machine, but it's great if you want to make those nice perfect angles! They were made by Al Sesona, and from what I've read online, he sold his business sometime around 2020. I'm having trouble tracking it down from there though, but I think I have his number or email so I can always ask him if you would like me to! I've also seen people turn flat flaps into intarsia grinders if you're into a little DIY. I have some pictures I can email you, just reach out to me at info@c-albritton.com and I'll forward them to you! I don't have any instructions per-say, you'd just have to kinda wing it from what you see or until I get around to making a video of that, haha!

@richardbinell2053

Жыл бұрын

@@calbrittonjewelry I'd love to have one, but I don't have any more room in my garage. LOL. But if I found one at a good price I'd consider it. Do you know who bought the business and if they have a web site? Please ask him. Thanks for your great videos.

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Oh, I so hear you there! I'd need at least 2 more tables for the other pieces of equipment I have tucked away :) lol! I just emailed Al now and sent out an email to one of my lapidary friends who is in-the-know, so I'll let you know what I hear. When I bought mine back in 2019, it was $399 but who knows if it is still that.

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Hello again, Richard! I spoke with Al and his intarsia machine business has been purchased by Jim Munyon Phone: (904) 449-5090 Email: Jem1cutter@aol.com You should be able to reach out to him with that contact BUT I did hear through the grapevine that Highland Park should be releasing an intarsia machine soon so personally, I’d wait it out, get on their mailing list, and see how it compares to mine. I have a feeling it’s going to be pretty awesome

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Oh! And if you don’t hear from him, you can contact Al directly at intarsiagrinder@gmail.com He’s 96 years young but said he’s in the midst of refurbishing a few grinders that he has available! 🙂

oh ma ghaaaad I can't wait to try this! Thanks for the tips, just finding your channel and LOVE it!

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

😂 heck yesss, I’m so glad you found my channel and hope the tips work out for you! Let me know how your intarsias turn out 😁

@stephenscordato4321

Жыл бұрын

@@calbrittonjewelry definitely. I love your style with the figure pieces. Very refreshing to see!

You are talented and you work hard, but you are also very generous to share your insights here with the world... thank you! Do you see any significant differences between various metals when it comes to cutting, grinding, and polishing stone/metal combinations? Have you tried doing this with harder metals (steel, palladium, titanium)? Even brass would be a bit harder than silver. Does it make a difference when it comes to mushrooming or undercutting?

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for taking the time to say so! It means a lot to hear that these have been helpful for other folks. So I've worked with steel kitchen knife blanks (which is much different from doing strips in an inlay) and I've worked with both copper and brass in those knife blanks. I didn't notice mushrooming or undercutting on either of those, but I think a lot of it depends on how much heat is being built up plus how much you're grinding on it with your diamond bits to be honest. I do think that you could have mushrooming from copper and brass due to their hardnesses (all around 2.5-3), but I don't think you'd have an issue with other metals mushrooming. I'd actually be interested to know what you find out if you happen to do some tests! :)

Great videos! Thank you for sharing. So glad I found your channel. I watched another channel using old vinyl albums for a doublet backing. Is that something you’d try or not. Curious for your thoughts on that.

@calbrittonjewelry

5 ай бұрын

I’m all about trying new things as I had also heard about backing that way as well and I hear that many people did it. Someone recently suggested using 78RPM records so I got a cheap lot of them on FB Marketplace. After inspecting them, I noticed that they can bend VERY easily. Other vinyl may be different, but I personally want something more rigid for a backplate, especially for an intarsia (with or without silver banding). I guess my thing is: I like keeping the quality of my stones consistent so if I make a really killer cab or intarsia, it feels like it doesn’t suit it to put a vinyl backing on it so I often prefer to use stone instead. But I think as long as your backing is doing its job of protecting the stone, and it’s not in a setting you can see, I also think why not? Because it is a lot less expensive to go that route. I just have to find those thicker records to try out one of these days!

Ok. Thanks for telling me what I was doing wrong! LOL. I tried doing this a few months ago and it did NOT work. As soon as I started cutting my bond started coming apart. But looks like I did everything wrong. 😅 I didn't glue it to a backplate or put holes in my silver and I kept my wheel directly on the metal. Heh. I'm gonna clean the pieces and try again with all this new info.

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Ahahaha! It hurts your heart when it all starts coming apart, doesn’t it? 🥲 I mean, it really does seem straightforward until the metal starts pulling apart and it’s a hot mess, ugh. I hope it goes more smoothly now, let me know how it comes out! 😁

Fantastic video, Thank you! Question: I have had problems with the silver causing a blackish stain to sort of soak into some types of stones (and contaminate my felt polishing disc). Have you experienced this, or heard how to avoid it?

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Hey Susan, thanks for the kind words! I also get the black stain on my polishing pad from the sterling, but I’ve never thought twice about it since I’ve never had it stain my stones. What stone has it soaked into? I’m guessing it’s very porous for it to be doing that. I was chatting with a lapidary about to because the first thing I’d usually do is take a soft-bristled toothbrush with warm water and some Dawn dish soap to see if I couldn’t scrub it out. The next thing I’d do (while being very careful) is dipping a Q-tip in some acetone and trying to rub just the stone to see if the little microfibers can get in there and pull out some of the discoloration. (I know what you’re thinking, why would you ruin your epoxy bond with acetone?! But if used in small amounts, it won’t break it. I literally had a doublet soak overnight in acetone and I still couldn’t get the two pieces to come apart lol!) My friend William Bogg’s final suggestion would be to take it back a few polishing wheels (maybe 1200-300 then work up to 14,000). Then if you have any extra diamond pastes, go ahead with that and skip the polishing disc. I might even add trying Zam, but if the stone is that porous the Zam may get in your stone too. Hard to say without knowing what the stone is. Sorry for the long-winded answer, but I hope that helps! Let me know the verdict!

@BlueSkySusan

Жыл бұрын

@@calbrittonjewelry Thank you so much for the detailed answer! The stones that got stained were rhodochrosite, serpentine (the chartreuse colored type, I think sometimes sold as "lemon quartz") and phosphosiderite. The phosphosiderite is for sure porous, maybe the former two are also and I just didn't know it. The piece I cut with Pietersite and plume agate, using the same polishing style, didn't have the problem. I'll try the acentone and see if it has any effect. What I'm hearing is that this isn't generally "a thing" that people are taught to watch out for, so maybe it's just the porous stones. I tend to get a little "maverick" in the stones I use in search of color, lol. :) Anyway, THANK YOU and I look forward to more videos and/or classes!

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

@@BlueSkySusan Hey Susan! Sorry for the late response, my phone app didn't notify me and I only now just saw your comment on my computer. Yes, you're right about the phosphosiderite being porous and I know that rhodochrosite is soft, but I suppose depending on the quality of it, it may be a little more porous. I wouldn't have thought serpentine would do that, but once again, that's also a softer one. Did you try the acetone yet? Or were you able to try out a different solution? Sorry I hadn't faced that myself yet in my intarsia journey, or I'm sure I would have come up with a better answer for you :) And I love the maverick approach, that's the best way to make truly unique and exciting things!

What flat lap do you own? Thank so much for your amazing tutorials!!!

@calbrittonjewelry

4 ай бұрын

You’re so welcome! I have the Hi-Tech Diamond 8-inch angled flat lap (I have a link in the description for it and always appreciate when people can purchase using my affiliate links! 😊) I use it for so many different applications, even just flattening the backs of cabochons!

@dorenebankester4038

4 ай бұрын

Thanks so much‼️

I wish I had your intarsia machine. Any idea where one is available? Thanks very much for the instructions you kindly took the time to help all jewelry artists out here!

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

You’re absolutely welcome, William! Actually I just spoke with Al Sesona (the maker of those machines) and he has a few refurbished ones. He sold his business to someone else, who has been hard to get a hold of from what I’ve heard. Shoot me an email at info@c-albritton.com and I can give you his contact! If you’re in the UK, I know someone who is making his own intarsia machines that look epic! For a good price too

@williamdenottia8699

Жыл бұрын

@@calbrittonjewelry Thank you. Caitlin.

Nice tutorial. Might be a stupid question but do you use a 2 part epoxy like Art Resin to adhere the silver and stones together!??

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Oh goodness, there’s never a stupid question! Sorry I think I overlooked that since I had just done a stone-to-stone intarsia where I said what I used, which is Epoxy 330. It’s a two-part epoxy that is very well-trusted and loved by some knowledgeable lapidaries I know. I can’t vouch for the Art Resin brand, but I do know that some people have had troubles with adhesion with other brands (I don’t know which ones to look out for). Hope that helps, Aimee!

@metalgirl

Жыл бұрын

@@calbrittonjewelry thanks. Yeah it didn’t look like art resin because you didn’t mix it long enough so I figured it was something else but I didn’t know. Thanks so much! Pretty results!

I was very surprised that u used 24ga. silver it looks thicker,but it looks good when ground down. Whatevers adequate!

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

You could probably use any thickness, but I think the thicker the silver, the more chances you have of getting the metal too hot and having your intarsias pull apart. But you could always do thicker metal strips for something like a pillow inlay (maybe I’ll work on that tutorial next).

What stones are good to use a back plate? Or is it an specific material?

@calbrittonjewelry

2 ай бұрын

Traditionally people use basenite/basalt sliced thin for backing, but here I used obsidian since that’s what I had on hand at the time. My local lapidary club would often cut “intarsia slabs” that were that 2-3mm and they’d cut a variety of agates, jaspers, etc so you could have a fancier backplate but I’d say just use something that has a good hardness and doesn’t have any visible fractures in it. Good luck and have fun! 😊

I have a question...do you anneal the silver before gluing it into place?

@calbrittonjewelry

7 ай бұрын

There’s no need to anneal the silver in this situation 🙂 definitely do the drilling though

@sandandshoreshoppe

7 ай бұрын

@@calbrittonjewelry I thought perhaps annealing would make the silver easier to grind on the wheels. I might try it both ways and see if I can tell any difference. Thanks for the reply, you really do some nice work and good quality videos.

@calbrittonjewelry

7 ай бұрын

Sterling silver is a 3 on the Mohs scale, so that would really change whether you anneal it or not. Annealing it would only be helpful if it was a thick gauge that you wanted to roll out thinner for your intarsia banding. But honestly it won’t hurt to give it a shot if you’re feeling up to it! 😊 good luck and have fun with your projects. Do let me know how the annealing goes!

@sandandshoreshoppe

7 ай бұрын

@@calbrittonjewelry I will! Yesterday I finished making a machine to do intarsia and made my first cab....no metal in that one though just three slices of stone. I am so glad I found your channel!

@calbrittonjewelry

7 ай бұрын

That’s amazing that you made your own machine, that’s a talent in itself! Be prepared to get addicted to intarsias 😉 the combinations are endless!

When you fix your flat lap into a intarsia machine,make us a video.

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Absolutely! I have some ideas in mind of how I want to do it, but it may take some drawings to figure it all out. I may do a different tutorial in the meantime until I get around to it.

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

@@larrymoremckenzie3029 I understand, but do know that I have a lot going on with my own jewelry business and I try to make time here and there to work on these free videos . I haven’t even had time to make the rail for myself yet but I’m hoping my schedule will clear up in a few weeks. We’ll see, but thanks for your patience.

Maybe this is dumb, I’m slowly dipping my toes into lapidary/intarsia work. Do people use CA glues? Or can it work? Or is epoxy 330 the better choice?

@aubriannebell5877

Жыл бұрын

Oops answered my own question about using CA glue by watching your other intarsia video haha! My secondary question to anyone who might know, does the ratio of moving the parts of 330 have to be PERFECT? When you mixed it on the cardboard I wasn’t sure if you measured it out beforehand

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Welcome to the wonderfully addictive world of lapidary! So as you’ve seen in my other vids, people use CA glues but they don’t hold up as long as epoxy 330. To me, it’s not worth making an inferior product to save some time. You’d have to back it with another stone and epoxy. For your other question: no I actually don’t measure it as in I don’t use a scale. Even my jewelers scale can’t seem to get those minute weights of epoxy to get perfect so I just eyeball it. To do that, you can draw out small circles to fill but do note that one of the parts is thinner than the other so you’ll want to look it it from the side (by lifting up the cardboard) to make sure that they have the same bulbous height, if that makes sense. If you need to test to see if it mixed properly, leave a small bit of mixed epoxy on your cardboard as it cures. If you come back in 24 hours and stick your nail in it, it shouldn’t leave a dent. If it does, you need to remove the pieces as re-glue! I’ll probably do a short video soon on how I approximate mixing epoxy, but don’t overthink it! You’ve got this!!! 😊

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

And as a side note: I don’t consider any question stupid! We all come to the lapidary arts from different backgrounds, and I’m always happy to help ☺️

@aubriannebell5877

Жыл бұрын

@@calbrittonjewelry ahh thanks so much!! I grew up loving and collecting rocks which lead me to silversmithing, and now it’s circling me back to loving rocks and cutting my own cabs! Thank you so so much for taking the time to reply and extending even more knowledge. I’m so glad I found your channel! I just following your Instagram too, your jewelry is gorgeous ❤️

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

It’s my pleasure, Aubrienne! It’s so rewarding to cut the rocks you personally find! Have fun playing around with these techniques! 😊✨

What are you using for epoxy?

@calbrittonjewelry

Жыл бұрын

Epoxy 330, I have a list of all the materials in the description if you need it!😊