Matched set of Drinking Horns for Calontir

[Geoffrey of Blesedale]

I had the pleasure of making a part of the gifts that were presented by Her Majesty Alethea Eastriding and His Highness Duke Andreas Eisfalke of the East Kingdom to TRMs of Calontir at Gulf Wars.

As TRMs of Calontir both like mead, a matched set of Drinking Horns seemed appropriate. Her Majesty is a 6th C Saxon, so I did a knotted-dragon pattern, with each biting the tail of the one in front of it. His Majesty is a 12th C German on Crusades, so for him I used a cross patee, a rose, and a Cross of Jerusalem. On each, the pattern repeats 4 times. The stones are garnet cabochons, set into small pieces of brass tubing for a bezel, which was then peened to retain the stones without glue. The horns are a pair off the same animal. The rims are embossed brass held in place with clench nails made from brass wire. The horns are lined with beeswax. They are each about 18" long and hold about 8oz.

This was my first attempt embossing brass. I even made my own punches. Overall I am satisfied. I know what the flaws are, and what I would do differently. Given the time I had- I got the assignment end of January, and had none of the materials on hand- I think I did OK. I know TRMs were pleased, and that's what really matters to me.

(The links show the same pics, but larger. Sorry for any blurr, I had to turn off the flash to get the color right and alter the resolution to post them here.)

Her Majesty's:
[img]http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc139/blazeorama/Geoffrey%20of%20Blesedale/herhorn.jpg[/img]

His Majesty's:
[img]http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc139/blazeorama/Geoffrey%20of%20Blesedale/hishorn.jpg[/img]

The pair:
[img]http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc139/blazeorama/Geoffrey%20of%20Blesedale/bothhorns.jpg[/img]

[Eirik]

Those are beautiful.

You have done well for your Crown, sir.

[Wenzel]

Excellent work, brother. As usual!

[Geoffrey of Blesedale]

Thank you both.

I may have done well, but I could have done better. Next time I will.

Wenzel, keep your head down. When do you come home?

[Derian le Breton]

Cool stuff! Are you interested in a critique?

-Donasian.

[Geoffrey of Blesedale]

Always. It is one way to learn, and one reason why I posted here.

[Derian le Breton]

Okie-dokie! First, this is super awesome. A fine gift!

Now, a few questions:

1 - What, precisely, do you mean by embossing?
2 - Did you use pitch?
3 - Do you have any more photos? (more detail at the expense of color wouldn't be bad at all. )

I noticed you said you closed the cabochon settings by peening. You used a hammer and worked it like a rivet? They look a bit... lumpy? Uneven? it's hard to tell with the photos. I like to use a bezel-pusher, which is basically a rectangular stick of steel with an end that is rounded on one axis and fine polished. I finish it up with a burnisher to make nice and smooth. <A HREF="http://www.professionaljeweler.com/archives/articles/2000/may00/0500fys1.html">This site</A> has some nice photos illustrating the technique and tool.

Here's a picture of a ring I set with this method:

<IMG SRC="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2196/1979687802_9695da90e7.jpg">

It also helps to sand down the back of the gem to fit the shape of the backing. This will stop it from rocking in the setting.

-Donasian.

[Geoffrey of Blesedale]

Thanks! Nice rings.

Now to answer in order:

1: Chasing and repouse, using small punches made from 8d nails, forged and ground to various chisel tips for the chasing. Sections of dowel were shaped with a rasp to make the tools for the repouse.

2: I know about the use of pitch, but did not have the time to acquire and experiment with it. I used a piece of heavy leather as a backing. It worked well enough, but I can see where pitch would be better, especially if I was going for more detail.

3: I have some more showing the project step by step, but they will need some editing to get them to fit here.

Yep, like a rivet. That's because most of my metal-working experience has been with helms! That one setting on the dragon just happened to be the worst. I had thought the heat from soldering the brass bezel in place would anneal it more, but it did not. It took a lot more work to close it than I thought it would. Now that I know of bezel pushers, I will look into them if I do another project like this.