The Light House

The Light House was a labor of love and learning. My sister-in-law, Judy, passed away from cancer the same time I was going through my ordeal in the hospital. My wife did not want to go to the services because I might not be around when she got back. I insisted she go. I knew it would be very important for her to be there and I wasn't planning on going anywhere. At least that was what I told her. I was pretty sure no one' up or down' wanted me at that time
Since getting into jewelry making I have thought about a tribute to her of some kind. Nothing I was doing at the time seemed quit right. Judy loved Light Houses and the color purple. As far as beads and crystals I could get the color but not the Light House. As my learning and skills have improved I continued to look for the just right piece. Different ideas came and were discarded as not quite right. When I went to the gem show in Ozark I visited the booth of my good friend and mentor Jan Potter (Treasure Chest) and there on the table was a cab that I thought was perfect for the body of the Light House. Now came the problem of making it a Light House.
Again many ideas came and went as not being right. I wanted something that was perfect and suitable for the tribute. Finally I decided that I was going to make it from scratch. Yes, this was a big decision on my part not only from the importance of the piece but was I good enough to put it together. I told myself I had the tools and equipment needed. I had read the books and had taken some classes the only other element was to make my mind and hands work together. That's not always easy. I finalized a basic design and gathered the material together in one pile. I first thought about mounting the cab on a copper sheet then soldering the light part on top. I changed that in order to make the piece using all sterling silver. Then came the time to start cutting silver. Again just a little bit of fear involved here, but I over came this and started cutting. I ended up with about twenty parts in my project box, and yes, I did have to cut some twice to get them right. Learning curve, very large and long learning curve.
I had to consider the order of fabrication. This was my first time using multiple grades of silver solder. Silver solder comes in hard, medium, soft and I had a tube of low heat. The idea is that the first parts joined you use the hard solder and as you add more parts you step down so you don't remelt the other joints. Once I had all this lined out in my mind and all the pieces filed and shaped I gathered the courage to start putting things together. I did have a few starts and stops and redoes to correct mistakes but finally got the light section made. I used wire wrap to mount the cab with 20 gage silver wire and soldered this to the light section. Then things came to a halt. I could not come up with a roof idea that would look right and provide for hanging on a chain. I thought of copper since it would match the color of the cab. I even made several pieces but could not get it right.
One day we were at the Treasure Chest and they were showing me some new silver gem mounts they had just received. I fell in love with them and bought several of each. Jan was showing me some of the rings she made with these pieces. Shirely said she would really like one so we picked several CZ's to work with. When we returned home I went back to my roof problem. While thinking on this I was spreading out my new treasures to put in containers and one of them jumped out at me as being perfect for the top of the light house with a little modification. One of the CZ"s we had picked out was purple. Absolutely perfect. I soldered the mount in place added a bail. After cleaning up mistakes and polishing every thing I mounted the stones and made the chain to hang it from. Dispute some very small flaws it was as near perfect as I could make it. At the time I deemed it finished it was Shirley's mothers birthday. She wanted to give to her as a birthday gift. After some final polishing with Renaissance wax I boxed it up and handed it to Shirley who gave it to her mother on her birthday. It was a special moment if not for anyone else but me. I knew what went into making it and what it was to represent. At that moment I was very pleased with everything I had gone through to make it. It was very special and will remain in my heart as one of my favorite works.