Rough stone

At renowned gemstone dealers in Idar-Oberstein I acquire rough stones for my jewellery. I encounter many stones on voyages, too.

Appraisal

Beneath a light source I examine the stone. Spinkled with water which makes more transparency I observe the play of colors and the embeddings.

Rough abrasion

In order to gain certainty what is in the stone and what can be expressed with it I roughly abrade the stone.

Sawing

With a diamond coated saw I grind the spare material away to preserve the rough form. Water or oil serve as coolant.

Rough-grinding

With a diamond or corundum tool I abrade the form of the gemstone. From a stone one may only take away, not add like with metal.

Beveling

In most cases I assign specialist companies in Idar-Oberstein to bevel the gemstones of my jewellery.

Engraving

The engraving is often a very charming insection into the stone. It is an art in itself which goes into the depth of the stone.

Abrasion

With different grinding wheels and feeding of water the form of the stone emerges.

Sanding

Onto wood or felt wheels I apply abrasive grains of 600 – 1200 with a wet sponge. With light pressure the stone is held to the rotating wheel in different directions.

Polishing

With diamantine I polish the gemstone. The beaming and the shining brightness fulfils me with joy and is the reward of my work.

Gold melting

With a rough spray valve on my micro welding apparatus I ignite a blue-orange flame and alloy the gold under high impact of heat.

Silver melting

When it is fluid the silver shines like a mirror before I pour it with a calm hand into an iron form.

Soldering

To avoid oxidation I coat the parts with flux. Soldering particles are applied with tweezers and connect the metals with low melting temperature.

Rolling

There are devices in the roll with which I can roll wire or plate. The metal becomes thinner and expands itself in length in the rolling direction.

Annealing

Upon rolling the metal hardens. I anneal the piece cherry-red so the molecules can align.

Bending

Tongs with different forms and profiles serve me in bending a socket for a gemstone or ring.

Forging

On steel I forge the form for rings, neck jewellery and bracelets. The structure of the hammer can emboss an interesting pattern into the metal.

Sawing

By sawing I separate metals to put them in my desired form.

Filing

With the different cuts of the files I remove the metal, similar to the gemstone handling.

Milling

My daily tools are a multitude of mills and grinding tools with different profiles and inserts for the suspension drilling motor.

Drilling

Often I put bores behind the stones into the precious metal. Thereby the light falls through the stone onto the body of the bearer.

Adhesion

Sometimes I connect stones and metals with special adhesives.

Engraving

With diamond coated engraving tools I grind fine lines like sunrays into the metal and the gemstone.

Modeling

To grind soft transitions and forms I model with corundum or rubber mills. This work step gives me special joy.

Sanding

With sandpaper with different graining I give the metal a matt structure on the surface.

Grinding

On a motor with high turning speed I apply sanding paste and move the workpiece in different directions along the brush.

Polishing

With a woolen disk and polishing paste I get brilliance onto the metal.

Cleaning

In the ultrasonic bath I put heated soap sud water. The waves loosen the dirt and the polishing paste from the metal and the stone.

Appraisal

Under a magnifying glass I look scrutinizingly at the piece of jewellery to see if the stones and metal are faultlessly crafted.

Signature

Into the metal or stone I engrave the message of the piece of jewellery, the alloy, f.e. 750 for 18 carat yellow gold, and my logo NILS.

Labeling

The last workstep is the weighing, measuring and price labeling of the piece of jewellery.

Certificate

In the bill all used materials are listed. It is the certificate for the client.