intro

by kevinpotter on November 8, 2008

I suppose I will just start this out like everyone else, and tell anyone who cares to read this a bit about me. Since this is on jewelry web page I guess it should be about my jewelry and my thoughts on the trade. I have been a working goldsmith for 18 years, most of that time has been spent doing custom work I have been lucky in that I have not had to do alot of repairs. I am a wax carver most people who read this will know what that is, I carve the patterns that are cast into finshed fine jewelery. I work mostly in gold and platinum but have been using alot of paladium as of late due to the high cost of the other metals. Most of my fellow gold smiths have been having a tough time as of late being that the economy is circleing the toilet bowel right now preparing to be flushed away at any moment, by this comment alone you can probably deduce that I am a glass half empty fellow, cant help it I think you have to be born with a predispostion to it.  Having a bad economy can make you take pathes that you never would have considered. For one I started using steel to make wedding bands out of since some of my customers are PO that is not a misspelling they cant afford the rest of the word. Any way if you are gonna work with steel pretty soon you think boy wouldnt it be great to have a lathe, just a small one nothing big just somthing to play around with. Well you know how it is when you are out at a bar drinking and you feel real good and you think man if I feel this good after 3 beers I bet I would feel even better after 6 well the same thing can happen with tools a small lathe is good but a bigger lathe makes you feel more manly. So I went from a table top toy to a 5000 lbs metal ripping osha nightmare,that has led to me recreating the industrial revolution in my garage. My wife has said that I have more industrial capabilty than some small countries. You all know how stuff gets out of control, how the need for one tool necicitates the need for another and so on until you are trying to justify your situation to friends and family who have become concerned. I liked making stuff out of steel so much that I kinda stopped making jewelry last year, I still make the occasional piece for friends and family but now I make tools not just any tools though I make real nice tools for metalsmiths they are sold by otto frie, I make T stakes , mushroom stakes , hammers and hydraulic presses all for jewelers.

kevinpotter

kevinpotter

kevinpotter

Latest posts by kevinpotter (see all)

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Anita Van Slyke-Swank November 10, 2008 at 12:51 pm

Well Kevin…I think you can always seriously branch out into writing as well. You definitely have a flair for that too!

Leave a Comment

Next post:

WordPress Admin