Four Day Tour de Force

These images are the result of four massive work days.  I made sure to take my time and ended up knocking off and recreating three of my ten knuckles.  It was a trying four days that stained my hands yellow and left them feeling of leather, though the result was lovely. 

 This is Tai's patina face haha.

 Yellow Ochre was my best friend these four days.  I had some serious issues with it mixing in with the flux as I was heating it, but I would just have to rinse the piece and reapply everything.  It was a painstaking and delicate process but I feel like I am more knowledgeable for it.

 Look at that successful hinge!  Now for the other side...

 Woo!  All my knuckles are soldered down and lined up!  Oh but I don't like three of them.  Two of them got slightly smooshed because the tubing is so small and I was manipulating the piece to get the best fit.  Off they came.  One knuckled fused with the steel hinge pin so that one definitely had to come off.  Oddly enough I had cut exactly enough spare knuckles.  Funny how life works like that.

 Soldering on the bottom cap.  It's starting to take form!

 Testing to make sure the door lined up with the bottom cap.  Yep, it does.

 The top cap is on with the hinge pin trapped between the caps and the clasp slip in place.  It's a working mechanism!

I hand cut glass to bezel set in that window.

I am very pleased with this.  It's very sturdy and lines up nicely.  I'm glad I allowed myself so much time such that I didn't skimp on a bit of the construction.