As exciting as jewellery making can be, knowing where to start is often overwhelming, particularly when choosing to work with precious metals. Here at Cooksongold, our new dedicated how to make jewellery hub aims to help all new jewellery makers start their journey off on the right foot. Here we have compiled a range of our top tips to start you off when starting your silver jewellery making journey…
A good saw and saw blade are essential
Cutting is an important part of working with precious metal and the key to efficiently cutting without damaging your choice of metal is a good saw frame and saw blades and cutting lubrication – use bees wax, tool oil or a burr lubricant. High quality equipment will help you to effectively master the sawing technique.
Practise on base metals
Before you start working with precious metals it is always a good idea to practice your techniques on base metals. Whether it’s hammering, texturing, metal forming, cutting and more, it is important to get yourself familiar with the process. Copper and Brass sheet, wire and blanks are a cost effective alternative, which will allow you to practice and perfect your skill without pressure.
Invest in yourself
Just as we mentioned with saw blades and saw frames, it is important that you invest in quality equipment for your entire workshop. Cutting cost on equipment is understandable particularly when starting from scratch, but when trying to develop your skills, the last thing you need are tools that easily break or don’t do the job well. Investing in good equipment is an investment in yourself, what could be better?
Store your metals carefully
Silver in particular, as it is very soft, can easily be scratched and warped which is why it is important that you store all of your bits safely. Most bits of precious metal will be supplied with a protective film, don’t remove this until you use the piece and keep everything stored safely to avoid any unnecessary damage . Silver findings and chains can be stored with an anti-tarnish tag to help prevent tarnish.
Plan carefully
It is important to plan your design carefully so that you can be precise when using your choice of precious metal. At Cooksongold we can cut to suit your precious metal requirements so that when you make a piece, there is little to no waste.
These are just a few of our tips for those starting their silver jewellery making journey. If you want to learn more, find some inspiration and understand what tools you’ll need then visit our dedicated silver jewellery making page.
Cooksongold