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hi guys
I just wonder if there's any people who are doing silversmithing for the 1st time , or you never heard of silversmithing before and want to know more about it , well , I'm more then happy to give you some help and advice on silversmithing , as I've bin doing it for 6 years now .
feel free to post your quesions you might have, and I'll do my very best to help you :D
:~:Is that like the same as metal smithing???
Thats a lovely offer thank you so much. The only thing i have completed in silver so far is a key ring lol, and i am halfway through a bracelet at college, but of course i now have to wait til college restarts to finish it. But i dont know if thats what you class as real silvermithing
Thanks for the offer Silvergirl. I'd love to see some of your work. I've just had a lesson on deep drawing with Cynthia Eid and found it quite difficult. I don't think it's something I'm going to take up.
hi guys
sorry for the dealy in replying.
if you guys want to know more on silversmithing , I would be happy to post how you make a plan silver ring , if there anythink else you want me to post about silversmithing , then let me know :D
This will be my 'thing to learn today' Carole. What on earth is deep drawing?
Yes - I'm echoing lindyloo here...what is deep drawing Carole:dontknow:.....or anyone for that matter.......Quote:
Originally Posted by caroleallen
Hi Lindyloo.
Deep drawing is done with dies on an hydraulic press. It's used to make bowls and vessels etc. The metal is drawn under tremendous pressure through successively smaller dies until a vessel is formed. Raising metal the old fashioned way with stakes and hammers in pitch is really back breaking work. Deep drawing takes out a lot of the hard work. As I say, I don't think I'll be taking it up, partly because the metal dies are really really expensive, partly because you use beef tallow as a lubricant on the metal, which stinks and partly because I don't want to have to build up a whole new market in vessels at the moment. Jewellery will do me fine. I'll leave silversmithing to the experts like silvergirl and maybe to another day.
Hmmmm....yes, well....I think I agree with you...jewellery is challenging enough without moving on to the heavyweight stuff!! I remember raising a couple of simple dishes on a sandbag years ago and I seem to remember it being very therapeutic..going round and round with a regular tap tap tap...hypnotic! I think it would lose some of the charm slurping it through a machine covered in 'dripping'!! HAHAHA!! Thanks for the insight into what it is though!!:Y:
i made a pewter dish at a the Royal Selangor School of Hard Knocks in Malaysia while we were there, i was suprised how nice it looked!
I love bowls and vessels but it does sound like hard work!
Here's one of my turned bowls (sadly still complete with last Christmas' pot pourri). Its Irish Burr Elm
Royal Selangor has a school??? I just had the tour of the factory!Quote:
Originally Posted by bustagasket
Not silver, but related - last night I spent some time raising the rim of a steel belt buckle I've got in progress. Very time consuming, especially as I was using a 1lb hammer and working the steel cold... Still, I have variation of around +/- 0.1mm all the way around, and it's even.
I'm not convinced I like the pure-tool nature of using a press for that sort of thing; I like the more hands-on approach. Possibly it feels too much like stamping things out of a mould for my liking?
yes it has its own little "school of Hard knocks" i will try to photograph the sih later, as you brin that home along with an apron and stuff. Its a beautiful factory and i boughy two gorgeous massive goblets from there. I willl go and photograph everythingQuote:
Originally Posted by ps_bond
I'm trying to remember when it was that I went there. Think it may have been 12 years ago... What they offered at that time was having a go at hammer texturing a goblet.
I have a moderate amount of Selangor; I think my favourite is probably a fairly plain, elegant sake set - long ago discontinued.
KK Piccies as promised peter, very tall goblet and then my apron and dish complete with "Apprentice Pewtersmith" stamp lol, sorry they are on their side
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7fL7VGe2P9s/So...1082009264.jpghttp://lh6.ggpht.com/_7fL7VGe2P9s/So...1082009265.jpghttp://lh6.ggpht.com/_7fL7VGe2P9s/So...1082009269.jpg
Ah... *That's* the style of thing I like from them! Either simple and elegant or traditional Chinese designs, like their 4 seasons stuff. I wish they'd stay off the tackier stuff (well, tacky to my tastes - evidently other people like it!).
Nice bowl too. Did they dish out (ouch) circles of sheet pewter or was there any more to it?
lol nah if i remember correctly it was a pre - cut circle that you then formed with your hammer, but it was great fun and the kids were very pleased at being able to take home something they made.
I bow my head in shame...I have never heard of Royal Selangor - I must away and look it up!:"> But what a lovely momento for you and your boys!
Di, that bowl is stunning...(you must have wrists like mine!!) My few pathetic attempts at turning at college amounted to a few candle stick type 'inny outy' things turned from old furniture legs with chisels I do believe had been used to open bean cans!! No expense spared on us 3D students!!
Did you give it up on health grounds? ..if so - what a tragedy! You made such lovely things[]
heres their site, http://www.royalselangor.com/rs2/vie...News&NewsID=23 and also one for the visitor centre http://visitorcentre.royalselangor.com/vc/Quote:
Originally Posted by Solunar Silver Studio
I admit i had never heard of it til we visited the factory, our friends had arranged the day for us with two guides as they had to work that day, and they also took us to the Batu caves, absolutely stunning, well over 400 steps to climb to get there tho, and my poor Pete had severe food poisoning and was being very sick so we had to cut our visit short and get him to a doctor fast.
It was a simple mistake the night before - we had gone to a steam boat restaurant where you have a steamer on your table and you went around and picked up what you fancied, some cooked some raw and then popped it in the steamer on your table, unfortunately pete picked up what looked like an english crab stick and took a big bite before Frank informed him it was raw. He really was very ill, and Doctor Jack gave him some injections and tablets and warned him that hospital was not out of the questions if he didnt show signs of recovery fast, but thankfully, he gradually recovered over the next few days.
I ended going up to the clinic myself that night (their clinics stay open till all hours of the night not like our surgerys, and the meds are dead cheap) as i had taken a bite from something on my ankle, and we were so concerned about Pete that we didnt notice how large my ankle was until i took the boys down in the pool while pete was resting. So that night Frank marched me protesting into the clinic as by then you couldnt see any ankle bones and i couldnt move the joint at all because it was just one massive red swelling all the way round. That took a week or so to go down lol
so anyway, he didnt really get to enjoy the pewter factory as much because he really was very poorly. But they had some stunning stuff:D
lovely even with last years pot pourri :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Moon Cottage
Yeah, fraid so. I really miss it - I used to come home from working on labour ward and take out all my agression on a piece of wood - better than :(|Quote:
Did you give it up on health grounds?
Agression at system and not at 'my' women by the way ;) Thing is, working at a lathe (and I had a BIG one) not good when the brain goes awol from time to time.
Aw Su, that sounds like the holiday from Hell!
The turned bowl is beautiful.
Actually it was the holiday of a lifetime really, my friends are the most wonderful people who made sure that we had THE most wonderful time despite the health issues. They came to stay with me last year and we are hoping to go back to them in 2011 :DQuote:
Originally Posted by caroleallen
Hi Silvergirl,
I am new to silversmithing, I start college next month doing a foundation degree in this, I am a bit daunted as to wot sort of tools I will need to be getting, I am a mature student, but just want some sort of ideas, for budgeting reasons as well as curiousity, I just hope I am gonna enjoy it as much as making the jewellery I have made, lol.
Marie
Hi Silvergirl,
I went to Edinburgh College of Art and studied Jewellery and Silversmithing - I did one silversmithing project and was advised by my lecturer (Bill Kirk, who I now realise was a pretty influential guy in his day in Scotland - didn't have Google then, lol) to switch my studies from mainly jewellery to silversmithing. For some unknown reason (stubbornness, probably) I didn't take his advice, which is now one of my deepest regrets. What I'd like to know is do you think that with a decent amount of experience as a jeweller (I was a jobbing jeweller for 3 years after college) and a knowledge of the basic principles of raising and forging that I could learn the rest myself? Are there any books you'd recommend? And roughly how much would it cost to buy all the stakes etc I'd need, do you think? I'm hopefully going to be setting up a wee workshop for myself soon but would really love to move sideways a bit and make some vessels etc. I'm not really into spinning or pressing too much. like to make from scratch as much as possible. I'll never forget the smell of scorched tallow in the workshops when someone had been using the spinning lathe, yeuck! (I'm a vegetarian, too, so even worse!) Anyhoo, sorry this is a bit long, but any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.
Nikki
I'd suggest Finegold & Seitz - http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=m...negold%20seitz
As for stakes... Erk. They're expensive new. Check out David Huang's site for some ideas on home-made stakes for raising (as well as some really gorgeous eye-candy). http://davidhuang.org/gallery2/main.php
Thanks, Peter!
You're a star.
The book's on my "I Want" list, and the website, bleedin hell, there goes my morning....
Do you reckon it's something you can develop yourself though, or would I be wasting my time without doing a decent course? I need to be able to earn somehow at the same time.
There's a gorgeous silversmithing studio near me, In Dunblane, He also makes jewellery - I really should go and ask the guy for a job, but I've been out of the game for a good few years now so my confidence is a bit shot. Also, the usual problem, I have a wee girl at school so my hours are limited. Daft though as I do have good experience, I was really lucky who I trained under (though I hated them at the time, too immature) and who I worked with in the commercial place, so should use it. Doing repairs may not be very arty but it sure ups your technical game - there's nothing like having someone's dead gran's micron-thin gate bracelet to repair to make sure you get your soldering act together!! I did loads of manufacturing too, just the design side of things that got left to wither and die...
Check this guy out:
http://www.grahamstewartsilversmith.co.uk/
I'm not very good at talking myself up face to face, d'you reckon I should go down there and beg and plead??
Nikki
I wouldn't buy any tools yet, the college will advise you on what you need and they usually have a deal going with a tool supplier to get you a good price. They usually have everything you need in there but will ask you to buy the basic hand tool kit - ie peircing saw, flat, round and snipe - nosed pliers, soldering prong, shears for cutting solder and a set of needle files and maybe a couple of ring files. I've probably forgotten a few things but all the big stuff will be there and you'll probably never have access to the amount of tools they have again in your whole life, so enjoy it while you can!! You never realise how spoiled you were for resources until you're out and trying to set up. Machine engrave your name on EVERYTHING, as they all look the same and often walk. Nothing worse than ending up with someone else's twisted sawframe.Quote:
Originally Posted by marietaylor111
You will enjoy it, just keep your mind on what you can do when you leave, milk as much info out of them as you can. All the mature students at my college got on well as they had a better attitude than the rest of us, I wish I could go back and do it all again, but hey-ho. Be flexible in your attitude whilst being yourself, if that makes sense.
Enjoy! I'm green.
Nikki.
It's a bugger, isn't it? The stuff's gorgeous! Oh, I priced the gold for his submission - I think I came out at about £7k for the materials...Quote:
Originally Posted by nikki_d72
Some of my raising is giving me gyp at the moment, so I've booked myself on a short course with the specific goal of nailing bringing edges in. Once I've got that sorted, I'll tackle working with some of my mokume in raising. The rest of my learning on that was from books...Quote:
Do you reckon it's something you can develop yourself though, or would I be wasting my time without doing a decent course? I need to be able to earn somehow at the same time.
Thanks, Peter,
You've been a great help. Good luck on the course, unfortunately because of where I live, the only courses on offer are knitting and scone-making, hehe. I'd need to travel to Edinburgh or Glasgow, I'll need to start looking for courses through there, I think and just bite the bullet.
Thanks again!
Nikki
I recently made my own wedding ring (the Mrs made her own as well) and it's the first thing I've made from fine silver D-Wire so I'd be interested in seeing if you do anything different to myself [-o<Quote:
Originally Posted by silver Girl
Hi I am new to this forum stuff so forgive me!
I have been soldering succesfully without problems using both paste and stick easy solder for sometime to make silver chains from sterling wire using a hand held butane torch. Having attended a silversmithing course, I am now expanding my work to include decorative objects in just silver and in silver and copper combined. I have made a medium size bowl from copper onto which I want to solder a silver wire handle but am having real problems with the soldering. I simply cannot get the solder to melt onto the copper. Normally my hand-held butane torch works fine - is it because I'm trying to heat a larger object and my torch simply isn't up to the job? If so, how do I know what size of torch I need? Know of any good suppliers that aren't too pricey? Any advice welcome as I am flumoxed!!
Hi Diana,
From what you describe you need considerably more heat than your managing to get from your current torch. Depending on how much you want to spend, mind you if you look at it as a long term investment it works out cheap in the long run. You could get away with something like the sievert that cooksons do but there are cheaper alternatives which are just as good running on pure propane. I use a smiths little torch which is a dual fuel torch (propane and oxygen) which in all honesty IMO is the best value for money torch available and will burn to a staggering 6300 F. You can manage what you describe with a large plumbers type torch.
PM me if you need specific advice on brand names or more info etc as I could ramble on forever on here.
Alternatively if you are anywhere near hampshire bring it along and i'll show you how to do it.
Regards
Carl
Just had a look at your site Carl... love the bracelets! (well all of it actually)
Hi Nikki. Try to get hold of a copy of "Silversmithing" by Finegold and Seitz. Very old fashioned, very, very useful. Also, the Goldsmiths Company sell a DVD from their website, "The Theory and Practice of Hand Raising" with Christopher Lawrence. With these two items I have taught myself raising and been able to make necked jugs etc. Comb the internet/ebay for a T stake and a raising hammer and just go for it! I have made many of my tools from bits and pieces picked up in junk shops and car breaking yards, and my anvil is a cut up railway sleeper with an old vice bolted to it to hold stakes. ..good luck.
Jane