What is your favorite & least favorite part of metal smithing?

Admin and pricing dilemmas not included, Which little bits do you really look forward to? Is it the designing or flash of inspiration maybe? The very first cut or snip of a new project? piercing? soldering? or what about the final finishing touches? And on the other end of the spectrum what makes you quake and shudder or just generally sigh aloud?

For me i do love to pierce if i can take time and try to get it flowing nicely and as a fashion graduate i adore sketching out ideas. But my brazing torch send shivers up my spine (though i hope with practice it will get less scary) and i would say sanding through the grades can be tedious but there's that silver lining of watching the shine slowly appear (fiddly crevices are still a pain in the proverbial Grrrr!)

What floats your boat and grinds your gears guys?
Tasha
X

Design and polishing.

Everything in between is a nightmare.

The best part is getting an invoice paid on time and in full. And I also like piercing and shaping metals.

James

Having spent most of the day making a simple hinged piece, I'd say hinges are my most hated thing. I like design but hate polishing. When hinges aren't involved, I love soldering as I'm a bit of a pyromaniac.

Like Carole, hate polishing, so I spend a lot of time avoiding it. Radial discs are my best friends ;)

Love designing. Love soldering. Quite like hinges. HATE box clasps (well I do today anyway...)

radial discs are in my wish list!
X

I hate filing and soon reach for my rotary tools.

I hate hammering, so I'm not much of a smith and I use my ring stretcher, ring bender and my hydraulic press whenever I can.

I like having all the components made and then assembling them for the finished piece.

But most of all I enjoy seeing the effect of someone wearing it. Dennis.

I'm with Dennis on a positive reaction from the customer, its a great feeling ,the thing that I find most tiresome is the repetition and heating of fingers when polishing I think.

I'm massively into fusing right now so that gives big highs when something good emerges and lows when it either doesn't fuse or goes brittle or I over heat it and there's just a blob. Polishing is tedious but less so since tumble polishing came in. It certainly seems less of a chore than when I started smithing many years ago...I probably work a lot cleaner too now.
I really don't like it when a pearl cracks when I am drilling it (although that is not smithing I know)

I love design and getting to the part where all the components are put together, because I can visualize what the finished item will look like, then comes the tedious part of getting all the marks out and sanding/polishing which I hate. The nicest moment is when I have eventually finished the item and look at it and think yes I made that.

The novelty still hasn't worn off about any of the work I've been doing since starting again. I suppose I'd have to say that piercing still feels like coming home, radio on and I'm in my own little world.

Not quite an answer to the smithing question but my least favourite part about work is trying to cope with websites, facebook etc. I know I need to do it ( according to my sons I have to and they've promised to help ) but I'm struggling with it!

I love designing and developing new ideas but these mostly stay in my head as I am totally rubbish at sketching them out. I really enjoy piercing, and also hammering to camouflage soldering misadventures where the joints move just before the solder flows.

Today though I am hating filing the edges of my latest bangle to prepare for soldering. It's getting smaller by the minute as I try to get the edges flush.

My other pet hate is designing something that I think is original only to see something almost identical on a website or in a shop stating "original design by ....." so then I think if I go ahead and make mine it looks like I've copied someone else's idea :-(

I love piercing, but hate soldering, as I have a phobia of fire!

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Originally Posted by susieq

My other pet hate is designing something that I think is original only to see something almost identical on a website or in a shop stating "original design by ....." so then I think if I go ahead and make mine it looks like I've copied someone else's idea :-(

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ditto. I spent ages working on a collar design, got all the components together and then the cookies mag came through and sarah ho (I think) had dome something almost identical as a bangle. The air was blue!

I've had the same thing happen several times. One of my early pieces was an anticlastic bangle with gold hearts which I was amazed to find much later in a Jinks McGrath book. No-one would ever believe I had the idea first.

I've just spent months on a set of men's rings to sell on Notonthehighstreet, only to find, once I'd got them made and photographed that someone else is already doing something similar. It is a simple nut ring design though, so can't really be copy written. That's the trouble with Noths; everyone is copying each other but adding a slightly different slant.

I always try and research if someone has had the idea first. I have a fab idea for a piece I'm (slowly... in between writing!) working on. After the Ho disaster I've spent ages searching using all kinds of conceivable search terms and so far it's good to go.

Nut rings are pretty popular, but there is room for variety. I like this one:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/8556731...-iron-nut-ring
but I really like his work anyway.

That's a lovely ring but it would never sell on Noths. It does stifle the imagination somewhat as none of the customers seem to like anything unusual. I do get a bit fed up with just making twee stuff, but it pays the bills.

Love designing and seeing the customer wear the item. Hate piercing and polishing, although radial discs are making the latter less tiresome.

heh, his work is a bit left field, I suppose. He is one of those designers whose work I wouldn't mind owning. There is something very collectable about it. But yeah, NOTHS wouldn't go for it, I guess although I was surprised to see so much of the lumpy press and fire PMC print stuff on there.

PMC goes like hot cakes, probably because it's cheap and quick to do and easy to personalise. I know that goes against everything I said to Pat, but Noths is different to selling at craft fairs. I can't sell personalised stuff at craft fairs for love nor money but it's snapped up on Noths. Crazy!

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but these mostly stay in my head as I am totally rubbish at sketching them out

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If you or anybody want's 3D renders done I'm happy to help? I don't do it commercially and it would be totally free of course for anybody here.

best wishes

Dave

Blimey! You may live to regret that offer Dave!

Why are people in on their laptops on such a lovely day? My excuse is that I'm doing Open Studios and am inundated with visitors (not). Shan't be doing that again. I've signed up for 10 days too!

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Originally Posted by caroleallen

Why are people in on their laptops on such a lovely day? My excuse is that I'm doing Open Studios and am inundated with visitors (not). Shan't be doing that again. I've signed up for 10 days too!

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got a chapter draft to write. Plus I can't ever escape my goth roots so avoid sunlight at all costs.

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Originally Posted by caroleallen

PMC goes like hot cakes, probably because it's cheap and quick to do and easy to personalise. I know that goes against everything I said to Pat, but Noths is different to selling at craft fairs. I can't sell personalised stuff at craft fairs for love nor money but it's snapped up on Noths. Crazy!

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the PMC print stuff on NOTHS doesn't look that cheap to me, though I suppose there is a hefty % commission to pay for selling on there.

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Originally Posted by Exsecratio

If you or anybody want's 3D renders done I'm happy to help? I don't do it commercially and it would be totally free of course for anybody here.

best wishes

Dave

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ditto what Carole said!

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Originally Posted by caroleallen

Blimey! You may live to regret that offer Dave!

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Naaa :) The guy that taught me did so on the condition I helped others :) the only people that will tell you how hard and expensive it is to do will be those trying to charge you for their services. It's actually pretty easy in reality, I guess being Autistic helps though :)

best wishes

Dave

Can I ask what tool you use for 3D drawings, Dave? This is something I'd love to try, but all the software I've looked at is very expensive. (I'm a computer programmer in the day job, so something combining technology with jewellery very much appeals to my inner geek)

In answer to the original question: I don't really like piercing - mainly because I so often mess it up! I enjoy soldering, just for the satisfaction in that moment when the solder flows. Also, I like adding the finishing touches, e.g. enamelling, etc, and seeing it totally transform the item.

Hiya Fay,

3d Studio, (mainly for the renders)
Rhino 4.0, (quick and simple scribble ups)
Inventor, (to see if bits will actually fit)
Solidworks, (The core design software)
AutoCAD (for 2d production files)

(Various raster to vector packages + sundry other stuff)

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but all the software I've looked at is very expensive.

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Tell me about it :( my annual drawing software expenditure is close to £45K (big clients expect to get the files in the latest formats)

best wishes

Dave

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Originally Posted by Exsecratio

Hiya Fay,

3d Studio, (mainly for the renders)
Rhino 4.0, (quick and simple scribble ups)
Inventor, (to see if bits will actually fit)
Solidworks, (The core design software)
AutoCAD (for 2d production files)

(Various raster to vector packages + sundry other stuff)



Tell me about it :( my annual drawing software expenditure is close to £45K (big clients expect to get the files in the latest formats)

best wishes

Dave

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Thanks for that. Not really something that a person can do on a whim then! I was contemplating signing up for an evening class at my local uni (or sending my husband to one - ~£300) in order to get a student card to get a discounted version of Rhino.

I want to be able to draw up designs in 3D, and to maybe eventually send designs for 3D wax printing if I come up with designs that are difficult to make any other way. I was looking at CAD Rhino courses at Holts Jewellery School, but I'm in scotland, so it would be pretty expensive, though a cool use of a holiday.

Would Rhino on its own be enough for me, do you think, or would I need more than that?

I HATE designing things.. and by that I mean drawing out ideas first ( I really cannot draw!). I much prefer to just get a piece of metal and see what I end up with given a vague idea of what I'm after (ie a ring, a necklace, bracelet etc). Obviously with commissions you can't really avoid this though as I always send customers a picture to approve first (thankfully they have been understanding of my lack of artistic merit!) :) My favourite things are hammering, and doing that final polish after all the hard work has been done.. so many times I've had pieces that don't look much until that last polish and everything seems to magically change and the piece looks so different :)

Hiya Fay,

Yup it would probably be enough,
Basic CAD drawing can be learned using books or by getting some drawings and seeing what you can do to pull them apart. I'm happy to help anybody that wants to learn a CAD package (I've been writing some tutorials for my own Laser forums of late).
Personally I'd suggest going with 2D to start with before moving to 3D so you develop some "spatial awareness" of the drawing environment (I'm not suggesting you don't have it already but the mindset is very useful to have).

Draftsite from Dassault Systems is free for personal use (made by the same company as Solidworks) and uses pretty much all the same commands as an £8,000 AutoCad package, once you have a command of 2D those shapes you have drawn can be "extruded" into 3D and provide a great start point for some 3D work.

I'll have a look and see what other packages are available (avoid google sketchup, it's rubbish for serious CAD use)

best wishes

Dave

Thanks a lot for the advice Dave! I'll have a look at Draftsite, you are right - that's probably a very good starting point before committing money towards a 3D package. You have been very helpful, I may be back looking for more advice in future. ;-)

At the risk of hijacking a great thread ! I don't think you need to spend a fortune on software to get started ,You can get a free download (I think it last for 90 days) for Rhino after the trial you can still use it but cannot save anything. It allows you to design in 2 or 3 dimensions and will allow you to do ok renders. I only use rhino to make my stuff I have a couple of other plugin (extra software that works within rhino but that's all)