1st silversmithers

[Di Sandland]

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

[ps_bond]

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!

Royal Selangor has a school??? I just had the tour of the factory!

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?

[bustagasket]

Royal Selangor has a school??? I just had the tour of the factory!

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 everything

[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.

[bustagasket]

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

[ps_bond]

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?

[bustagasket]

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.

[Solunar Silver Studio]

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

[bustagasket]

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!

heres their site, http://www.royalselangor.com/rs2/vie...News&NewsID=23 and also one for the visitor centre http://visitorcentre.royalselangor.com/vc/

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

[julie]

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

lovely even with last years pot pourri