Latest Creations in Fine Silver & PMC

[SilverByRosie]

Ooh! I can't stop staring at those rings, especially the ones with purple in!
Lovely!

[MuranoSilver]

Oooh thanks all - glad you like them
Yes you can re-use sterling waste but to be honest I mainly just send it to cooksons in a scrap pot
Nic x

[Coco]

You could melt your scrap and use it for casting or if you've got the patience and the equipment you can remake it into sheet or wire. You need a rolling mill and swage block etc though

[reikiangel]

ooh Nic im so excited about coming on your course now .. i could just come and move in with you actually

[MuranoSilver]

Lol - I'm looking forward to having you visit
Our cottage is teeny though, so you might change your mind about moving in
Nicx

[Charlotte]

Gorgeous work Nic! And thanks for the info on flush setting, I guessed thats how it worked but I'd be happy to buy some burs now and have a go. It must have taken a while to set all those stones?!

[ps_bond]

They're very nice! One thing that puzzles me is what is the advantage in making rings of that style in PMC? This is probably down to my mindset & familiarity with other techniques; I'd fabricate or cast in Delft clay to get a similar thing.

How about a closeup on one of the flush settings? That tutorial is pretty good - although using steel tools in finishing the edge of the setting bothers me; fine with diamonds, not so happy about it for softer stones. I made up one of the concave tipped brass pushers last night to give it a try; not sure about it yet, I'll need to play with it some more.

If you're remelting lemel, do make sure it is clean of solder, steel, copper and anything else that could contaminate the melt (and reduce the purity). I wouldn't bother melting filings, generally - just the larger scrap. Adding a small amount of new casting grain in really does help the melt flow.

[Di Sandland]

Thanks Peter - what I was thinking of was the bits left over from my early work with silver wires. They're all in a container to go back to Cooksons because I couldn't work out how to come up with a product I could reuse after melting (hadn't thought of rolling mills and the like duh!).

[ps_bond]

Rolling mills, drawplates, hammers, power hammers... Let's face it - you could cast a blob, beat it flat and you've got sheet - no rolling mill needed.

However, if you want drawn products in standard sizes and alloys, I'd just buy them! I only really use lemel for the occasional cast and mucking about with Japanese alloys.

Hmm, wonder if those cuttlebones have dried out yet?

[MuranoSilver]

I guess I like pmc because it's so easy to apply texture and flush sets are a doddle because the clay is so
easy to drill into (you turn the bit with your fingers).
If you stuff it up you just fill with clay let it dry and do it again.....
As pmc shrinks with firing the finished silver is naturally gripping the stone really tightly

Sorry I took that picture with a camera phone so I haven't got the detail
here's a different pmc ring exscuse the dust it's a very big close up!


It's a carved d-shape ring - for someone like yourself PMC might be useful for prototypes....
It eliminates first stage wax and cast tidy up....

Nic x