Today, my Sis and I tried our hands at making some silver jewellery and I have to say I am very chuffed with the results. I now have a whole new appreciation for the level of work, time and commitment that goes into making a piece of silver jewellery.
I have to admit that I didn’t have high expectations going in to this workshop. I know I am arty and creative, but I have never been great with three-dimensional creations. (Am currently having a flashback to my Art GCSE when my clay work didn’t go according to plan.) Being a bit (okay a lot) of a perfectionist really doesn’t help with this either. Hence my low expectations could only be succeeded, right? Also, I’m not that great with tools and machinery (again, flashbacks to secondary school with my CDT teacher Mr. Forbes trying not to be mad at me for breaking yet another jigsaw cutting blade.)
We attended the London Jewellery School, currently based in the Hatton Square Business Centre, (but soon to relocate to a building near Moorgate). The course doesn’t come in cheap (costing £132) but then what silver making course does? However, we definitely got our monies worth, as the cost covers all basic class materials (as well as light refreshments), the tuition and you get to leave with two amazing pieces of unique silver jewellery. A group of seven people attended the workshop, (including my Sis and I) and they were a great bunch of friendly individuals, who were all dipping their toe in to the world of silver jewellery.
I knew the day would be fairly full on, working from 10am – 5pm, breaking for an hour at lunch, but our teacher for the day, Zoe Harding, was fab. She was encouraging, (very) patient and obviously knowledgeable about her craft.
We started off by being given a strip of silver which we had to file at one end until it was perfectly straight (using a set square to check). This was easier said than done! After more than 15 minutes of filing I began to wonder if I’d have any silver left at the end of it! (Zoe informed us that this would be one of the most taxing parts of the day.) After that we then had to measure our ring size and then mark it out and cut the other end of the strip of silver, followed by more filing!
We then used special ring bending pliers to gently bend the strip of silver into a ring-like shape. The ring was then annealed (heating the silver up before working with it so it is easier to manipulate) with a dremel (a small blowtorch) before being ‘pickled’ in a tank, (which is a heated unit containing an acid solution).
The ring was then manipulated more and more until the two ends of the silver strip naturally aligned and ‘clicked’ in place together. The join was then soldered (which was another tricky skill to master) before being sanded (for what felt like a millennium) and then polished using a scary looking machine (which was actually fine if you had your noggin screwed on right) with the aid of a ‘rouge bar’.
Polishing involves getting very very dusty…I’m guessing this may be why it’s called a ‘rouge’ bar…as you will look like you’re covered in a red fake tan. (The aprons and black bin bags don’t help that much either, so first thing you will need are baby wipes and a shower when you get home, oh and don’t wear white clothing for future reference!)
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- The ring after being sawed, filed , sanded, annealed, pickled and soldered.
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- Looking good after a quick polish.
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- My Sis trying her ring on for size (the thicker one that is – this is a beginner’s course!)
I then hammered my ring using a texturing hammer to give it small indentations, before polishing it again (there was a lot of polishing involved) to bring out its shine.
As my ring began to look much more like a ‘real’ wearable ring, I began to embark on creating myself a silver pendant. We chose a stencil to emboss our square of silver with. The stencil was laid on top of the silver and squeezed through a heavy duty rolling mill.
It was then filed and sanded, before being polished. A hole was then drilled in it, which was again sanded and polished, before connecting a jump ring through it using pliers.
Here are my finished pieces…
Silver jewellery making is indeed a highly skilled craft and although I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I think I’ll stick to my paper cutting, as its less labour intensive (in some respects) and the tidying up is a lot quicker too.
And the next time I buy a handmade piece of silver jewellery, I will truly know the level of work that was entailed in creating it!
The Crafty Juggler 