Diala contacted me about making a bookmark for her friend’s birthday. She is in the UK, and needed it to arrive before the big day.
I was happy to get straight onto it. It went out in the mail today, hopefully in plenty of time!
There’s nothing better than a good book – happy reading to everyone, and thanks Diala!
One of the most important pieces of equipment a jeweller needs is the soldering torch. I use an LPG gas torch. LPG is a mixture of propane and butane.
Nearly every piece requires some amount of soldering. Soldering is the process of joining two pieces of metal together by heating them, using a material of another similarly coloured and structured alloy metal with a lower melting point than the metal being joined.
There are three types of silver solder commonly used:
Hard solder – the highest melting point of between 745-778⁰C.
Medium solder – melting point of between 720-765⁰C.
Easy solder – the lowest melting point of between 705-723⁰C.
As sterling silver melts at 893⁰C, the solder will reach melting point before the silver and fuse the two pieces together.
Flux is painted onto the surfaces to be soldered to prevent oxidization and firescale and ensure that the solder will fuse to the metal. I use borax, which you can see in the dish at the back of my heat resistant blocks.
Paillons of solder are positioned so that they touch both pieces of metal to be joined. The entire piece is heated evenly with the torch to the melting point of the solder, causing the solder to run and join the pieces of metal together.
Once the metal has cooled, the piece is placed in a sulphuric acid solution (which is known as pickle) until it is a white silver colour to remove any oxide and flux, then it is rinsed in water and dried.
This ring is an example of a piece that required soldering. The ring itself is soldered together at the bottom. The swirls and the balls are all soldered individually to the top of the ring.
One of the many joys of silver is that no matter how many times it is heated, melted, beaten, bent, twisted, cut, it maintains the same qualities and substance, so can be repurposed over and over again. I’m proud to say that the supplier I source my silver from manufacture right here in Australia using reclaimed silver wherever possible, so that no unnecessary mining takes place. This recycled silver is refined and tested to ensure that it is 100% pure sterling silver. The planet thanks us!
The lovely Terri Begley from ABC Radio Brisbane contacted me recently, after she read my blog post about the Newmarket Brickworks Chimney. I wrote that post as that lovely chimney has given me inspiration for some pieces (including my smokestack ring above). She asked if I would do an interview with her about it for a segment called ‘Stop The Train’. ‘Stop The Train’ is a local program which takes a passenger’s eye look at some of the great sights there are to see as you travel around Brisbane. It’s well worth a listen, as there are some fascinating places tucked away down the train lines!
I was very flattered, but had to tell Terri that I was totally NOT an authority on the subject – however, Terri wanted to talk to someone who is passionate about the chimney rather than an actual history boffin, so as a total (but enamoured) amateur, I was happy to help. I met Terri at the base of the chimney and we had a chat about what makes it such a special piece of architecture, and why I love it.
After a bit of a hiccup (where this chimney interview was bumped to make way for the momentarily more topical “Stop The Train” piece about the church at Lang Park), the interview went to air yesterday, Monday 1 July. You can hear the ABC Brisbane Podcast of it here. I didn’t even say ‘um’ and ‘ah’ too much!
It was a bit of fun, and I’m glad I took the time to do this, even though my brain’s initial reaction was a shortlived “What? Hey? Um. No way!” I realised it was good to get out of my comfort zone, so I pushed past that ‘no way’ stage, and it was totally cool to share my enthusiasm and (limited) knowledge about such a beautiful old structure. Thanks so much for the opportunity, Terri. Love your work!
Nic contacted me with a request for a pair of heart earrings that she wanted to have created especially for her.
Nic wanted them to be elongated, ‘puffed’ hearts, with marquis shaped hooks. We emailed about how they would look and what size they needed to be, and after a little bit of discussion, I got to work!
The hearts are finished with a high polish, as you can see from the reflection in the photos. (It’s hard to capture a good photo of highly polished, curved surfaces! 🙂 )
I created them with a spiral twist on the base of the earwire where it joins to the back of the heart – forgot to take a picture of that, but you can just see in the reflection in the last picture! Thanks Nic, these earrings were fun to make. I’m really glad you’re enjoying them!
My lovely friend Kylie, from Raw Toys, arranged for her birthday present this year to be one of my drusy pieces! I feel very honoured.
Kylie thought my usual rings might be a bit too chunky for her because she has small hands, so asked would I be able to make her a ring a bit smaller than my usual style. Of course I was totally happy to oblige! I sourced her a special lovely small green piece of drusy.
Kylie is really happy with the way this ring turned out (she even blogged a little bit about that 🙂 ), and that makes me feel happy, too. I love being able to make one of a kind pieces for lovely people!
Thank you so much, Kylie! And for any lovers of beautiful wooden toys and puzzles, head over to Kylie’s MadeIt Shop or her Raw Toys blog and see her gorgeous work. It’s well worth a visit.
My lovely sister Chris, who lives far away in London, inspired me to head in a new direction as we were discussing the creation of a custom made piece for her to wear. Overlay is a great technique as it gives depth and texture to the piece. I’ve been thinking of creating some pieces like this for a while, and Chris gave me the inspiration to start!
The theme of the sea resonates with Chris, as she has worked extensively with organisations who protect our marine environment. (It resonates with me, too, as I am a water sign!)
As her zodiac sign is Aquarius, for which the stone is garnet, this hessonite garnet was perfect! Hessonite garnet is a variety of grossular garnet, with a lovely glowing orange hue. It is sometimes known as cinnamon stone.
I’m really thrilled to have created this pendant, and I’m working on a new range with a similar feel! Thanks so much for the inspiration, Chris!
The humble hammer. I used to think a hammer was just a hammer, right? But no! There are many different sorts of hammers, with many different purposes. I have a small collection, and I use at least one with just about every piece that I create.
First up, the claw hammer. Great for hammering in and pulling out nails in the carpentry world. I use mine for heavy hammering, such as stamping pieces with my maker’s mark and 925 stamp, or hitting the ends of my doming punches.
Next, my jeweller’s bench hammer. This baby has a flat face and a cross pein. (The pein is the ‘other’ end of the hammer). Great for such things as using with my bench block to harden earring hooks, and with my mandrels to straighten and stretch rings. The pein end is useful for things like curving silver in my swage block for rings like this cuff ring. (Don’t worry, posts on all those other weird tools will be along sooner or later! 🙂 )
Thirdly, my wooden mallet. Great for shaping silver without making it thinner – rounding a ring on my mandrel without making it larger, for instance. (Has not been used as a judge’s gavel -yet!!)
Finally, my favourite hammer, my chasing hammer. This baby is great for setting gemstones, using my engraving ball and a setting punch. (Yep, more on those at a later date, too!!) The handle thins dramatically towards the head of the hammer, making it very whippy and easy on the wrist, which is a nice thing when it can take up to an hour’s hammering to set a stone.
There are lots more jewellery hammers, used for various things like forming, planishing, rivetting etc. These four are the tip of the iceberg.. but they are all I need at the moment for all of my creations. A simple everyday tool, the hammer; but indispensable in the jeweller’s studio!
(photo credit to Renee Summers, CandyMountainPhotos)
The Daniel Morcombe Foundation needs no introduction. My heart went out to the Morcombes when Daniel first disappeared, and has stayed with them ever since. Their courage and dedication in the face of such tragedy is moving and inspiring.
The Foundation’s belief and vision is one that incorporates a future where all children are provided with protection, education and support in their lives. The objectives of the foundation include educating children regarding their personal safety (including abduction); assisting victims of crime, particularly where crime involves children; and honouring the memory of Daniel by appropriate public awareness.
10% of the proceeds from all June sales will be donated to the Daniel Morcombe Foundation to help with their ongoing excellent work. Pop to The Silver Forge Shop and see if you can help.
My friend Kylie from Raw Toys also donates 10% of her sales each month to the Daniel Morcombe Foundation. Kylie makes the most divine wooden toys. I highly recommend you check them out and see if there’s a little something you might like – and you’ll be helping this wonderful worthy cause at the same time.
A big congratulations to the lucky winners of The Silver Forge’s first birthday earring giveaway! I’m very glad to announce that Debbie and Rachel were randomly selected to each receive a pair of Silver Forge earrings of their choice.
Debbie chose these:
and Rachel chose these!
Thank you so much to everyone who participated. If you missed out, and you’d still like to get yourself a pair or two, as a valued Silver Forge Blog reader I’d like to offer you an exclusive 20% discount until the 31st May. Head over to the earring section to shop to your heart’s content, and just use HBBLOG20 at checkout. If you’d rather visit my shop on MadeIt or Etsy, let me know and I’ll arrange a 20% discount for you there!
Don’t forget that subscribers to The Silver Forge Newsletter are automatically entered into a draw to win a pair of earrings each month, too! If you haven’t already, you can join the fun here.
Here’s to another peaceful, happy, fulfilling, successful year for us all!
My fascination with constructions in Brisbane continues! Not far from our house, and in the grounds of Flipside where my younger son and I go to learn circus skills, this divine brick chimney is all that is left of the brickworks which stood in Newmarket from 1912 to 1987. As a rare example of a load bearing chimney stack, it was allowed to survive when the Brisbane Brick Company was demolished, and is now heritage listed.
The chimney stands 50 metres tall, and when you look at it now, you can see where the opening to it has been bricked in. It is a remnant of an industry which struggled to survive in a timber-dominated building market. The brickworks was originally set up by a frustrated group of builders and architects who were unable to find good quality bricks nearby. It used the Hoffman kiln method of brick making. (If you’re interested to read more, there is a fabulous blog post on the history of Brisbane bricks here.)
(photo credit Trevor Bunning)
Mr Anderson, former Manager of Newmarket Brickworks, was the works foreman for the construction of St Andrew’s Church in Brisbane (pictured above), and he sourced the bricks from his old firm. The brickworks also supplied brick to the University of Queensland. During the war it was occupied by the Defence Force to make uniforms and other army equipment.
There are brickmakers in the distant past of my husband’s family, pioneers who came from England to Adelaide in the 1800s, and as I researched them I could only imagine what hard and yet satisfying work it must have been! I had given thought to bricklayers, but not to the people (and methods) that created the bricks themselves.
My photo doesn’t really do this beautiful chimney justice; it is a magnificent creation, built the way things used to be, with much care and attention to aesthetic detail. It was part of my inspiration for this ring, and the one below. I fell in love with this chimney the first time I laid eyes on it, although I had no idea what it was at the time, and still each time I see it it gladdens my heart.
