05.30.16 The Magic of Argentium - Granulation

Of the four pairs of earrings I made in Ronda's class - these were probably my favorite to fabricate...I loved cutting up the scraps of silver wire, heating them until they glowed and watching them become granules (perfect little silver spheres).

After fusing the wire rings down at the end of the previous day, we began adding embellishments - granules and a bezel for the onyx - to each earring.  This represented a second fusing.  That's something you can do with argentium (but not with sterling) - go back and fuse new components or make repairs to a piece - so long as it hasn't been soldered, or your stone hasn't been set.

Once the granules and bezels were in place, the next steps were to cut away the extra silver and set the stones.

In addition to showing us how to set the stones in a thick bezel (Ronda uses sheet to form her bezels, rather than preformed bezel wire) she also showed us how to make a tempered steel bezel setting tool.  We took a small piece of square steel rod and machined it until it had a slightly tapered end.  Then we filed it and used our torches to temper it.  So - not only did I go home with jewelry - but I also have a bezel setting punch to boot!

Although I have done bezel setting before, I was excited to learn a new technique from Ronda.  She uses the punch and a hammer to set the stone and then flatten the top of the bezel to give it a wider look.

Before setting my stones, I added a patina to my earrings - I really like the way argentium takes the patina, and brightens up to an almost white silver when you polish some of it off.

At the end of the day, after making earwires for both my slumped and granulated earrings - I was three for three, and feeling pretty darned accomplished!

Until next time.

05.23.16 The Magic of Argentium - Take it to the Limit

Photo credit: argentiumsilver.com

Argentium was invented by Peter Johns, a metalsmith who works and teaches at Middlesex University in London.  He was commissioned to create a silver that would not tarnish, or develop firescale (blackening) when it was heated, and thus argentium - and alloy of pure silver and germanium, was born.  The folks at Middlesex University must have known that argentium would be a magical metal...its hallmark is a unicorn!




For jewelry fabrication, argentium silver behaves much more like gold than like sterling.  This is what led Ronda, a master goldsmith, to working with the metal.   As both a jeweler and a teacher, she began to test - and push - the limits of argentium.  When we started our second project - the slumped leaf earrings, she said that Peter Johns told her "you shouldn't be able to do that"...but turns out she, and all of us in class, could in fact heat the metal just beyond its fusing temperature to make it "slump" over a wire frame.

At the end of the first day, we started the project by fusing a wire frame - a leaf shape - to sheet silver.  The center wires were left long to create earwires. 

On day two, we moved on to the next step, which involved turning the sheet over and heating the metal beyond the fusing point to cause it to "slump" over the wire frame. 

The result...a beautiful, organic shape that we then formed over a mandrel, (added patina, in my case) and polished into gorgeous, elegant leaf earrings.  The skills we learned in this project focused heavily on the the limits of the metal and the use of the torch - and we would build on that knowledge for the next two projects...

...including the one we started that afternoon.  Round pendant dangles with wire, granules (tiny bits of silver heated until they form spheres) and a bezel set stone.

We used thin (20 gauge) wire to make jump rings in three sizes, then annealed them and stretched them over a mandrel to make two uniform sets of concentric circles.  I think anneal may be Ronda's favorite word - and with good reason - it is a way to push the metal to do what you want...when it becomes work hardened, you can stop, heat - and you are in control of it again.

After making the rings the right sizes, we used the same technique as before to fuse the wires to a backplate and create the base for what would become (on Day 3) another pair of fabulous earrings with bezel set oval onyx (which are simply sitting on the backplate in the photo - not secured in any way).

Two days - two and a half pairs of earrings...

Until next time.

05.16.18 The Magic of Argentium - Getting to know your flame

Ronda Coryell is the Professor McGonagall of argentium silver. For anyone out there who might not remember, Prof. Minerva McGonagall taught classes in transformation - changing the physical characteristics of an object...and that is exactly the kind of wizardry I learned in a week long class with Ronda, working with argentium.

I hardly know where to begin - we covered so much material - and completed four pairs of beautiful earrings in five days!  On our first day, Ronda gave us a set of detailed, step by step instructions (13 pages) for four pairs of earrings we would make.  She was clear from the beginning that each project was designed to teach specific things about BOTH the metal and the techniques we would be using.

The first project - pair of twisted wire hoop earrings, on a post - was an introduction to annealing (heating the metal to soften it enough to work with), soldering (attaching two pieces of silver using solder) and fusing (joining two pieces of metal by heating to the point that the molecules bond).

Even though I had worked with argentium a little prior to starting the class - I really did not have a good understanding of how to use the torch and adjust the flame to make the metal do what I wanted it to...but after just 8 hours at the bench on that first day, I felt like a new world of silver fabrication had opened up to me.

As a master goldsmith, Ronda was able to share "tricks of the trade", that seemed so obvious once she demonstrated them - but of course, they would never have occurred to me before.  One in particular, was using tiny (1 mm) jump ring as a guide for soldering on earposts.  By fusing the jump ring to one end of the hoop, you can make a reservoir for the solder, so it doesn't run down the sides of the earring as you are trying to place a tiny piece of wire to create the post.  The result, properly positioned findings on the completed hoops

This is the pair I made - and went home with - on Monday!  One day at the bench, one pair of earrings...the week was off to a fun, fast and exciting start.  In fact, after completing the hoops, we started our second project - "slumped" earrings before we called it a day.

That project deserves it's own post - but I'll leave you with a picture of how I left my bench on Monday evening.

Until next time.

05.09.16 One is silver...

Photo credit: bgasc.com

I recently attended a meeting in my professional capacity as a policy wonk, sporting a piece of my own jewelry.  I ran into someone I hadn't seen in a while, who complemented my pendant - and then expressed surprise when I said I had taken up metalsmithing, and made it myself.    She said “you are such a left brained person, and jewelry seems so right brained.”

More and more, I object to the idea that our analytical and creative abilities exist in separate spheres of our brains. Take for example my father, a theoretical physicist,  who was also an incredible photographer.  He was as equally engaged in the artistic composition of a shot as in the development and printing of the photograph.  When I was a child I remember spending hours with him in his darkroom as he explained and demonstrated how different papers, chemicals and lengths of exposure could transform one negative into a range of images.

Tiffany & CO Elsa Peretti Sterling

I've recently been writing about this in my professional capacity, too. With the (misplaced, in my opinion) emphasis on STEM, the arts often get pushed aside, but in reality the two are integral to each other and to a complete education.  As I delve deeper into fabrication it becomes more and more clear that I need to understand both the artistic and, for lack of a better word, “scientific” aspects  of making jewelry…which brings me to silver…

When buying or making silver jewelry, there are multiple types of the metal available – and they each have advantages and disadvantages both in terms of workability and aesthetics.

Pure silver - also know as "fine silver" contains no other alloyed metals, but is generally too soft to stand up to daily wear and tear.

Photo credit: Argentium Guild

Sterling silver is what most people think of when they imagine jewelry.  Stamped "sterling" or "925" - sterling is alloy of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper.  It is relatively easy to work with, and forgiving of mistakes, but its copper content can to lead to firescale in the fabrication process, and tarnish over time.

Argentium silver  is a relative newcomer to the jewelry scene. It is an alloy of  93.5% silver, 6.5% copper and 1% germanium.  Argentium pieces are stamped "sterling" with a flying unicorn.  Argentium is different - not necessarily harder - to work with.  It can be fused or soldered, depending on what you are trying to do; is not subject to firescale, and resists tarnishing.

So far, most of my fabrication has been in sterling silver, but in anticipation of taking a week long class at Creative Side with renown jewelry artist Ronda Coryell, I am starting to work with argentium as well.

I'm enjoying the challenging of learning new techniques - and why some approaches work better with one kind of metal or another.  Since I like using both sides of my brain, the science helps me to do a better job of having an end result that looks like my vision.  More on argentium to come.

Until next time.

05.02.16 Let's go tubing! (Intermediate Fabrication - part 3)

It's May - which in Central Texas, means "summer" - so when I suggest tubing, you might think I'm referring to floating down one of our many lovely rivers in an inner-tube. Indeed, that kind of tubing is a great and relaxing on a hot day, but today I am referring to actual tubing...made of silver, with thick walls and a hole in the middle. I used thick walled 4.5 mm tubing to create the bezel for the blue zircons on my oval hollow form earrings.

After finishing those (and deciding that I like fabricating hollow forms), I started second pair, with a teardrop shape.  Rather than using a traditional jump ring, I used very narrow tubing to hold the earwires. Soldering the tubing to the top of teardrops was a great practice run for fabricating a hinge, our final project. 




Creating a hinged piece involves soldering tubing to two different pieces of metal, then connecting them by running a wire through tubes and riveting (flattening) the ends.  This allows multiple parts to be connected, but move.  We practiced with copper sheet before moving on to fabricating our last piece in silver.

I decided I wanted to make a pendant with a hinged bail.  I needed to make sure that I measured carefully so that I could cut across the top of my round backplate and create a straight edge for soldering my hinge.  As I like to do, I made a sketch (to scale, using graph paper) and decided to put a moon cut out on the reverse.


I wanted a piece that complemented my teardrop earrings (which I set with black spinels), so I designed a round pendant with a black teardrop stone. I'm calling it "Dark Side of the Moon".





After getting approval for my design, I set about creating the bail and hinge for the top of the pendant. In addition to cutting the pieces of tubing to be right size, it is critical that they be aligned when they are soldered on, so that the pin can slide through.

If the hinge pieces are crooked, it's not going to come together properly. In order to line up the pieces for soldering, we put a piece of graphite (mechanical pencil lead) through to hold them in place, and then I was able to attach them to my pendant.

After assembling and polishing - I bezel set a teardrop shaped black onyx - and in just four short weeks, I had a whole new set of metalsmithing skills under my belt.


I'm pretty pleased with the result of my classwork - and I'm looking forward to my next Creative Side class, argentium earrings with Ronda Coryell.

Until next time.