Summer Exhibition 2009

23Jun09

It’s that time of year again: Bristol School of Art end-of-year Exhibition – and this includes me for, sadly, what will probably be the last time.

I decided not to take more evening classes next year. The defining moment came about half way through the second term, about mid-February, when the tutor asked me to help one of the other students with a stone-setting. I took that as a message that, while I still have a lot to learn abut metalcraft, I ain’t gonna learn it at evening classes. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at Art School, and found the experience transformative. (I wouldn’t be writing this blog if I hadn’t been there.)

Plus, I find it embarrassing to be sat with people who are learning to make their first bezel, and I can throw them off like ring-pulls (!not!). If I’d had that experience in my first class, I might have been a little put off.

Mind you, when I mentioned this to my classmates they were wholeheartedly supportive (nice thing about evening class ) and pointed out that it’s been less than four years since I was a complete noob, and they find that inspiring (I think that was the word they used – I’m sure they’ll correct me!)

So for all of us – not just the jewellers, but the sculptors, painters & printmakers, too – here’s an advertisement:

Bristol School of Art, Queens Road, Bristol (just off the Triangle, next to Habitat) – Art Exhibition

Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 June 2009

1000-1600 daily

Come along and see us before we’re famous!

Pendant, Klimt 2 (c) AMcA 2009

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Tags: art, cabochon, craft, design, fireandhammers, handmade, jewelry, saw, stone setting, uk

The Maker’s Mark

16Jun09

It’s a question of quality, nothing less – but a little more. Having my own personal hallmark is very important to me.

My hallmark

The reasons are simple. The Assay Office in the UK marks a piece of precious metal to show it has been tested (or assayed), and that it meets a given standard. That’s a legal mark of quality – in the case above, that the metal is Sterling silver (”925″). The other parts of the hallmark are that of the issuing office, of the maker or manufacturer (or the importer, but there’s none of that here), and the year in which the piece was tested and marked.

The choice of my hallmark, and of Birmingham Assay Office, are personal issues.

My maker’s mark is my initials, plain and simple. That’s MY mark of quality – if it has this mark, it was made by me, and I am responsible for the quality of the workmanship and the design of the piece.

I chose Birmingham for a number of reasons: I went to university there, and lived there for eight years. I still have friends who live there, and every time I visit it feels like going home.

But there’s an additional factor in my choice of Birmingham: as a graduate archaeologist, I spent a summer working at the Black Country Museum as a volunteer. One of my duties was to write a brochure for the opening ceremony of their Anchor Forge. In the process I learned a lot about anchors, and the history of Birmingham & the Black Country, and metalbashing. (They had a one-ton steam hammer; the steam for the hammer was raised by the furnace where the iron was heated to red-hot…)

The mark of Birmingham Assay Office is an anchor.

Thus, my maker’s mark takes a little part of my story with it – a little part of me – with every piece I make.

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Tags: 925, anchor, assay, Birmingham, fireandhammers, hallmark, jewelry, metalsmith, uk

Experiment with silver

11Jun09

Ooh, how embarrassing…

A while back I posted about trying Argentium(TM) silver for a piece I had planned. Due to an error (ENTIRELY on my part), I ordered Brilliante silver instead (duh!). After a short correspondence and a Google search, I found out it’s a different type of silver alloy than Britannia or sterling or Argentium, with 93.5% silver and a few other little bits & bobs thrown in. There’s a short thread on the Ganoksin forum about it.

Anyway, here’s the result:

Klimt Cuff (Shadow) (c) AMcA 2009

This is the reverse of the cuff bracelet and shows the pattern more effectively than a front shot, which can be seen on Flickr. The front is set with an ocean jasper cabochon.

While I’m disappointed that it wasn’t Argentium, I’m happy with the way the piece worked out. However, I think I’ll just stick to the old favourites in future (sterling and fine), and work around the problems each presents.

Wasn’t there a quote about “necessity being the mother of invention”?

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Tags: fireandhammers, uk, silver, art, jewelry, craft, metalsmith, silversmith, design, handmade, argentium, cuff

The Next 550 Million Years?

30May09

When I was looking for the name of these trilobites, I came across this post. I was struck by the description of one of the little critters, “wandering away from it’s hatch-mates, poking its feelers through the sand, over a rock, feeding, respiring, evading detection by predators”.

By the sounds of it, there wasn’t much fun around while the wee things were alive. And subsequently, I thought about how boring it must be – stuck in a rock somewhere for 550 million years. I’ve been stuck in places (towns, jobs, etc.) and always found my way out, but it wasn’t sedimentary rock and I’m not a fossil trilobite.

I reckoned the little chaps needed a bit of a boost, so I built them some transport. I picture them scooting around space on their little rocketships, spooking the team on the Nostromo and hitching a ride on the Millenium Falcon

Trilobite Rocketships - Elrathia kingii

Trilobite Rocketships - Elrathia kingii

So, although it probably won’t be for the entire next 550 million years, I hope they have some fun.

P.S. These trilobites are the species Elrathia kingii, which I think is a wonderful name.  In the film (of my trilobites scooting through space in their rocketships) the queen of the trilobites should be played by Elsa Lanchester.

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Tags: aliens, earrings, elrathia kingii, fireandhammers, fossil, jewelry, rocketships, silver, space, stone setting, trilobite, uk

Tutorial #3: How to bend tubing.

15May09

As with any complex task, the key lies in preparation. For this task, you will need:

1 length of tubing
fine sand, or salt
small piece of scrap metal
solder
soldering torch
soldering block
blu-tack, sticky tape, glue or wax
mandrel or triblet

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Flux tube thoroughly. This reduces the appearance of firescale.

2. Solder one end closed with a piece of scrap sheet silver and allow to cool, or quench.

Tube, sealed

3. Anneal tube to cherry red and allow to cool. Quenching will harden the metal slightly and at this point that isn’t what you want.

4. Fill tube with clean fine sand. Salt or sugar will also do, cornmeal at a pinch.

Tube filled with sand

5. Seal other end of the tube – blu-tack, wax, glue, sticky tape. If you try to solder it shut the heat from the torch will make the air between the grains of sand expand and it shoots out the end – nice patterns, but a messy workbench and loose sand in the tube = kinked bend.

Tube, blu-tacked

Tube, taped up

6. Bend the tube around a former. This can be a mandrel, a triblet or even a pencil depending on the thickness of your tubing and the diameter of the required curve.

Tube, large bend

Tube, small bend

Tube, one coil

Tube, two coils

Tube, three coils

7. Unseal the end, pour out the sand and reserve for other projects. Use the bent tubing in projects.

TOP TIPS FOR HAPPY TUBE-BENDING

1. Use more tube than you need, because the ends don’t bend so well without force and tend to come out distorted or dented if you mallet them. You also need somewhere to grip the tube, at least until the first full curve.

2. Know the curve you want, beacuse changing it later is difficult. If you want to change the tightness of the curve after you’ve poured out the sand, you’ll have to refill it and seal it up again.

4. Make sure the sand is packed well in by tapping the end of the tube to make it settle. The aim is to fill as much of the void in the tubing so it behaves like a solid.

5. Understand a little about the pressures of expansion and compression within the metal as it curves. Metal WILL break under strain and there is no internal strength in the core of the tubing, even when it’s packed with sand. Annealling the tube means you don’t have to force it, so there’s less chance of it collapsing.

6. If you quench the tube after annealling it, make sure it’s dry all the way down to the end inside because the sand will stick to the inside wet walls of the tube and clump up, causing gaps in the filling, thus causing the tube to kink when you bend it.

7. If you want to add a hammered texture to the tube, do this before you pour out the sand. It’s easier, and less likely to crush the tube.

Happy bending!

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Tags: handmade, help, how to, jewelry, metalsmith, silver, silversmith, silversmithing, tubular belle, tutorial, uk