Day One: Silver broach
Today's class was in Honey Cottage, past the bee hives and up the hill. Easy to find if you can read a map.
We were given a 10 cm stretch of thick silver wire (flat on one side, otherwise rounded), and told to cut a notch at the half way point. The instructors met our blank stares with instructions on how to load the saw (a c clamp) with a fine blade. The saw blade wasn't as thick as the wire.
Once it was notched, we could heat it up with the blowtorch and bend it together. Before it got too cool, we had to curve in the ends of the V. Every now and then, we should pound things down with a wooden mallet to ensure our broaches would be on a single plane.
Once formed, the centre of the V was soldered with some silver material to strengthen it. More heating, more bending until the desired shape as achieved.
Time for a coffee break. Only the kitchen ran into a problem, and was 15 minutes late. For the rest of the morning, we designed our pieces and figured out what we needed for embellishment.
I decided on flowers, so I was given a sharpie and a two inch square sheet of silver. I had trouble making my flowers small enough, but I ended up with six usable flowers, which was plenty for my design. The instructor told me to approach the cutting like sewing. Keep the blade in one place and move the silver strip. I managed to snap the blades whenever making a sharp turn. Four before I got the hang of it.
He was very patient, telling me that many people break their blades as beginners. His assistant was far less patient -- you're holding your saw wrong. You're sitting in the wrong position (but I can't focus my eyes when I sit as low as you want me to). You're approaching your cut from the wrong side (I was notching out a petal). Eventually she decided it was better for both of us if she stopped helping me.
My instructor pounded the flowers in a cube-shaped block with digits of varying curvature. There were ball bearings with corresponding curvature atop a cylinder, and these were hit with a hammer, with great force to sharp the silver.
Then it was time to solder on the flowers. Soldering requires more skill than a five hour workshop can offer, so Ingrik did that for me. To solder, you need to paint the spot with some paint, then heat a bead of wire with the blow torch. Grab the bead with your soldering awl, and place it. Add the flower, and voila. Drop it in water to hear it sizzle (to cool it down), then give it a light acid bath for a minute. Back into a water bath.
Since my piece was almost finished, I went to the polisher -- whirring disks of light wire or thread, depending on the stage. I found my piece was getting tarnished and my fingers were quite black. Once the clasp was formed from more wire, and the pin filed to a sharp point, the whole project could go into the silver cleaning solution for a couple of minutes. A toothbrush helped reach the joins and the back of the flowers.
The final step was to wipe it dry and put it on.
This photo isn't great, but they show what we made. Mine is the upper right.
We were given a 10 cm stretch of thick silver wire (flat on one side, otherwise rounded), and told to cut a notch at the half way point. The instructors met our blank stares with instructions on how to load the saw (a c clamp) with a fine blade. The saw blade wasn't as thick as the wire.
Once it was notched, we could heat it up with the blowtorch and bend it together. Before it got too cool, we had to curve in the ends of the V. Every now and then, we should pound things down with a wooden mallet to ensure our broaches would be on a single plane.
Once formed, the centre of the V was soldered with some silver material to strengthen it. More heating, more bending until the desired shape as achieved.
Time for a coffee break. Only the kitchen ran into a problem, and was 15 minutes late. For the rest of the morning, we designed our pieces and figured out what we needed for embellishment.
I decided on flowers, so I was given a sharpie and a two inch square sheet of silver. I had trouble making my flowers small enough, but I ended up with six usable flowers, which was plenty for my design. The instructor told me to approach the cutting like sewing. Keep the blade in one place and move the silver strip. I managed to snap the blades whenever making a sharp turn. Four before I got the hang of it.
He was very patient, telling me that many people break their blades as beginners. His assistant was far less patient -- you're holding your saw wrong. You're sitting in the wrong position (but I can't focus my eyes when I sit as low as you want me to). You're approaching your cut from the wrong side (I was notching out a petal). Eventually she decided it was better for both of us if she stopped helping me.
My instructor pounded the flowers in a cube-shaped block with digits of varying curvature. There were ball bearings with corresponding curvature atop a cylinder, and these were hit with a hammer, with great force to sharp the silver.
Then it was time to solder on the flowers. Soldering requires more skill than a five hour workshop can offer, so Ingrik did that for me. To solder, you need to paint the spot with some paint, then heat a bead of wire with the blow torch. Grab the bead with your soldering awl, and place it. Add the flower, and voila. Drop it in water to hear it sizzle (to cool it down), then give it a light acid bath for a minute. Back into a water bath.
Since my piece was almost finished, I went to the polisher -- whirring disks of light wire or thread, depending on the stage. I found my piece was getting tarnished and my fingers were quite black. Once the clasp was formed from more wire, and the pin filed to a sharp point, the whole project could go into the silver cleaning solution for a couple of minutes. A toothbrush helped reach the joins and the back of the flowers.
The final step was to wipe it dry and put it on.
This photo isn't great, but they show what we made. Mine is the upper right.
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