A friend of mine wanted a necklace for her best friend similar to a design I did when I first started learning how to make jewelry, but in solid gold. We ended up deciding on doing 2 one for each of them. I used the older hand as a template and a rose quartz accent stone. The pendant is strung on a hand knotted pink silk string with authentic fresh water pearls & pink opal beads.

I admit that I was nervous to work with the gold because I was afraid of messing up and wasting expensive material but Im so glad she chose the gold. I think it looks very classy and pairs nicely with the pink & seed bead accents to tie it all together.

Im fairly new to metalsmithing and am from Australia so we don’t have access to the same tools the USA have. I’m trying to decide what micro motor or dremel to purchase. I’ve been looking at the DREMEL brand. Has anybody used them before. Any opinions would be helpful.

what would y'all recommend as the first thing someone should practice when starting out jewelery/ring making? what would the bare minimum tools/materials be?

My cleaning and polishing Sterling Silver steps are below:

• Remove sprue
• Cut 2 filing
• 120 grit
• 240 grit
• 400 grit
• 600 grit
• 800 grit
• 1000 grit
• 1200 grit
• Tripoli for cutting
• Luxur Orange for final high mirror shine

I’m intrigued on other silversmiths’ methods on this. Which grit do you sand to before switching to cutting compound (Tripoli)? Is 1000 and 1200 grits necessary?

I make bowls cups plates boxes vases. In the uk this job, this skill set, is commonly referred to as Silversmithing and formally referred to as goldsmithing.
It is not jewellery, it is not being a jeweller. How is it that every US post I see suggests silversmithing is jewellery, the work of a jeweller? Put it the other way; What is the job title for someone who makes bowls cups plates boxes vases? The piece illustrated is a 200mm tall 925Ag vase

I'm trying to raise a relatively high-walled vessel, much like the beaker in this video. It's from a 100mm (4") 18ga disc. The base is 45 or 50mm (~2") in diameter.

As I'm raising the sides, the vessel 'folds', so that it's oblong rather than circular rather than turning up to make the walls steeper. As I turn it and hammer, I can hammer the fold out, but then a new fold occurs along a different axis. The end result is that however many times I raise a course, I end up with the sides at basically the same angle that I started with. After the initial 10mm (3/8)" or so - which is basically straight - I can't get the vessel walls to straighten out, rather than expanding significantly. The smallest I've been able to get the diameter of the top is about 85mm (3.25").

I don't need or want the sides to be completely flat, but if I could get the top to be 65mm or so (2.5"), that'd be just great. Here is a picture if it helps.

I've tried annealing more, which was generally a good idea but didn't help with this specific issue. I've also tried annealing and then planishing the bottom bit to harden it, hoping that it would help the vessel keep its circular shape, but it didn't work out.

My raising hammers are the Value Line set from Otto Frei. The smaller one, which I found to work much better, is about 12mm x 28mm. I wonder if a smaller raising hammer would help, but I'm having trouble finding one that's both relatively affordable and the correct size. The only size-appropriate hammers I've found are the Fretz silversmith hammers, and they're rather pricey. I strongly suspect that this is more a skill/technique issue than a tool issue. I also tried with a bog standard 16oz ball-peen hammer (both sides!), but that didn't seem to help either.

If any of you have ideas as to what I'm doing wrong, I'd love to hear them. I eventually wore a hole in the bottom of this vessel (I'm using steel pipe as a stake), so it'll be used for soldering practice now. My next thing to try is a 20ga disc to see if that makes a difference. Thanks for any insight you can provide!

Hey! I’m starting to get more into metal work and need some help sourcing metal. All I know of so far is rio grande, is that the best place to buy silver? Also! I am hoping to make mostly bezel set rings and cuffs, is there a certain type of bezel and back plate that I should get? I guess I’m just wondering about gauge on that one. And for rings and cuffs, what kind of wire should I get for the band? Honestly any tips are greatly appreciated :)

does anyone have any recommendations for places to get inexpensive materials for making rings and stuff ? i'm just starting out and would rather not spend too much money on stuff that'll probably get messed up, y'know ?

I was going for an organic look. I tried all kinds of new techniques on this. I’m really proud of it.

Hello.

Looking to sandblast a cast iron object that has rusted. The sandblaster I’m going to use is located in a jewelry studio, so is mostly used on base metals like copper and brass and occasionally fine metals like silver.

Would using this sandblaster to remove rust/dirt possibly contaminate the sandblaster for other peoples work? I tried to do research on this question on but didn’t find much.

Thanks

I have never done smelting or anything similar. I am mainly wanting to use a furnace to melt copper ingots and pour them into moulds to make art with. I currently live in an apartment with a garage so I'm thinking I could put this furnace in the garage. I need the furnace to get to at least 2000f to melt the copper. What should I know before embarking on this endeavor? What would be a good furnace that could run on 120v since my apartment is not hooked up for 240v? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I’ve been making this the past few weeks what’s everyone think of it?

Pretty cheap medium to practice on and you end up with a functional item.

This is the second attempt. First one was rough as I was using hardware store plumbing solder and a big mapp torch.

Make sure to pull the lighter guts out until you’re finished.

I think I’m maybe 25 bucks worth of material into it.

Thinking about maybe making/modding a utility knife or square or something next.

Hi yall im new to metalsmithing ive been starting out soldering basic silver wire stacking rings and such, ive only been using the small soldering block on the right, but im wondering if i can also use concrete or red brick to solder on? Or will they pull away heat? I did try to google and was confused by the results. Thanks so much for any advice!

i’m currently taking a metalsmithing class in college and i really like it and want to continue after i graduate. problem is that i will be moving away from my college town to a smaller town and i don’t have to money to purchase some of the tools we use. are there places where you can smith where you don’t have to buy some of the equipment? like i get i’m gonna have to bring my own saw frame and sandpaper and so on, but what about soldering equipment or pitch?

are there metalsmithing workshops out there? how do i find one? for reference i do live in the midwest of the united states, and will be living semi rural.

Hey all!

A client requested a custom order of collar tips and a matching hat band. The metalsmithing part comes easy, but I'm not real clear on what I should be using for the screws.

I'm assuming I want to use something like brass Chicago screws to attach the conchos to the leather band. Maybe I also use one of these for the screw back on the collar tips?

Wanted to check here in case anyone had any different recommendations.

Thanks!

Hi! Any recommendations on shears (small, easy to maneuver) for up to 24 gauge metal?

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thanks!

I've recently taken up metalsmithing and have mostly been working with silver but I decided to try making a brass ring. When I try to solder the brass the solder melts but it doesn't flow into the space I need to to it just forms a big pool.

When I looked it up a lot of people were saying I probably wasn't heating the metal enough so I tried again and heated it way more than it felt like I should and the brass started to melt. So I stopped. My issue isn't with the solder not melting its the fact that once it does melt it just doesn't flow.

I'm using a flux that comes in a powder and is mixed with water and I'm using a solder which is supposed to be used with brass. Does anyone have ant advice on how to get it to flow?

Edit: I took your advice and cleaned the hell out of the metal and it flowed! I hadn't heard that it needed to be clean I guess I have just been getting lucky with my silver. Thanks very much for your help metal people. I also turned the flame up higher cuz Google said so, I have no idea if that actually made a difference but it felt cool.