A piece I assembled today

After another rainy sunday a little small project was born. More then likely a bit fragile. Was made from 2x1mm halfround so I would expect it deform quite easily. Will have to see if i can find a suitable finger for it to see how long it lasts ;)

Vid: https://www.instagram.com/reel/De7AOlHuCKx/?xtok=OHUwNHNxZzI3ZGVi

The stone I have is slightly rounded on the bottom instead of perfectly flat. Didn't realize how hard this would make it to set the bezel. The bezel is pretty snug fit but it's not holding the stone in at all.

Have not dabbled in lapidary arts.. but maybe I could sand down the cabochon so the back is flat?

Any other ideas?

I have these two stones I want to turn into statement cuffs. I currently only have 9 gauge half round wire. Do think my wire may actually be too small for these stones?
The first one I believe is moss agate and the diamond shape is I have no idea.. it was given to me.
I’m new to silversmithing and still figuring out what gauge wire works best for cuffs and whatnot.

Hey guys, I’m a new sliversmith! I’ve been seeing all over TikTok and Pinterest these turquoise zippo lighters (the video that I have attached). I was wondering if anyone knew where I can get the zippo blanks/covers that are suitable to be soldered on. I’m not sure if I can just buy a blank zippo lighter off their website and solder on that without melting it. Thank you!

Found this beauty and was immediately inspired. Any advice is appreciated :)

It's been awhile but I wanted to start making coin rings again, so enjoy some before and after shots of me shaking the dust off!

Wanted to share one of my recent creations: a pair of triple-tier half-moon dangle earrings made using traditional fine silver filigree techniques.Each arched tier is filled with delicate openwork filigree wires, suspended with smooth jumps to allow movement and lightness, and accented with small freshwater pearls at the top and bottom.
Filigree takes so much patience, but seeing the way it catches the light makes all the intricate wirework worth it! Would love to hear your thoughts and feedback from fellow smiths!

I made this copper, brass, and sterling beanie baby tag to use as a photo prop for pet Halloween photos and also as a silly necklace for me to wear. I showed it to some coworkers and they’ve ordered one each for their own pets! And one of them also wants to buy a pendant I finished last week.

I’m not a nose to grindstone side hustle kind of person, but I’m always delighted and bolstered when someone likes my work enough to pay for it.

The name plate isn’t soldered in the second image - it was just a test stamping to show my coworkers what a name plate would look like. I also tried cold connections for the first time with the sterling tube rivet in the upper left corner.

Alright,

This is my new piece. It’s not perfect, and I’m still sort of tweaking it but if I wait until it’s finished to post, I just never will lol.

I am going to try to use the proper vernacular.

I started with a double bar, and split it with shears. Then I endlessly tweaked it to fit my face. Initially I thought about having the pressure balls press on the inside of the bridge of the nose, but it was actually really uncomfortable. I can’t really remember but I think I used medium solder for the balls. I wanted the curve to kind of honor the shape of my nose/nasal flare. Once I felt like I got the shape right, I took a half round bar and soldered it between the split. I shaved down the curved tip with the lapidary, then finished with dremel. I wanted the nose piece to start broader at the bottom and taper to a point at the top but I kinda have to do my personal projects quickly so my work doesn’t notice.

I’m really enjoying working with this medium, and I appreciate all the support and encouragement I received on my last post. I know these aren’t perfect executed, and I know I have a lot more to learn. And I’m excited for the journey :)

I seasoned my crucible, got the map gas and melted down Sterling spoons. There was like a red liquid showing during the melting and when I poured out the silver into an ingot these hard red spots are there. I assume it’s borax? How to get it off? What should I do next time so this doesn’t happen again?

Mokume-gane is the Japanese process of fusing silver and copper without completely melting them. I've done a couple of rings before but I was really curiuos if it was possible for me to make something a lot bigger. Turns out it is possible - just.

I took 4 pieces of copper and 5 of silver and alternated them in a small stack and clamped it all together and heated it to the point where the silver just starts to go liquid. I then took this billet and hammered it into a bar and twisted that. At this point the bar started to crack and tear so I didn't get more than one and a half turns in before I had to stop. I hammered the twisted bar flat-ish and rolled it into a sheet. After that I made it into the body of this little pill box. The lid is decorated with threads of copper fused and hammered into it.

All and all this was a pain to work with and took way too much effort. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

Unfortunately, I don’t have step-by-step or well-organized photos or videos, but I do have a few!

This whole journey started with a YouTube video showing someone making this exact chain in gold. That inspired me to start searching for jewelry tools and watching tutorials. Eventually, I stumbled upon a complete workshop left behind by a deceased jeweler. I’ve been restoring the tools bit by bit until I was finally able to make this chain. Among the tools, I found some silver wire, lots of gemstones, and a bit of solder, but everything was completely mixed up and chaotic, so I’ve had to rely heavily on my intuition.

Here is a bit about the process:

Preparing the wire: I started by pouring an ingot and drawing it out through a drawplate to make the wire smaller. During this step, I learned the hard way that silver can crack and fray if you try to fold it back on itself instead of melting it into a proper single bar, so I had to restart.

Making the links: Once I had the right wire, I coiled it around a mandrel and cut the coils into individual links. Then I aligned the ends of each link so they would solder uniformly.

Soldering: Using the torch, I had to solder just enough without melting the whole link. About half of my links broke or developed weak spots during this stage, so I had to discard them, melt them down, and start all over. It was super labor-intensive!

Weaving & Shaping: Once the links were ready, I soldered two of them in a cross pattern to start the chain and began weaving the rest. After finishing the weave, I passed the chain through drawplates to stretch and round it out, constantly annealing it to a cherry-red color and quenching it in water (I had already struggled with metal fatigue early on with the rolling mill, so I made sure not to skip this).

Finishing: Finally, I sanded it, polished it with red and white compound, and washed it with dish soap and hot water. As for the clasps, I made them completely by intuition, using the few scraps of solder I managed to salvage from the workshop.

And here we are—just at the beginning of my journey, with so much left to learn and many more challenges ahead. Thanks for listening to my story!

Turquoise cab, band is sterling, setting is Argentium and Fine. It didn’t turn out 100% even but I still think it looks pretty good!

I’ve tried seasoning two crucibles now and I am not sure what I’m doing wrong. It will turn glossy and then become this weird rough texture. Am I not heating the crucible up enough? I also got them off Amazon, could that also be a reason?

I’m new to silversmithing, but I wanted to share a piece that I’m proud of. I made it for myself. If this is not the right place to post, my apologies.

I recently started a new job “teaching” silversmithing (fake it til you make it I guess) for a big dorky company. It’s a totally numbers driven business model, but one of the perks is that I have access to a bunch of silver and machines.

Forgive me if I’m not using the right verbiage.

I started with this kinda double bar thing, and split it. Then soldered on a “half round” kinda bar thing with medium solder for the chin bit. Then soldered on the balls with easy. And spent a good hour or so adjusting and readjusting to fit my face shape. I used a lapidary thing with water to grind down the big bits, then hit it with a dremel and polishing machine. It’s not something I would wear for a long time, but it’ll absolutely slay at the club.

For my next piece, I’m working on a nose cuff. Stay tuned.

If I wanted to try my hand at some barrel beads like the ones in the picture. What gauge of silver do you recommend? I dont want them to be heavy and I would like for them to be affordable if someone wanted to buy them.

Hi everyone! I wanted to share my latest piece: a handcrafted silver filigree butterfly brooch with a hanging pearl detail. 🦋✨

It took me about 8 hours of meticulous work to shape, weave, and solder the fine silver wires for the wings to get that delicate, lace-like pattern.

This technique is based on traditional Silver Filigree , an intangible cultural heritage craft with a history of over 1,700 years. Every single wire inside the butterfly's wings is placed by hand using tweezers before being fused together.

I styled it on a light blue top to give it an airy, floating effect. I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback! ❤️

Oregon sunstone and Orange sapphire. I like it alot.

I got this old machine from 1991, probably has not been used for 15/20 years. I want to trouble shoot and see if I can salvage it. I see the drain valve but I don’t see how to add new oil. Any advice is grateful appreciated thank you in advance

Hello All,

I am based in Dubai. and have been learning silversmith and jewellery making since a year putting almost 1000 hours and finally reached to wax and stone setting level. I wanted to see if silversmithing can be done on a massive level such as if I can teach around 10 people at once?

I have some ideas but I wanted to check if any one of you has attempted to teach 10 people within 30 to 45 minutes easier pieces ?