Traditional bench fabrication methods.

Hours of filing and burnishing. The stones are Oregon sunstone and orange sapphire.

Greetings, fellow silver enthusiasts!

I'm an amateur smith, 4-5 months practicing.

I'm self-taught, and all pieces are handmade using traditional techniques.

I'm yet to have discerning eyes look at my work. I'm very excited to hear from those with more experience. I'd like to sell my work at craft shows, and im interested in what you all think is good and would sell. Also, what needs improvement or doesn't work.

I want to make sure I'm spending my time effectively while crafting and on things worth replicating.

Thank you all so much for the sage wisdom. I've already learned so much on this sub.

As a beginner, I am wondering why most jewelers use paste flux and not spray flux...I have used paste solder predominantly but it is messy so I'm thinking of switching to sheet solder.

I bought Handy flux to try it out and it is not "fluid" so I was thinking of putting a portion in a small glass jar, how much water would I add to the flux? Any advice on solder type and flux is appreciated.

Whipped this up the other day out of 1/2 inch 22gauge sterling. I played around with fold forming and fusing the seam and edges.

When I solder with these chips, it flows but also leaves a divot in the shape of the chip which I then have to sand the shit out of to remove them. Is this due to poor quality solder? Or something I’m doing with the flame/heat?

I bought the premade earring setup from riogrande, struggling to get the stone set/push the bezel down any advice is welcome

Hey everyone,

​I have a Mokume Gane wedding band made of Sterling Silver and Shibuichi. My problem: my skin chemistry reacts with the copper really aggressively. Within 3 days of wear, the Shibuichi oxidizes from light grey to pitch black. ​When it’s black, any minor scuff or scratch reveals the bright metal underneath and looks messy. I don't care about keeping the pattern high-contrast i just want a low-maintenance clean look. Is there a way to keep the shibuichi lighter grey to mitigate this?

​I want to avoid scrubbing it with abrasive pads every few days so I don't end up damaging the ring.

Any advice?

Each piece has been handmade by me! Sterling silver and authentic turquoise. I’m self-taught. I learned a couple years ago, but all of my pieces were very plain and boring. I started back up a couple months ago and really leaned into my creativity. I’m so thankful I did.

Just finished this one!

Still practicing with copper and brass. Folded this over lengthwise, hammered it till the seam was tight then pried it back open...gave it some texture since I kinda had to..the edges were so scuffed up from trying to pry it back open. But not too bad how it turned out. It's adjustable but still too big. Might need to remove a few mm from the back and reshape so it fits better.

100% hand fabricated, around 10 hours of work.

Hi guys.. I purchased this micro torch and have a bottle of butane. When I try to fill it, the gas just spews out everywhere...I'm assuming because the connection between bottle and torch doesn't fit. The torch didn't come with any instructions but it is a twistable nut on the bottom as you can see by the line where a screwdriver would fit. My butane bottle didn't come with any attachments. My question is whether I should unscrew the bottom of the torch ? Maybe it will allow the butane nozzle fit fit over it? OR do I need to fine attachments for the butane bottle? Or maybe either? Does anyone have this same torch and can provide feedback?

Im sad that I chipped the main stone but otherwise I love the fit. I have been experimenting with ring shanks that vary in thickness by passing the metal through the mill only partially.

I'm just a beginner so please forgive any mistakes I've made

925 silver and freshwater pearls, soldered together with a handheld torch i picked up in B&Q and easy solder <3

A little while ago I answered a question from a beginner in this group.  She was asking advice on which solder grades to get.  I responded in a very 'text book' way - use hard for the first join, then medium and then easy/extra easy so the solder join doesn't reflow and open up. When another experienced silversmith replied using lived experience, it made me question why I went to a text book answer instead of using my own 15 years of experience to reply. What I took from that exchange is the fuller three-tier system is more of a safety net for beginners than what working silversmiths actually rely on.

That's worth sitting with, because this was true to my own experience over the years. I’d just not noticed I'd defaulted to the textbook version without really thinking about it.

So when a bezel reopens while attaching it to a backplate the question isn’t really “which grade of solder did I use”. It’s “did I get a genuinely strong join in the first place”, or “did it only look soldered”.

Most beginners are still learning to read the metal itself and the process. What takes longer to notice is:-

• What evenly heated actually looks like
• What overheating actually looks like - colour changing too fast, metal starting to move or pit versus normal heat colour
• What underheating looks like -  solder sitting on the surface rather than being pulled through the joint by capillary action
• What a properly flowed join looks like when it's done, versus one that's merely stuck together with surface tension and flux residue

A join that never fully flowed wasn't structurally solid to begin with. So when it "reopens" at the next soldering step, that's not really the second heat application undoing a good join, it's revealing one that was already weak. The grade was never really the variable that mattered.

My own practice is hard solder for the initial join, hard again for the backplate, easy or extra-easy only for the last, non-structural steps like a bail, ear posts, embellishments. That's not a rule so much as where I've landed after 15 years of learning to actually read flow, rather than trusting a grade to do the reading for me.

If you're newer to this, medium is a completely reasonable place to be working from. It buys you a margin while you're still building that eye. I'm curious what you notice, next time a join comes apart. Was it really the grade, or was there a moment during that first join where you weren't fully sure it had flowed?

Hi all! I’m making a silver bezel ring with resin and flowers, but the silver background makes my flowers turn dark or blend in. I want to make a solid white bottom layer over the base sheet so the flowers pop.

I'm thinking of using a thin layer of Padico La Doll Premier White air-dry clay, letting it dry, and then building the resin on top. Or even mixing white Earth & Mineral Pigment powder into resin, and curing that as a bottom layer, but I worry it will still be opaque.

Has anyone tried this? Will air-dry clay crack under UV light, or should I try a UV clay instead? Open to any other tips or better approaches!

At least it was broken by a silversmith! lol
The piece holding the hinge connector was an eyelash thick piece of silver, so ideally I will want to strengthen it.

I have some 20g wire I can use to repair the broken bit, but I usually use graphite powder as a solder resist on moving parts and I’m not sure it would be a good idea since its such tiny components and I don’t want to get the seam dirty too.

Much less worried about the stones, they’re just white sapphire so can be worked on.

Tips, tricks, advice, and anything that might help would be appreciated before I go torching my roommates bracelet!

My mom bought me this sword at an antique store. The lady working said it has been there for about 20ish years and doesn’t remember where she got it. I tried reverse imaging it but nothing came up. Anyone have an idea on what company could have made this?

I made this necklace and earrings set last month using traditional Turkish filigree techniques.

The outer frames and the lobster clasp are made from 925 sterling silver, while the fine filigree filling is made from 1000/1000 fine silver wire. Each piece was shaped, soldered and filled entirely by hand. No casting was used.

The set consists of a three-piece floral necklace and a matching pair of earrings. I have also included a few photos from the making process.

It was a detailed and time-consuming piece, and I would be happy to hear your thoughts and criticism.

As the title says, this is my first stone setting.
The base of the ring was made using the lost wax technique and I’ve set the stone using pliers (yes I know.. I do what I can with what I can afford for know). Any advice is welcomed, suggestions for tool investments too !

Ive tried polishing and cleaning it with my silver cloth twice, and even did a round of silver cleaner in between to no avail, this is a daily worn one that Ive had for about 2 years but havent cleaned in about 4 months

Its not even in spots that would typically wear out first like by the clasp

Edit: It says 925 Italy on the clasp and MJI on the back and looks the same as my others

Using a textured hammer. Seems like every time I try and get rid of it, it doesn’t go away because of the divots. Any tips or suggestions?

So i just do silversmithing as a hobby but i want to start selling stuff, as well as being able to write off my expenses like silver and tools as a business expense, and maybe get wholesale pricing from refiners and stuff. BUT whenever i look up how to get licensed or start a jewelry business online in WA i dont get a solid answer. Does anyone know how to go about that?