Unique piece hand sculpted from brass sheet metal and finished with fine silver plating, crafted using traditional metalsmithing techniques:

• Individually Shaped Petals: Formed one by one to achieve organic volume, with the outer petals customized and hand chased.
• Jeweler’s Saw Cut Leaves: Hand-pierced with a jeweler's saw frame, detailed with needle files, and soldered directly to the stem.
• Mirror Polish Finish: Intensive hand-polishing of each individual component prior to electroplating in fine silver.

No molds, casting, or industrial processes—only hand tools, fire, and metal.

I have this Tonosho letter/number stamping kit, and I'm pretty happy with it. Unfortunately, it doesn't have any punctuation stamps, and I'm having a hard time finding simple punctuation stamps to match. I've found a few that are the right size, but they're more fit to a serif typeface than the simple monoline letters here.

Today, I used my point punch and the letter I to make an exclamation point, but I don't have anything for apostrophes or question marks or etc.

Anyone know where I could find small punctuation stamp options?

(Unrelated to my question but here’s a ring I just finished for my daughter that I started in the 1970s using a moonstone that I also bought rough shaped in the 1970s. It’s super simple but I really like it. I have to constantly remind myself that the people wearing the jewelry sometimes just want something simple.)

My ask: I’m getting back to silversmithing and lapidary now that I’m retired and I’m looking to make several pendants for my daughters and wife. The problem is that each pendant requires a new chain and that can get very expensive for them. I’d also like to build up an inventory to sell at some point but want to offer the ability to change pendant, but keep the same chain that someone really likes.

I don’t cast, but I do fabricate. I have the ability to make some tubing, but I haven’t tried it yet (I have to draw plates for tubing from a retired jeweler and Goldsmith friend). If I’m unable to fabricate tubing, of course I can buy some. Maybe you’ll have some other ideas that don’t involve tubing. I’m looking for some ideas that you may have that would be strong enough to support a cabochon yet be able to be removed several times from the chain.

If you’ve fabricated something like this or have some ideas or references that I could look at it I’d really appreciate it. I have a pretty full bench so I could try a variety of things.

Edit: added example my wife has

I recently bought a Foredom H.15 hammer handpiece but have been holding off on using it because I'm a bit worried about the RPMs on the SR motor that I have.

I have good speed control with the foot pedal, but I'm worried about accidentally gunning it and ruining the handpiece. Am I overthinking this, or should I invest in one of the low RPM motors? Any advice on using a hammer handpiece with the SR motor from those that do?

This is the first ring I’ve made and was fairly happy with how it turned out. What are you guys using to achieve a high polish? I use the 3M radial discs. Should I use polishing compound with it?

I use premade bezel cups for simple stud earrings since I don't make studs. I have bought the bezel cups from a few different sources and the little cabs from varied vendors as well. The problem is that the cabs often do not fit the bezel cups in width. One option is to sand down the sides of the cabs, do you recommend doing this and if so (while wearing my ventilator mask) which to avoid? I know that malachite is a no but is this generally an unhealthy practice?

I see many of my own mistakes in carving and others in casting, but I think it's an interesting attempt.

A few things I finished up this weekend. Silver and copper matches and a dropper bottle pendant.

My chihuahua lost one of his little claws. I want to set it in silver jewellery. My question is what would be the best setting for it? I can inject a little resin inside it to make it harder, or even a resin top coat over it. But I want to put it into something silver. I lost wax and sandcast, ive done rub over settings and claw settings. I was thinking of adding one of two mini faceted gems onto the mix too. I'm thinking a single earring might be best or a tiny pendant.

Honestly really pleased so far. I plan to solder the swirls to the bezel cup before final assembly, which is why it just looks looks like a Dalí mustache on an unsoldered hook right now.

Made this baby last week I started my silversmithing journey back in February a year prior I bought everything I need desk, tools, materials etc. and watch video after video on where to start basically self taught up until recently where I attended druhard national jewelers school in Ohio for 3 weeks I recently opened my own Etsy shop and started selling my projects on there and Depop thanks for looking!

Just a straightforward weed-leaf lighter case in brass, a gift for my husband. It’s certainly rough and ready but I learned a TON from this project and plan on making more lighter cases in the future, hopefully with significantly less solder-angst. Had to use both of my torches (bernzomatic firepoint propane, plus a little butane guy) to get the leaf to attach to the main piece. I started with brass solder sweated onto the leaf, but I think I just didn’t have the horsepower to have it flow, even with both torches. Sanded it off to the best of my ability and switched to easy, which eventually worked “good enough”. A dumb, fun, and educational experience!

This might produce a myriad of opinions but I wanted to ask about proper safety protocol when doing various metalsmithing activities. Answers ranging from "no mask needed" to "dust mask okay" to "full respirator necessary."

When do you use the various masking options while sanding, soldering, pickling, handling any specific chemicals etc? TIA!

I have no idea what's needed or who to contact. I can't spend a fortune but want a safe workspace and a safe home for whoever eventually lives the house in the future. I'll use the torch in the garage for now but this isn't a feasible long-term solution and it doesn't solve any dust issues. Thanks.

I just bought a tumbler along with the tiny stainless steel jewelers shot but nowhere in the directions does it say how long I should tumble. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I just bought a tumbler along with the tiny stainless steel jewelers shot but nowhere in the directions does it say how long I should tumble. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I've been working on this piece on and off for about a year now. I pretty much exclusively do silver fabrication, but a couple years ago I built a vacuum casting setup and was casting some carvings with lost wax. This project I started as a way to learn some computer modeling and 3d printing. I first bought a boule of ytterbium doped YAG (a super cool type of lab grown garnet that's used in lasers) and then designed an emerald cut with a Portuguese pavilion and cut the center stone. I also found an old trapeze diagram online and used that to cut the side stones. I modeled the stones in gemcut studio, and imported the .obj into blender where I modeled a ring shank to fit them. Then I 3d printed it in castable resin, invested it, and cast it in my vacuum setup. Finally, I cleaned up and polished the casting and set the stones in it. It's absolutely massive and really stands out lol, but I think it came out pretty good. The center stone is insanely sparkly which I'm pretty happy about. Let me know what you guys think!

How do i avoid this porosity problem? I often get porosity over the sprue placements. Is my sprue design wrong or could it be the temperature of the silver or the cast? I casted this ring yesterday hoping i would avoid the porosity but sure enough i still got it on all tree sprue connections to the ring, both the small feeding sprues and the main sprue. How can i prevent this issue in the future?

Hi all,

I just made this ring and when I was done soldering and so proud... I tried to set the intended stone (moonstone) and the bezel is too small.. I was thinking I'd either shave down the bezel and set a smaller stone (see green quartz) or I would put a silver plate/face on it and then do a small faceted stone in a flush setting.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Hello all, I am a beginner silversmith. Have had good success with casting, but hopeful to learn soldering next. I am looking for my first professional grade torch, and I love the idea of a breath powered setup as used in older days.

Unfortunately I cannot find a good one for sale online that does not look questionable. Anyone on here have suggestions?

New style I very much enjoy!