Recently I've been branching out from jewellery and have been making some small scale metalwork and silversmithing. I have learnt a lot and it's been great to learn new techniques and push my making abilities further. I hope to be able to explore this scale of work more often in the future!
These items make perfect gifts for the less jewellery-inclined and those 'hard to buy for' friends and family members.
The Celtic Guitar Capo
This project really developed my skill set and pushed me outside of my comfort zone. There was a lot of engineering skills needed, such as making tiny steel hinges and threaded holes. It also had to be functional and easy to use as well as being aesthetic. I learnt so much whilst making this, which was really enjoyable, and it works very well. I look forward to perhaps making more in the future!
The Silver Tea Strainer
My first venture in to the world of silversmithing! For this piece I learnt how to hand raise a silver bowl from a flat piece of sheet, which was a great technique to learn. I don't often have the chance to make larger objects out of silver, it's quite different from making jewellery, and I really enjoyed designing this. The hardest past was marking out and drilling the holes in the right place to get the perfect spiral! Tea strainers are such lovely objects, and you can really have fun with designing the handles and the pattern of the holes. This object functions beautifully, and a bespoke tea strainer would be a perfect gift for any tea enthusiast!
The Brass Seabass
I had a lot of fun making this, from researching and drawing the fish, to texturing and forming the metal. I also made the glass eyes, which I hadn't done on such a small scale before. Working with brass is a bit harder than working with silver, but because this piece is fairly large and going to be used as a key ring it was better to use a slightly harder wearing material. I made the eyes first, which then dictated the size the fish was going to be. I press formed the body of the fish to get that 3D feel, using a perspex mould and a hydraulic press, I then added the detail of the fins and stone set eye. At the end I used a silver plating solution to get the right colour, and as the key ring is used the brass will start to show through the silver making it look more Seabass-like, as they have a lovely golden shine to their scales.
