beautiful sterling silver and onyx clasp
Showing posts with label fused fine silver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fused fine silver. Show all posts
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Commissioned Necklace
A commissioned necklace this week - with a gorgeous sterling silver clasp bought at Clasp On Clasp Off while at Spring Bead Fest in Philadelphia last weekend. Then necklace idea came from the fused fine silver peacock bracelet I made last week.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Fun in the Kitchen
Have studio (tools, silver, etc) will travel. Last week I worked at the shop and today I worked in my kitchen. I will conquer this "no studio space right now" thing for sure!
I belong to a mailing list for Beaducation - if you haven't seen their YouTube vidoes I highly recommend you go check them out - they have everything there and their videos are very well done. They have a number of different instructors and they teach everything from beadweaving to riveting to fusing. Go check them out.
Last week I got a link to one of their videos - "Fused Fine Silver Peacock Chain Tutorial" and I really wanted to try it. I have been working with fine silver for a while now - I prefer it because it fuses with no need for solder and it doesn't get firescale the way sterling silver does - cuts WAY down on the clean up.
I watched the video through once - (wonderful instructor - Iris Sandkuhler - kudos for such a detailed video) and because the instructor went into so much detail she made it look manageable - and not at all scary. It's not that I am afraid of the torch, after all I do torch enameling and LOVE it, rather it's a fear of melting the silver when I try to fuse it. And this project calls for 20 gauge fine silver (although I used 18 gauge and am very happy with the results) so that made it all the more intimidating.
I laid out all the tools and followed along with the video - and I can definitely say I will be making this chain a lot. It was fun to do and makes up fast (I used a 3/4" copper pipe and 18 gauge fine silver).
I belong to a mailing list for Beaducation - if you haven't seen their YouTube vidoes I highly recommend you go check them out - they have everything there and their videos are very well done. They have a number of different instructors and they teach everything from beadweaving to riveting to fusing. Go check them out.
Last week I got a link to one of their videos - "Fused Fine Silver Peacock Chain Tutorial" and I really wanted to try it. I have been working with fine silver for a while now - I prefer it because it fuses with no need for solder and it doesn't get firescale the way sterling silver does - cuts WAY down on the clean up.
I watched the video through once - (wonderful instructor - Iris Sandkuhler - kudos for such a detailed video) and because the instructor went into so much detail she made it look manageable - and not at all scary. It's not that I am afraid of the torch, after all I do torch enameling and LOVE it, rather it's a fear of melting the silver when I try to fuse it. And this project calls for 20 gauge fine silver (although I used 18 gauge and am very happy with the results) so that made it all the more intimidating.
I laid out all the tools and followed along with the video - and I can definitely say I will be making this chain a lot. It was fun to do and makes up fast (I used a 3/4" copper pipe and 18 gauge fine silver).
the links
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