Learning my craft

If you've been here before, you'll know I make jewellery out of recycled materials. These tend to be steel and brass, but can be anything, and I do acquire scrap silver from time to time. However, as I'm self-taught, there are some gaps in my knowledge and skills, especially when it comes to precious metals - trial-and-errors great when materials are cheap, but silver, gold and beyond require more care. So, to fill some of these gaps, I booked a day's one-to-one tuition with the talented Joanne Tinley who works largely in silver and (luckily for me) has her studio in my home town.

The remit was to test some of my basic skills (sawing, designing, patterning etc) then work on a piece that would go through various soldering techniques. Some of this was familar, but it was great to get hints and tips from someone who does this full-time and is very experienced both as a jeweller and a teacher. Little things like how to set up a work-space make a lot of difference if you are working there for many hours, and some aspects really need to be taught practically - like listening to the sound of the metal that indicates your sawing technique's good. Turns out mine's pretty good, but with a tendency to be too tense - relax, let the saw do the work...

Hard at learn: fiddly tapping and a nerdy t-shirt

Working through the different soldering types systematically was fascinating, and a working knowledge of chemistry meant it was clearer why certain things happened the way they did. Then the solder, snip the solder, choose the right type, apply flux, apply solder-chips ('pallions'), heat, put flux on the larger piece, place small piece, heat again until it's soldered (look for the silvery join-line), quench and pickle (clean in weak acid). Kind of straightforward (ish), but something I really wasn't happy with from video tutorials. Now I am, even though there are lots of little points to remember along the way, such as don't let steel touch the pickle as it causes electrolysis and unwanted gilding happens!

Soldering trial-piece - copper and brass on silver

I also the got the opportunity to try some fiddly chain work, starting with thick wire and making rings, soldering them and decorating them. Fortunately, I made chainmail back in my historical re-enactment days, so winding wire, cutting and fitting rings was oddly familiar. With about 15 rings made, they formed another trial piece so I could try out more delicate soldering on the ring ends, again using various methods. Once the chain was formed, it was a matter of decorating them - something I'll continue doing in my own workshop to form a kind of 'swatch' of designs.

So, the outcome? Shiny items aside, new skills were gained, a few old ones improved, a stock of cool hints and tips collected, and I have a jewellery-tools shopping list so I can try out a host of new ideas! Tuition with someone who really knows their craft and enjoys teaching - highly recommended and even from a purely financial point of view, I reckon it's cheaper than trial-and-error with expensive materials...

The beginning of the decorated chain