Casting Silver Scraps...

Well we finished another project this week.  So it's time to collect the scraps of silver from around the shop and cast some silver rods.

I use a ceramic crucible that I previously treated with flux to form a nice coat of glass on the surface.  I use a MAPP gas torch as it produces more heat and enough BUTs to melt the silver.

Once the silver has melted and forms a nice silver sphere in the crucible, it is ready to pour into the mold.  I need to keep the flame just in front of the silver as I tilt slowly the crucible to pour. 

This ensures that the spout of the crucible is warm and does not cool-off the silver before it enter the mold.  You want to pour the silver quickly but smoothly into the mold.  This prevents trapping air into the pour and make an even density cast.

I let things cool down for a few minutes, then I opened the mold and there it is a nice rod of silver. 

Silver PMC Leaf...

Here's a really cool piece that my wife made with silver PMC slurry.  A while back, we took a course on how to use silver PMC to make interesting shapes that would be practically impossible to make any other ways.   This is an excellent example of this.

My wife picked a leaf out of our garden and very patiently applied something like 20 thin coats of PMC slurry.

During the Christmas break I finally got the time to install a proper fan above my welding/soldering area in the shop.  We were finally able to fire the piece.  After pickling and some deburring, this is what the leaf looks like.  It turned out to be rather heavy (solid silver after all).  It will make an interesting brooch or pendant.

Silver Bracelet...

This is a silver bracelet that I made while attending a class in the fall last year.  

I cut the silver segments, then gave them a full turn twist, while holding them in pliers.   I did not anneal the silver as I wanted the segments to hold their shapes.

I formed the connecting rings and filed a flat at the joint.  I then got a lot of practice soldering the rings to the end of the segments.

I made the elongated jump rings, connecting the segments together, then soldered the joints of the rings.

I made the catch in a similar pattern of the segments and jump rings.  I soldered a small connecting ring to the catch bar and attached it to the last segment.  The catch ring is sized so the bar just slides in but will not accidentally come loose.

The bracelet then spent a bit of time in pickle to remove the soldering by-products.  I then carefully filed and sanded all the solder joints.  Finally it spent a few moments in the tumbler filled with stainless steel shot.