Come every Wednesday night from 6:30-9:30 for eight weeks, and learn how to manipulate sterling silver into finished pieces of jewellery.
This class covers sawing, piercing, soldering, stone setting using bezels, filing and polishing.
Students will start with a pendant and then make a ring. No experience necessary, this class is great for beginners,
who work well in small class sizes, with lots of one-on-one attention.
A list of tools and materials that you will need (and additional tools maybe required or recommended):
Come every Tuesday night from 6:30 9:30 for eight weeks and take your beginning silversmithing skills to the next level. Some of the techniques covered will be doming, hollow forms, fusing, tube making; pearl, gypsy, tube settings, and more. These techniques will be demonstrated, and you will be guided through practice pieces that you will incorporate into your future designs.
1st day demo on making a hollow ring
2nd day demo on filing and polishing using flex shaft and different abrasives.
3rd day demo on making a square bezels with open and solid backing
4rd day demo on doming, soldering dome on a plate, pearl setting
5th day demo on tube making
6th day demo on tube and gypsy stone setting
7th day demo on fusing a chain
8th day practice under the instructors supervision
Tools and Materials may include but not are limited to the list for the beginner class plus additional tools:
1 Bezel/Prong Pusher
Caliper (preferably digital)
1-Solder Picker
Pliers: Round Nose Pliers, Half Round Pliers, Flat Nose Pliers, Chain Nose Pliers
Divider
Peg clamp
Burnisher
1-Rawhide Mallet
1 bur + set of rubber wheels and a mizzy wheel (can be bought later during the course)
Setting Burs (project specific)
Silver: Wire and Sheet
Stones: Cabochon (square or triangle) and Facetted stones
Come for this two day course to study two beautiful three-dimensional surface techniques. Reticulation will give your silver a "crinkled" look when you heat up your silver past the annealing point, but not to the melting point. Then you will learn granulation, that you can use for your sterling silver piece or add granules to your reticulated jewellery. No solder is needed for this technique, so the granules will be fused to the surface very accurately. You will also learn the difference between granulation of sterling and argentium silver. No previous experience necessary.
1st day demo on reticulation
2nd day demo on granulation.
A list of tools and materials that you will need (and additional tools maybe required or recommended):
1- 4" Jewelers Saw Frame
1 doz 3/0 Saw Blades
1 pair AA Tweezers
1-Solder Picker
1 pair Fire Tweezers
1 Center punch
1 - Charcoal
1 - Ballbur (project specific)
1 - Organic glue
Precut reticulation silver 18 or 20 ga
Sterling silver pieces that you would like to granulate
Come to this three-day course on Saturdays and learn how to make three clasps: a ball
catch, lentil- and box- clasp that can either decorate a custom-made piece of jewellery or become a centre piece of a truly unique necklace or a bracelet. The interior locking mechanisms will stay from the sight of a viewer and give an illusion of non existence of a clasp. Advanced knowledge of Silversmithing is required.
1st day demo on making a ball-catch
2nd day demo on making a box clasp
3rd day demo on making a lentil clasp
Tools and Materials may include but not are limited to the list for the beginner class plus additional tools:
Saw frame and saw blades
1 Bezel/Prong Pusher
Caliper (preferably digital)
Divider
Ruler
1-Solder Picker
Pliers: Round Nose Pliers, Half Round Pliers, Flat Nose Pliers, Chain Nose Pliers
Divider
Peg clamp (optional)
Burnisher
1-Rawhide Mallet
1 bur + set of rubber wheels and a mizzy wheel for polishing
Silver or copper: Wire and Sheet
Stones: Cabochon (square or triangle) and Facetted stones
At this two day course students will learn advanced soldering techniques while working on an intricate 3 dimensional soldering project. Techniques to be covered include pick soldering, step and sweat soldering, soldering gold (optional) and gold-filled wire using gold and silver solder, using hard solder exclusively for all connections to make your soldering process easier.
1st day demo on sweat soldering of wire and granules onto a plate (a ring project) and copper with silver
2nd day demo on step soldering (a wire project with multiple solderings)
A list of tools and materials that you will need (and additional tools maybe required or recommended):
This two-day survey course offers a look at various stone setting techniques. Add sparkle to your work with gypsy, prong, tube and reverse settings. Learn 4 stone setting techniques over a weekend! Advanced knowledge of Silversmithing is required.
1st day demo on gypsy setting, tube setting and soldering a basket setting
2nd day demo on prong setting and reverse setting
Tools and Materials may include but not are limited to the list for the beginner class plus additional tools:
Caliper (preferably digital)
1-Solder Picker
1 AA tweezers
1 Fire tweezers
Ring clamp
Parallel pliers
Mallet
Set of needle files (or just two: triangle and round file)
1 Saw frame and saw blades
Pliers: Round Nose Pliers, Half Round Pliers, Flat Nose Pliers, Chain Nose Pliers
Divider
Emery paper #2 (project specific)
Setting Burs (project specific)
Bezel wire
Silver: Wire and Sheet
Stones: Cabochon (round or oval low dome) and Facetted stones (8 mm round for the basket setting, 1,5mm to 3mm for gypsy setting and 2mm to 6mm size round stone for tube setting)
Come to this course to learn how to make and polish your own gravers and the techniques you can achieve by using them, that will allow you to get to the new level of decorating your jewellery with ornaments, textures and stone setting. You will also learn two stone setting techniques that include star setting and pave setting of a single stone and a row of stones on a flat surface as well as a ring.
A list of tools and materials that you will need (and additional tools maybe required or recommended):
1- Round Engraver
1 - Flat Engraver
1 - Knife graver
3 - Handles
1 - Saw Frame
1 - doz 3/0 Saw Blades
1 - Scriber
Set of beading tools (optional)
Ring Clamp (if you are making a ring)
Divider
1-Rawhide Mallet
1 bur + set of rubber wheels and a mizzy wheel (can be bought later during the course)
Learn to make cold connections using hinges, rivets, and interlocking pieces. This 2 day workshop will show you how to make 3 dimensional pieces with tube set stones, how to make a specialized tool for this technique, and how to use closures and links as a decorative element of the piece.
1st day demo on a tight and 3D riveting using wire and tubes and making rivets with tube set stones
2nd day demo on making a locket.
A list of tools and materials that you will need (and additional tools maybe required or recommended):
1-Saw Frame
1 doz.-Saw Blades
Cup Bur (the size is depending on your project)
1 4-cut Barrette Needle File
1-Rawhide Mallet
2-cut Half Round File
Stone Setting Burs (the size is depending on your project)
This two day course is designed for those who are fascinated with the variety of jewellery pieces that chain weaving techniques can suggest. Come to learn 5 ways to weave your chains, four of which require soldering.
A list of tools and materials that you will need (and additional tools maybe required or recommended):
1- 4" Jewelers Saw Frame
1 doz 3/0 Saw Blades
Mandrels for chain making
1 pair AA Tweezers
1-Solder Picker
1 pair Fire Tweezers
1 Center punch
1 drill bit (0.6 1.00 mm)
Pliers: Round Nose Pliers, Flat Nose Pliers, Chain Nose Pliers
