A lot of the jewelry designs I have in mind include silver circles - so I made a whole bunch in various sizes. The process I used is very similar to how band rings are made from wire. I start by cutting wire to the length I need, and filing the ends til they are smooth. Then I form the wire into a kind of oval with the ends touching each other.
[caption id="attachment_475" align="alignnone" width="350" caption="Silver Rings - Before Fusing"]
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If I was using regular sterling silver, my next step would be to solder the rings - but I prefer fusing to soldering, so I used Argentium sterling silver. I line the rings up on my firebrick and fuse them closed with a propane torch. I like this method because it is less toxic than soldering - no flux, no pickle, only the propane gas and the metal itself. Also, there is less clean-up involved. My rings look pretty good right after fusing, and just need to be reshaped into circles.
[caption id="attachment_476" align="alignnone" width="350" caption="Rings - After Fusing"]
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I reshape them using a ring mandrel and a mallet, one at a time, then polish them a bit, and they are ready to be used in my jewelry designs (or worn as rings - many of them are big enough to fit an average woman's ring finger, though normally I'd use thicker wire for a finger ring). Some will be textured, others left smooth, and they'll become parts of earrings and necklaces.
Keep up your beautiful contemporary jewelry making!
Very cool article and technique!
Great info! I just bought some argentium wire and I am excited to try this. I’ve been wanting to start fusing too, but thought I needed to use fine silver only. Thanks so much!
Hi
Interesting post – I’d like to try this but am fond of oxidising. Am I right in thinking you can’t oxidise Argentium?
TIA.
Actually, you can oxidize argentium – I haven’t really tried it myself, but I’ve seen oxidized jewelry made from argentium.
I was wondering what is fusing. I am wondering if it is melting the two pieces together with just a very hot flame. Can you do this with Artisc wire?The non tarnish
I love your Jewelery!
I want to thank you for being so helpful to everybody.
Thank you
Jill
Yes, fusing is melting two pieces of metal together using a hot flame. I use a propane torch. I don’t think you can fuse artistic wire, although I’ve never tried so I’m not sure. The easiest metal to fuse, in my experience, is fine silver, and then argentium silver. Sterling can also be fused, but I’ve found it’s much harder to control the results than if you use fine or argentium silver. Hope this helps!
As I normally work in gold I had not heard about fusing argentium….LOVE hearing about new processes…off to happily research fusing argentium. Thanks!
I think you’ll love fusing argentium – I do, obviously