You will need metal stamps – alphanumeric if you want to stamp things like words and dates, or shapes and symbols to decorate your piece.

You’ll also need a piece of sheet metal – pre-cut circles work well – and a hammer and a hard surface such as a steel bench block to stamp on.

Place the metal on the stamping surface and position the stamp where you want to make your mark.

Now take your hammer (I use a heavy rubber mallet) and whack the back of your stamp. Practice this a few times on metal scraps so you get the hang of how hard you need to hit the stamp to get a good impression – too hard is just as bad as too light, so get a feel for how much force works.

I get the best results with three (or more) taps: one dead on, one holding the stamp slightly angled to the right, once holding it slightly angled to the left.

Here’s a video of me stamping with my new heart & flower stamps from artbeads:

Unfortunately, you can’t see how the stamp looks due to me being a total novice when it comes to making video, but at least you get a quick idea of the process!

Sterling Silver Water Castings

It is really easy to do and all you need is a torch, scraps of metal, something to hold the metal while you melt it, and a dish of water (I used a large ceramic bowl).

I’m mostly using argentium sterling silver in my work these days, but I have lots of leftover “plain” sterling silver, in the form of wire and scraps, so I used some of the wire for my castings. If I had a crucible, I’d melt scraps down & pour them into the water, but since I don’t, I just held wire in my soldering tweezers and held a flame on the end, melting up a ball until the melted ball got too heavy and fell into the water. You can see the results above. I like the golden color on the outside of the silver, so I might not bother doing any polishing/finishing. Maybe add a coat of wax to protect the finish?

You need a pretty large flame, so be sure nothing that could be heat damaged is too close to your torch. This plastic bag was at least a foot away:

Semi-Melted Plastic

What to do with water castings? I think I’m going to drill holes in mine and use them as beads to dangle from earrings and pendants.

I’d like to play with this technique more, but I need a crucible for melting the metal in order to get larger castings, so I’m not sure when it will happen.

I did try a little argentium silver, and got very different results using essentially the exact same technique:

Argentium Sterling Silver Water Castings

No oxidation, which is one of the properties of argentium silver that I love when I’m doing my fusing work, and it melts differently so the shapes and textures came out different from the regular sterling.

I haven’t tried fine silver yet, but I bet I’d get different looking results that way too…something else to try!

If you’ve done water casting, I’d love to see how yours came out. Leave a link in the comments if you have pictures of your water casting somewhere online or have seen good examples.

Here’s a sample video to check out, on piercing (in non-metalsmith language, this means essentially drilling a hole and then cutting out a shape with a saw), one of my favorite metalwork techniques:

A quick news flash: I was featured on the JET (Jewelry on Etsy Team) blog over the weekend as the Jet of the Day for Sunday – yay!

Also: new earring designs in the works that will *hopefully* be added to my etsy shop over the next week or so. It’s a mini series of designs centered around spirals, so if you like my spiral stud earrings, be sure to check back soon for the new spiral designs! I’ll also post pictures here on the blog once I get some good ones.

If you liked that one, the Beaducation YouTube channel has lots more!

This is partially true. You can use readymade components in many of the projects in this book, however, for most projects, you will need the metalsmithing skills to create some of your own components. Expect to drill, saw, solder, sand, and file. In other words, don’t expect to be able to run to the hardware store, by some metal bits and pieces, and make all of the projects. Some of the projects are very easy, while others are more intermediate metalwork projects.

That might sound like a criticism, but it’s really only a criticism of the title. I actually really appreciate that there are projects appropriate for a variety of skill levels. And from an aesthetic point of view, the projects and galleries in this book are definitely modern, and I like most of them. There are a lot of pieces of jewelry I’d wear in this book. I love the cover piece, which is by Joanna Gollberg (I’ve reviewed one or two of her books – love her style).

If you have the tools for basic metalwork, and know how to solder and drill, you’ll be able to complete most of the projects. I think this book is great for the beginner or intermediate metalworker, as well as for visual inspiration for anyone who likes modern style metal jewelry. Perfect for my self-imposed month of inspiration.

I don’t use solder in my metalwork, so the connections were made by fusing the metal together with a torch. This is kind of a tricky thing to get used to – if you heat the metal just a bit too long, you end up with a silver blob instead of whatever you were trying to make – but I’ve gotten used to the technique, and I’m really enjoying trying out new ways to use fused connections in my silver jewelry.

There isn’t too much clean-up involved after fusing argentium. I used a little piece of steel wool to get rid of some slight discoloration, and then cleaned the earrings in soapy water, but that’s it for finishing. I like the raw look of the hammered texture, so I usually leave it alone after hammering. For a shiny finish, I would need to polish each piece a bit and then do a final finish in the tumbler.

Read more Tell Me Thursday posts

Hoopy Earrings In Progress

(As promised yesterday, some photos of my new hoopy earrings in progress)

This happened recently when I realized a fusing technique I use might make possible some earring designs that had been floating around in my head, and when I tried it, it worked beautifully.

Whenever I can adapt a new technique to a new design, I get really inspired to come up with new work. My new line of argentium silver earrings is growing rapidly, and I’m enjoying every minute that I work on it. I’m doing real metalwork – torching, filing, hammering, polishing – and I’ve gotten good enough that I can reliably recreate my results, which is important for selling jewelry through stores and galleries.

I think metalwork is really special, because it is so literally handmade – every mark, every shape, even whether the finish is matte or shiny, is done by my hand. It’s more labor intensive than the work I do with beads and wire, but I think it’s worth it to have pieces that have so much of my hand in every single aspect of how the finished product looks. (And getting to use lots of tools doesn’t hurt either – I LOOOVE tools. The more dremel attachments I can use, the better. Hammering? Great way to destress, and a killer arm workout too.)

If I can get some good photos, I’ll post the latest batch of earrings later this week (and very soon into my etsy shop). I think they are pretty awesome, but I suppose I’m biased.

Check out Monday’s Muse to read about what inspires other moms.

It occurred to me that, coincidentally, I’m using a very green process in my metalsmithing work.

If you don’t do metalwork, you might not be aware of all the toxic stuff involved – dust particles, vapors, and fumes created while working with metal shouldn’t be inhaled, so jewelers have fancy ventilation systems installed in their studios and/or wear high-tech respirators (side benefit – if Swine Flu gets out of control, we have lots of masks at my house).

When I started trying to get pregnant a couple years ago, I was concerned that, although I am careful to use proper safety precautions, it might not be very good for me or my future child for me to be working with so many toxic chemicals all the time. I also wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of storing my leftover chemicals to take to the hazardous waste recycling facility.

There are a number of ways to reduce chemical exposure, and after some trial and error and a lot of practice, I figured out a way to do all my metalwork without flux, solder, or pickle. This means that I am virtually chemical free. The only thing I’m burning when I work with metal is propane gas. It’s a simpler way to work, and I don’t have to worry so much about whether I need to change the filters in my respirator. It puts my mind at ease, knowing that if I ever decide to get pregnant again, I have safety measures in place that ensure I’m not going to do any harm to myself or a baby.

It is also a more environmentally friendly way to work. I don’t have any chemicals to dump, so I’m not contributing to water pollution. Because I got worried about my health, I’ve created a more green product.