After getting your studio set up with all the tools you'll need to cut, shape, and join metal, the next step is to learn and perfect the techniques you'll use. Besides investigating metal's basic properties and the essentials of metals techniques and processes, this chapter also delves into the nature of other materials.
When jewelers have a deep understanding of their medium, they can confidently explore new design avenues. Likewise, those who invest in learning about their material, its limitations, and its potential are often the first to create groundbreaking designs.
All About Metals
Put, a jeweler who works in a studio is also a metalsmith. Jewelers typically avoid working with iron and steel, but they must know about the properties of all metals. If metal is your primary medium, familiarity with its wide varieties will come in handy.
Nonferrous metals include base metals and precious metals. Jewelers have traditionally worked with these metals for centuries. "Precious metals" include platinum, silver, and gold.
In this context, "base metals" refers to titanium, nickel, brass, aluminum, and copper. In addition, nonferrous metals can be alloyed together to create new metals like bronze.
Most alloys are developed because of their superior strength or aesthetic appeal. Sterling silver, white gold, and rose gold are just a few of the most sought-after alloys.
Soldiers are another type of alloy; silver or gold is combined with various other metals to lower their melting points. Finally, solder is an alloy of various metals, including zinc and cadmium. Again, soldiers of varying melting and flow points are crafted by adjusting the alloy's constituent components.
Beads and findings used in jewelry-making and crafting use both base metals and semi-precious or precious metals.
Solders
Always use hard solder for the first joint when working on intricate jewelry, and switch to medium for the second joint so that the first one doesn't reflow. For technical reasons, we provide precise flow temperatures; however, most jewelers do not have access to a temperature-measuring device for their solder before the time it flows. Only through experience and observation of the metal's color and the flux's progress during heating can you acquire this information. In addition, there is a wide range of melting temperatures, from the low temperatures associated with "easy" solder to the medium temperatures associated with "medium" solder and the high temperatures associated with "hard" solder.
Metal Types
Most jewelry is made with precious metals, although unaltered precious metals are either too soft or too brittle to be worn daily. Gold and silver alloys are the most common. With the addition of copper, silver can be made into sterling, which is much more durable than pure silver. Most sterling silver is marked with the words "sterling" or the number ".925" to indicate that it contains 92.5 percent silver. The copper percentage accounts for the remaining 75. For the vast majority of metals, this is the standard measure. They are measured in parts per thousand and given a grade.
Answering the Question, "What Is a Karat?"
The term "karat" in the United States refers to a specific measurement scale. Precious metals are measured in thousandths of a part by the international standard. For reference, the purest form of gold is 24 karats, which equates to a purity level of 1 in 1,000. In keeping with this system, 18-karat gold would contain 75% gold (750/1,000).
As you branch out into working with other precious metals, you must familiarize yourself with each metal's properties before you start using it. The metals aluminum and pewter, for instance, are both considered pollutants.
Any residue left on your tools from working with these metals will cause reactions when you switch back to sterling silver or gold. To prevent contamination, you should use different equipment and thoroughly clean the area where you are working. Copper, brass, and silver can be used nearby without fear of a reaction. Although most jewelers have separate tools for working with gold and platinum, some may use the same set.
Studio jewelers frequently work with metals like:
Platinum
The color of platinum is grayish-white. It has the highest value among precious metals. As a result of its high specific gravity, it is also one of the heaviest metals. Because of its high quality and popularity, it is highly sought after by jewelers and consumers.
A combination of high demand and impressive properties makes it the costliest raw material. As a result, platinum is frequently used to create fine jewelry sets with costly precious stones. Thanks to its exceptional quality, it retains its sheen and resistance to tarnish and scratch.
Platinum is a rare and valuable metal, but it isn't easy to work with and often necessitates specialized tools, polishing compounds, and machinery. In addition, typical casting techniques cannot be used because of their extremely high melting point. As a result, most independent jewelers don't smelt their platinum or use it in more conventional forms like wire or sheet.
Gold
Gold, in its purest form, is a soft, yellow metal easily shaped. However, silver is the most malleable precious metal because of its high purity and resistance to corrosion and tarnishing. Therefore, gold is almost always alloyed with other metals to increase its hardness before being used to make jewelry, as pure gold is far too soft.
White, red, and green are just some of the colors that can be made by combining these alloys. In addition, gold is more straightforward than soldering any other metal, making it ideal for novice jewelers.
Because silver and gold have similar working properties, silversmiths and goldsmiths often use the same machinery. In addition, gold's stability in the face of market fluctuations makes it a safe investment, and its luxurious feel and look make it a worthwhile accessory.
Silver
Silver is a white metal almost as pliable and soft as gold in its pure form. However, silver's natural resistance to corrosion is tempered by the fact that it tarnishes quickly when exposed to air and water.
Silver naturally tarnishes, as any owner of sterling flatware can attest. So while pure silver can be shaped and worn as jewelry, the metal is typically alloyed with copper to increase its durability.
Sterling silver is the common name for this silver alloy. Compared to gold, soldering sterling silver presents a slight challenge, but the material is still easily worked by skilled artisans. Studio jewelers prefer sterling because it is easy to work with, keeps its shine, and reflects light beautifully. Furthermore, it is the most budget-friendly of the precious metals. It's also possible to find silver in almost any shape.
Copper
Reddish copper is one of the metals that make up this category. This material, in its purest form, is very pliable and soft, and it tarnishes and patinas quickly. Due to its high sulfur content, it develops a beautiful blue-green patina when exposed to the elements.
Copper is a low-cost metal that can be used as a training tool for raising and other metalworking processes. It has a high melting point and can be worked with the same saws, files, and polishes as silver.
Jewelry made from copper can be exquisite if the metal is used correctly. To avoid greening the wearer's skin, most copper jewelry is coated with a protective layer or lined with sterling in the areas where it will come into contact with the skin. Hammering, work hardening, and annealing copper results in very pleasing results.
Brass
Brass is a copper-and-zinc alloy. It doesn't eat away at things, but it oxidizes quickly. The high copper content makes it patina quickly. Brass can be acquired cheaply, making it a valuable educational tool. Take care because of its low melting point when attempting to solder with it.
Bronze
Bronze is alloyed from tin and copper. It's a cheap alloy that ages beautifully into a tarnished patina. Because of its durability and versatility, sculptors and metalworkers have relied on it for centuries. To make models and cast objects, this metal is indispensable. In addition, Craftspeople in the jewelry industry use it frequently as a casting practice tool.
Nickel
Nickel silver, despite its name, is not silver. Its name comes from the fact that it visually resembles silver, another white metal. It's made from an alloy combination of copper, nickel, and zinc. It's a pain to work with and itchy for the skin if worn for too long. Many individuals are allergic to nickel silver. Drilling and sawing exercises are common uses for nickel silver.
Metal Selection in Jewelry-Making
Purchasing metals is one of the most stressful and demanding jobs for jewelers. Metals can be made into almost any configuration, including custom shapes, sizes, thicknesses, and lengths. Unfortunately, each one of these shapes corresponds to a specific measurement system. Different countries and vendors use different units of measure.
Metric, fractions of an inch, and scales are all possible units of measurement. Brown and Sharpe, abbreviated "B&S," is the standard measurement system. Sheet metal and round wire are typically purchased using the B&S system because of their convenient ability to indicate thickness. In B&S, the unit of measure is the opposite of what is used in everyday language.
A higher B&S number indicates thinner metal. Very thick and heavy metal with a B&S number around 2 or 4 would be considered a hunk of junk. It's tough to imagine how the metal will look once you order it, even though the chart shows the B&S number as it corresponds to inches and millimeters.
Hardening and Annealing
When comparing one metal to another, it's easy to see how drastically their characteristics can vary. Alloying further alters the properties of the metal. There are times when in-depth knowledge of a specific metal and the ability to work with it autonomously are required. Because of its low price, most beginning artisans start with sterling silver.
Their molecular structure shifts when metals are deformed in various ways, such as being stretched, hammered, bent, or heated. Work hardening refers to the process by which metal undergoes a physical transformation.
In its inactive form, sterling is a pliable metal. However, when you put in even a little effort, it starts to feel "half hard." Metal is considered "hard" if it can be pushed, stretched, or moved without breaking. It is called "spring hard" when the metal is worked past the point of no return. Beyond this final stage, your metal will start to crack, flake, and chip as it breaks down.
Making Metal Stock
Many artisans in studio jewelry shops fabricate their metal sheets and wire. Creating your stock is a straightforward process that calls for only a few inexpensive tools, but it can take a lot of time and patience.
Some jewelers do it to adjust the amount of gold in the alloy to their liking. Some people do it to cut costs by making new sheets and wire out of scrap. Some people do it to mitigate the environmental damage caused by mining for precious metals, while others do it out of moral conviction. Making your stock can be satisfying for a variety of reasons.
Broken chains, bent rings, and project scraps are all viable candidates for recycling. First, take apart and clean any soldered or clasped parts. Next, you'll need to put the materials in a crucible, heat them until they're pliable, and then pour the molten metal into ingot molds. These molds come in various shapes to accommodate the various ingot designs. In-gots typically come in the form of flat bars used in the production of sheets or thick sticks used in the production of wire.
Make sure to heat the mold simultaneously with the metal. It is a recipe for disaster to pour molten metal into a cold mold. Once the metal has cooled, the mold is broken apart, and the stretching, rolling, and hammering processes can begin.
A significant portion of the rolling mill process is devoted to annealing because the metal becomes work hardened as it is flattened. Therefore, your workpiece will need to be annealed, quenched, and dried after every other or third pass through the rolling mill.
Similarly, wire is produced by passing it through a drawplate, a heavy steel plate clamped in a workbench vice, after being rolled on a rolling mill. Again, holes of varying sizes are scattered across the plate.
The first step is to feed your stick ingot into a rolling mill, where the ingot will be reduced in size thanks to a series of grooves in the mill's roller. When further processing in the mill is no longer an option, the material moves to the drawplate. Next, the wire is threaded through each hole in order, beginning with the most significant hole.
Drawing occurs as the wire is repeatedly fed through the openings. It takes a lot of time to draw down or shorten your wire. This is because the cycle of annealing, quenching, drying, and repeating must be repeated every few passes. Draw tongs are used in this procedure to grasp the wire's end as it is manipulated through the openings. Beeswax can be used to lubricate the wire and make pulling easier.
