Working with Silver and Copper

On Friday I had a taster lesson in silversmithing with Aileen Hamilton at her studio in Redhill
 (details here )
 I thoroughly enjoyed trying something new and it was a treat to learn with Aileen.
She showed me some techniques and we tried them out on copper first.
I tried embossing the copper with various hammers and stamp like tools
Photos below
Top and bottom right
Amazingly the embossing on the top and bottom left were done by a dried leaf and some lace. These would be too fragile to hammer so each was laid on a piece of copper and were passed through a roller mill.

 Some of the tools I used.

To emboss the copper I hit the top of this tool several times with a hammer.

Annealing  The copper is heated then cooled in water to make the metal softer to bend. 

 Here the ring has been shaped, soldered and cleaned ready to be filed and polished.

I then chose how to decorate the silver. I enjoyed this part the best.

I then went through the other processes as described above for the copper ring.

Here I am trimming the ring to my size.

 and here it is soldered, cleaned filed and polished. I am pleased with the result and most satisfying to try something new to me and have some insights into an age old craft that goes back millennia.

florum 2013 Exhibition of Botanical and Floral Works

' Daylilies' silk painting (c)  Tessa Spanton SWA

 florum's 10th anniversary exhibition runs until 5pm on Saturday so if you haven't already been there is still time. I have 7 paintings on show plus prints and cards.

http://www.florum.co.uk/exhibition.html

florum 

Exhibition of botanical and floral works

7^th – 14^th SEPTEMBER

KWT Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, Bradbourne Vale Road, Sevenoaks TN13 3DH

more than 60 invited artists

all works for sale 

many different media

prints and cards

free admission and parking 

credit cards accepted

“It was certainly the best looking exhibition I’ve attended in terms of botanical artwork”  

(Katherine Tyrrell, one of the UK’s foremost art bloggers at http://www.makingamark.blogspot.com)

Our 2013 visitors said…

“It is so exciting to see something of this quality”
“This exhibition goes from strength to strength – every year better than the last!”
“An incredibly high standard – brilliant work”

http://www.florum.co.uk

Poppy in the Lavender watercolour (c) Tessa Spanton SWA