New class starting October 7, 2014

Class starting Oct 7 --- 6 weeks
Tuesday -morning 9:30am to 1pm or Tuesday evening 6:30 to 9:30pm
www.Brecksvillearts.org
for details or call 440-526-6232
adult or teen over 16

How to price your art -

Pricing work is never easy - most recommend a starting hourly salary (for yourself), then figure the cost of materials and multiply that by (at lest) 2.5, add in the cost of utilities, packaging, etc., then hope that the client will pay the price you come up with.

Metalsmithing Classes starting Septmeber 2014

Six week session~~ all levels~~

Tuesday evenings 6:30-9:30 pm
Starting Sept. 2014 (Date to be determined)
Location: Brecksville Ohio. 44141
4450 Oakes Road, Building 7

Oakes Road is located between Brecksville Road (St. Rt. 21)
and Broadview Road (St. Rt. 176) just south of Royalton Road (St. Rt 82)

Learn to cut with a hand saw, use various hand tools to file, form and shape, sand, solder or rivet and polish.
Copper and brass will be included in the material fee. Sterling silver and gem stones can be ordered or may be available at an extra charge in class.

Bring your own tools or use those provided.

To sign up: call 440-526-6232 or visit www.BrecksvilleArts.org.

If you have questions, please email me at: eyecandygallery2173@yahoo.com

What is Metalsmithing?

http://www.jewelrymakingdaily.com/topics/metalsmithing.aspx

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Six week session - all levels

Tuesday evenings 6:30-9:30 pm

Starting Sept. 24th ~ Ending Oct., 29th 2013

Location:  Brecksville Ohio.  44141 

4450 Oakes Road,   Building 7.  One mile east of Broadview Road 

Copper and brass will be included in the material fee.  Sterling silver and gem stones can be ordered or may be available at an extra charge in class. 
Students must have a design in mind,  , file, sand, solder or rivet and polish.   

Learn to cut with a hand saw, use various hand tools to file, form and shape, sand, solder or rivet and polish.  

Make earrings, pendants, brooches, bracelets.   Many students complete more than one project. 

Great Blog article by Kate Richbourg

Metalsmithing/Jewelry class
Brecksville Center for the Arts  (Blossom facility on Oakes Road)
Brecksville, OH  44141  440-526-6232

Soldering vs. Fusing: Learn the Pros and Cons in Jewelry Making and When to Do Which

by Kate Richbourg

To solder or fuse, that's the question! Literally. It's a question that my students ask quite often. Since fusing and soldering are high on my list of go-to metalsmithing techniques, I want to share some of my observations with you and discuss the differences and the merits of each method.

Soldering involves joining metal using an additional metal alloy called solder. A small bit of solder is placed on the join and heated using a torch. As the solder melts and then cools, the metal is connected at the join to form a solid bond. Copper (even though it is pure), sterling silver, brass, bronze and gold filled are soldered in this way. However, heating these metals forms a layer of cupric oxide, known as firescale, on the surface. This needs to be removed with an acidic solution (called pickle) or by filing and sanding before additional soldering can be done on the piece. This is time consuming but necessary for soldering.

Fusing is a little different. This technique requires the use of pure metals, pure or "fine" silver and 24Kt gold, not alloys. No solder is needed to join (fuse) these two metals to themselves. This time the torch is used to quickly melt the metal, and it joins (fuses) as it cools. Since the metals are pure and contain no copper (the culprit of firescale), there is no discoloration and the metal is as shiny as it was before it was heated with the torch. No pesky pickling is required.

Now let's compare fused and soldered pieces to see how they differ.

This is fused chain. Fine silver is great for making chain, as it is soft and easy to shape. After fusing a ring, the metal seam disappears, so no filing is required. Work can be done rapidly as you don't have to stop and clean your piece before proceeding to the next step. And after the finished piece spends 20 minutes or so in a tumbler, it's shiny and becomes work hardened.

One drawback is getting fine silver to fuse without leaving a tiny lump at the join. Molten metal flows and follows the heat of the torch, so sometimes if the flame lingers in one place, the molten metal can pool at that spot and cause the lump.

Now check out these soldered rings, below. Since they are made of sterling silver, copper and brass, they cannot be fused. If you want to work with metals other than fine silver and pure gold, soldering is required.

This copper ring is ready to solder. The copper solder (this kind already contains flux, so extra flux is not needed) is placed under the join, the piece is heated with the torch . . .		. . . and the solder flows into the join, creating the bond. At this point the seam will still be visible and needs to be filed away. Use a jewelry file or pull out your Dremel to remove the seam.

Next, let's look at a couple of pieces that I fabricated with fine silver and soldered rings.

Check out the fine silver component. See how all of the links are sitting flush together? In order to have a successful fuse, the joins must be flush.		Now here is the piece post fuse. You can really see the melted joins. It's a cool, organic look, but not as clean as the soldered version.

You can see the rings with copper wire solder set and ready to go . . .		. . . and the post soldered version with the rings intact and sturdy joins.

Both the soldered copper and the fused fine silver pieces look great; one is organic (fused fine silver) and one has cleaner lines (soldered copper). In the comparison below, you can see how they look after hammering. These are ready to incorporate into a piece of jewelry.

So, let's sum up. Fusing is best used for making rings and chain. Components can be made with it, but remember that you'll get a "melted" look where the pieces connect together. Fusing only works on pure metals and has the advantage of being firescale free. It should be work hardened in a tumbler to add strength.

Soldering is used to fabricate all types of metal components. You'll need to apply solder and flux before soldering, and after it spends time under the torch, you'll need to pickle (or file and sand) the piece to remove the firescale. The resulting pieces have clean lines and (hopefully) no melted metal.

I hope you'll enjoy experimenting with fusing and soldering as much as I do. Both methods come in handy and produce great jewelry components.

--Kate