Tonight I started a class on turning silver into jewelry. Fabrication, to be specific. There will be very little casting, and a lot of welding, cutting, milling and whatever goes into putting hunks of precious metal together.
Last night I did several things for the first time–I used a propane torch and an acetyline torch. I melted silver and poured it into a mold. I quenched it. I squished it into wire and I annealed it.
I neither screamed, fainted or flinched while lighting and using the torches. The propane torch made a nifty noise like a jet engine when I turned it way up. Kinda liked it. Some of you might be wondering about that, because having experienced being on fire in the past you might assume that I have a very rational fear of it. It’s true. I am very uncomfortable with fire. So much so that I need to challenge myself now and then. Push the boundaries.
It was fine, which is good because in the next six weeks I’ll be using the torches quite a bit.
This is what I ended up with tonight:
Yes. It’s a hunk of sterling silver. About 18 grams of it. Pretty exciting, right? Next week I’m going to make it into a longer, skinnier hunk of sterling silver. Maybe learn how to weld. This might be a good time to think about what I want the silver to become.
A bracelet, perhaps….
Four out of ten students in the class are left-handed. Do you suppose that’s meaningful? Are lefties more apt to be into creative endeavors? Is it a big coincidence? I dunno.