Fair-the-well

The S.E. Alaska fair is history and I am getting back to my own life!

I decided to teach myself to fuse silver today, I've seen pictures, I have a book, I have a torch. I did it!  It's really not that difficult, but it involves melting metal.  You make a ring out of silver, making sure the two cut ends match up as perfectly as possible by using flush cutters.  Heat that ring round and round with a butane torch then when it's red hot and a little bit liquid, you give the cut ends a little more attention with the torch (but not too much!) and poof, like magic the ends fuse together.  Too much heat and they blob together, too little and they remain cut ends.

I made myself a couple of finger rings...need to make them smaller so I can texture them with the hammer. Rings get bigger when you hammer them, especially on a mandrel.  I also made a couple smaller circles to practice being a little more delicate with the torch.  It takes less heat to make a smaller ring hot enough, easier to make a blob join.

More ways to make better jewelry.