One of the things I really love about working with silver and copper is the endless opportunities they is to be creative.  You can use every single bit of the silver and copper not wasting a single speck.

I use various techniques to make the most of these versatile metals. My favourite, without a doubt is using a small blow torch to melt down my off cuts. Even the dust created by filing and tiniest off cuts from cutting and shaping can be used as long as it’s clean and doesn’t include any contaminants.  To make sure this is the case, I clean down my bench between each project, or use of different metals so that I don’t mix silver and copper shavings together.  I keep little pots on my bench for each different metal to pop in my off cuts and sweep in the dust after filing to reuse.

Over time you can accumulate lots of metal from making and I have set myself a challenge for this month to use up my collection in as many creative ways as I can.

I have started with the easiest of all, making silver pebbles or nuggets.  To do this you simply pile a bit of  silver together and use the torch to melt it.  This causes the silver to ball up into a natural pebble shape. Once cooled you can turn this into anything from a charm to pendant or process to make sheet or wire. 

These two projects both began the same way, by making pebbles. For the heart I hammered it almost flat then used a sharp edged hammer to create a crosshatch effect.  I cut a little copper heart from a small scrap of sheet and soldered to the pebble then textured this with a diamond tipped hand tool to create that pretty frosted sparkly effect.

For the paw print I melted a tiny amount of copper in the same way and flattened with a hammer for the pad and used tiny off cuts from punching holes in copper for the toes.

Next week I’ll be using different techniques so watch this space for more waste not to want it projects.

MaxPring
Hello and a very warm welcome to Max Pring Jewellery, here you will find a range of hand crafted artisan jewellery and accessories.My passion is for metal, I use mainly Silver alongside a little Gold, Copper and Brass. The main thing I love about metal is that it's so versatile, you can melt it, hammer it, bend it, stamp it, shape it, fuse it, add stones to it and if that's not enough you can texture it, paint it, heat it, etch it and polish it too.  You will see the majority of these techniques used in my work as I do love to play!. I find my inspiration from the lush Welsh countryside<em>, </em>living near Pontypridd in the Rhondda Valleys I have beautiful views across the rolling hills and a wildlife reserve just down the road. There's also a lot of old industrial sites where nature has stepped back in, but you can find some really old interesting textures and patterns on abandoned machinery so I'm never short of inspiration.I try to provide a range of items from simple designs that I make time and time again such as my wrap bangles and scarf rings alongside personalised items and one off artisan pieces, perfect if you like a little something different or want to give a gift with meaning.