Fire and Water - Casting

I have been keen to add some organic forms to my jewellery collection, and today I finally managed to make a start using a method called water casting. I will be using reclaimed sterling silver for this, otherwise known as my huge pile of scrap silver.

I have taken a few photos of the process. The photography turned out to be my biggest challenge. An absolute nightmare trying to get decent photos when you have a blow torch in one hand and a red hot bowl of molten silver in the other.

The camera was on my very handy gorillapod which was wrapped around a high shelf next to my bench. I had intended using my foot to press the remote shutter, but the lead didn't stretch far enough from the high shelf (Christmas list - wireless remote), so in the end I had a blow torch in one hand, a red hot bowl of molten silver in the other and a remote shutter under my arm . Who needs an exercise class, I get to flex my muscles in my workshop while taking photos and making silver jewellery. Talk about multi tasking.

Anyway back to the melting pot. I like to heat the cruscible to a red glow, prior to adding the sterling silver. The silver becomes molten a lot quicker than if heating from a cold cruscible and reduces the time that the silver is under the flame, hence reducing the likelihood of serious oxidation. Once the cruscible is glowing, I add the silver along with some borax paste or powder to again help reduce the likelihood of oxidation of the silver.

                                                                                                                                                             

The silver will eventually take on a glassy look and all the pieces will start to move towards each other to form a ball. Have you ever seen 'terminator 2' when the terminator is shot and splinters of him fly all over the place, the splinters of metal turn to liquid and then move towards each other to form a whole part again. This is what you will see here, all the little blobs want to be one, but don't worry it won't turn into the terminator.

At this point I make sure that the spout of the cruscible is really hot as I want the silver to run out easily when I pour it. I keep the heat on the silver as I lift the cruscible and continue heating as I pour the silver into the water.

The finished piece will be totally organically formed and the outcome is always a surprise. Each piece will be unique, never to be created again. You can loosely control the shape, to a certain extent, by the way you pour and so it is always good to experiment with different pouring methods to produce different forms.

It is a bit of a hit and miss process. Sometimes you find nothing at the bottom of the bowl worth using and other times you will find a beautiful form that can be used as a pendant or soldered onto a ring.

Below are a few of the pieces I produced today. They will need to be properly pickled and cleaned if they are going to be used, but I wanted to get a few shots just to add them to this post. The piece can be left as a silver piece or accent beads can be added. I have added a swarovski pearl to one of the pieces just for some inspiration.

If you plan to try this out yourself, please be safe. I cannot take responsibilty for fire or bodily harm. Wear cotton clothing and a cotton apron if you have one, safety specs and sturdy shoes. If you have a fire extinguisher, keep it close, otherwise use the pot of water your quenching with to put out the fire.

The image above shows the gorillapod just in case you haven't seen one before.This is a really handy piece of kit. The tripod legs will bend and twist to allow you to support your camera anywhere. A shelf, a railing a tree branch etc.    

I will update this post if I use any of the pieces produced today for pendants or other jewellery items . For now, you can view a small collection of my jewellery at Kaledo.

Until next time xx