Design went back to the benches this week, a place where, as a jeweller, I feel very much at home. Working on a new contemporary range of cufflinks I felt the need to get my hands on some metal so I headed over to Thomas Lyte Silver to feed on inspiration. Rooting through the vast array of base metal sheets, rods and wires I was left to my own devices to break saw blades and gather together a range of mock-ups that could be turned into swish and shiny new cufflinks.
The boys tried to teach Mark (our engraver who’s fast becoming a skilled apprentice silversmith) and I the old hand silversmith’s way of strip feeding solder into the flame. It was much more fun than the traditional jewelers approach of snipping and precisely placing small strips of rolled solder but after a few laughable attempts (one mock up contains more easy flow solder than base metal!) I shelved the new approach and decided it’s probably best to come back to it when I’m working on significantly larger pieces -or have the time to sit and chip pools of excess solder off the heat plate!
All in all a fun yet productive day, watch this space for the results!
Tags: Engraving Silver, Luxury Leather Goods, Luxury Silver Goods, Making Silver Cufflinks, Thomas Lyte, Thomas Lyte Silver Workshop