Silver jewellery making – Everything you need to know

There are five basic steps to working with Silver:

1. Saw the metal into the shape you desire
2. File the metal
3. Work the metal (by forging, hammering, texturing, dapping and/or doming it) to further shape it
4. Solder the metal (join the precious and semi-precious metals such as Silver, Gold, brass, and copper)
5. Finish the metal (by texturing, burnishing, buffing, polishing and patinating it)

What you need for Silver jewellery making

• A hand torch

• A soldering probe/pick

• A soldering board

• A ring mandrel

• A rawhide mallet

• Metal files: Half-round files, flat files and needle files

• Copper tongs/tweezers

• Pickle

• A ceramic or glass pot for your pickle

• Flush cutters

• Needle nose pliers

• Round nose pliers

• Parallel jaw pliers

• Flux

• Silver solder

• Silver wire/sheet/chips/paste

• Polishing cloths or a mechanical tumbler

• A mask