Coffee pot needed work after a bad happening. How? I annealed many times. I was looking for any cracking while moving metal, especially around fold in body. I lucked out and did not have any crack. I did how every have 4 pin holes in the chasing. All and all I am pleased it actually worked with no cracking.

I have not posted in several months. The reason is the privacy policy I have with some of my clients. Museum and Private Collectors to not show what I have restored or conserved for them. I have been busy with many restoration projects and remaking of old jewelry into new jewelry for clients. My new business of Argentum and the Leopard's Head has been exciting for my customers who have consigned things to sell and for me.

This is a pair of 18K white gold glasses with 14k rose gold screws. I like using 14k rose gold because it has more of a rose color than 18k, plus it is harder and works well for the mechanics.

I was commissioned to make these to match an antique pair of glasses that were made of horn.

I am working on a new pair of glasses for myself.  They are sterling.  

Rare Vanderslice Cruet Set. It is a mechanically well crafted. It has a long tube that goes down the center which also serves as the connection to the handle to pick up the set. There are two parts on the base, one the stand and the other the plate the crystal sits upon. There is a cylinder that fits into another cylinder between the two discs that make up the base allowing the turning. The tubing is held into place by a larger tube with a nut underneath the two silver discs.  It was made in San Francisco in 1858. Style is Renaissance Revival>

I started with 18 gauge sheet silver, 12 inches by 17 inches.  I used sandbag and steel stakes and hammers to make this piece. My hands were part of the moving. I often bend the metal with my hands or by stepping on it, if it is too hard to move by hand.  I love the curves of sea shells and waves. Sometimes I draw with pencil and paper before I start, to see curves, other times I will have in my minds eye what I want to hammer . I often spend time daydreaming the shape in all of its angles and curves. I can turn and move the image in my mind. I do not use a computer for this process. Other times, I take walks by the ocean, feel the movement of the waves or see the movement of the sand under my feet. Noticing how the rocks are smoothed by waves creating bowls of their own.

How to hand polish Silver with gold accents and gilded gold on Antique Silver.

Wrights polish is gentle hand polish I use for things that need special care.

I did find out that Hagerty's does put ammonia in their product. You do need ventilation when using Hagerty's. Cape Code Polish has petroleum product in it. So be care with any of these products. Wrights is non toxic. 

These are the three polishes I use for Hand Polishing. I do have ventilation and use it when working with toxic products. Please use rubber gloves. Use gloves that do not have patterns in them, smooth gloves are best.  Soft towels can be bought at any Auto Supply Shop. If you do use paper towels, I prefer Bounty. Blot the paper towel, do not rub dry. Even a paper towel can scratch Silver. Soft towels used for Auto Detailing will not scratch your silver.

Samurai conservation before and after: Short film shows the incrustations from being in the sea for close to half a century. This came from a shipwreck, whose Captain collected Asian Art. There were some interesting small 12 inches metal figures. This one had Bronze Disease and was crusted over hiding the beautiful textures on the flowing robe. Thanks to the Objects Director of the deYoung, Elisabeth Cornu, for her direction and knowledge. The Samurai emerged.

How to Hand Polish Sterling Silver; part 2

How to hand polish Sterling Silver:  part 2.

Hand polishing your Silver

Patience Pays

How to make tools for rounding an antique enameled vase. How to round the vessel with the tools, I made.

What a journey.  Completely taken apart to remove dents and then back together.  Whew!

Just about had it with this project.  It has taken so long....I did figure out what was holding in the bakelite.  Very old epoxy. I did not know that epoxy was made in the 1940's.  I think, I have learned more about bakelite than I really wanted to know.  One of the bracelets was very dented and I could not  go in with tools. I had to take it completely apart and put back together.

Today was a huge success. One is done. The other soon to follow.

 I made a few tools for the repair. This brass mandrel and a long thin steel burnisher  for pushing out from inside.  The secret to removing the bakelite from the silver, was a formula that the deYoung Museum, Objects Specialist, shared with me.  She saved me hours of tedious work.  Acetone plus Ethanol; put it on cotton balls,  then stuff the end holes of the bracelet with the cotton soaked in the mixture.
Cover with saran wrap.  I used plastic wrap. Waited half hour, (was afraid to wait longer, for fear the bakelite would be effected.) Then I was able to ease the pieces out, one by one. For extra measures of safety, I covered the surface of bakelite with a soft wax. Not sure this is necessary.

I know this all sounds so boring, but one day, this info may come in handy. And you will not need to do the research I had to do.  Next hours of steel burnishing to remove deep scratches and dents with a flat headed highly polished hammer, over shapes of steel or brass.

My website in QR Code. I love this new way of translating. A Smart phone can read this and you go directly to my website.

How to solder cracks in antique pitcher

Sometimes when you align cracks, they pop into place. What a nice sound! Otherwise it is easing them inside and then going outside. On this Pitcher, I am going to use easy hard solder, for 2 reasons, it is coin silver, and will crack again easily if a low melting soft solder is used, and it is an important piece(important in the antique world means expensive)  If the metal is smooth, you can use hard wooden burnishers to ease into place. I make shaped wooden burnishers out of different sized dowels. Prepare for soldering. I am assuming that the readers, know how to solder. If not, let me know, and I will do a video on different ways to solder.

This kind of project is for an advanced Smith. I would suggest starting out with smaller pieces or even scrapped pieces for practice. You also must be certain of what material you are working with, is it really silver, is it coin, or something maddening; britainia.

Duck Tape is your friend

When I work on antique silver, I protect it with duck tape. I use leather on my bench pen to protect the surface of the antique. I have found over the years that no matter how steady or how sure I am of my hands, they will slip. So I keep my mistakes to a minimum. Did I say mistakes?

Guardian

I restored a sculpture for a family, who named it "guardian."   While it was in my studio, I understood why it was named guardian and why it was part of their family. 
I decided to make a sculpture with the same feel.
My guardian stands about 40 inches high and is about 8 inches wide made of Slate,Plexiglas, Brass, rutilated quartz.

Armor at Home

Armor finally at home.

Took months to arrange for the new floors, and the corner for the Steel Man. His final finish was Renaissance Wax.

Mystery Solved

I found residue of investment. I believe they used investment to protect the bakelite. Filling with investment letting solidify and then soldering with hard solder, then putting into water to dissolve investment, so bracelet remains hollow and light weight. That is my plan now for repairs.  Will let you know if it works.
NO! this is the wrong way, continue on to other post to show how it is done. I was looking at it the wrong way.  There is no way to hard solder and protect Bakelite.  You must remove and then fix bracelet and then reset bakelite.

Rare Bracelet Ballesteros Bracelet

Did you ever wonder how these were made?
The next picture will show. The real mystery was how they used hard solder to set Bakelite(a synthetic resin). I found out this week.

This an example of Paul De Lamerie. and a very good reason to keep lead out of the studio if possible.(and ofcouse for your own health) To me it is interesting how silver seems to be softer over time. I have a theory, the more a silver object is handled by human hands the softer it becomes. When you have a museum quality object to work upon, it is best to do the least amount of work on it as possible. Thinking this through is important. No need to rush on a very valuable piece.

Assortment of gloves for work, I use for polishing, bench work, hammer work, repairing antique pieces with lead. Which brings up the subject of lead. Lead work must be kept separate from other work, especially gold and silver. I have different soldering blocks for lead filled pieces and for the gold work, and for the silver work. I keep everything separate, including files and soldering tools. I learned the hard way. Contaminating a gold ring and ruining it with particles of lead, I thought I had cleaned up. I would suggest being very careful, in what you accept for work. If you can avoid antiques with weighted parts, do so. All Sheffield Plate is weighted by lead. Plated work is often weighted by lead. When they first invented Electroplating or as we know it today as plating,  the companies went wild making things that looked very elaborate and expensive, but were really plate filled with lead. An illusion of opulence, I call it.