Beginners Silversmithing

Each session will begin with a technical demonstration and then we may explore a well known practicioner. There will be plenty of benchwork time to explore techniques and ideas with lots on tutor support. H & S is embedded throughout. You will learn the basic techniques of silversmithing for jewellery such as piercing out sheet metal, annealing metal to soften it, basic soldering, adding texture, how to form work three dimensionally, working with mixed media and create your own Fastenings. You might possibly learn to set a stone (depending on how you progress). If not, this will be covered during the second term if you re-enroll. Exploring art and design is a particularly important part of the course so you can develop your own style of design. We will look at the work of different jewellery artists and derive our own designs from external sources. Google Classroom is used to store all course material and is available to view 24/7. Content it includes videos of your tutor demonstrating techniques and insights into the work of other artists to help with design ideas, handouts about techniques and H & S.