Overlay

This month started with overlay. A technique where you take once piece of material and solder in onto another. I been pretty excited to try because of all the things you can do with it. Started out with some copper harts I cut out. Some was textured while others were plain in different sizes. No goal in mind other then to see how it turns out. Learned rather quickly the solder is messy, that it likes to move where the heat is. Some got pretty god connections while others did not. The key is they did all stick so that good.

Next experiment was copper circles. Started out putting a variety of small circles onto one big circle. It went quite well. Next we tried connecting a medium circle to a big circle. This showed to be quite the challenge. We would get 3/4 connection leaving the last .25 not connected. Overall the piece was pretty well on there but not a hundred percent.

The last and final test was to put a silver hart on a old lovebird design I engraved out.To say I was nervous is a understatement. Real time and effort on the line. Well in the end I got it on with great relief. Took it home cut, formed and polished it up. Looked just like I imagined it would. Beautiful. The context of  the silver hart with copper beams behind it jump out at you in a warm way.

Melting precious metal

Melting precious metal is cool. I had some scrap silver laying around so we decided what better to turn it molten hot then poor it into a ingot that we can roll out into something usable. A challenge is getting your metal so hot that it rolls easily around in the crucible. When metal turns from solid to liquid it moves like water and can be molded into what ever form you pour it into. We decided a ingot. Now if you don’t poor it fast enough into the mold it will make the ingot have week points so you have to safely pour fast

.

All is on the line with this next one. After multiple pour’s of silver we move on to 14kt gold. I have some I ordered up and Greg has some he has been stashing for such a occasion.  Proud to say we walked away with our own ingots in the end after two successful pour. Boy was I nervous. With a sweated bro I poured each with successful intention.

Roll out your ingot

Now that we have made old non useful material once again useful we have to roll it out. A piece starts out thick and short. Over time with each roll it get a tiny bit thinner and a bit longer. With my mill we make quick work of the silver. Also found in my first ingot I did not pour it fast enough. A crack forms where it was the weakest. It turns out pretty long but overall we will probably re melt it. With that said the next silver ingots rolled out just fine.

Now we are rolling out the 14kt gold. The 14kt gold is harder then the sterling silver so we take our time and roll it over many passes. It gained several times itself in length with each pass from what it once was. Now it can be used as overlay in future unknown projects to keep a eye out for.

Learned so much this last month. I will be able to creat some really neat pieces of art with the knowledge I now retain. Feel the hamster wheel spinning of what to make next.

Thanks

Rob Martin