#silversmithing

Sword Rings.

Weaver's Guild Badge, Anonymous, 1585-1600, Rikjsmuseum. Silver badge of a weavers' guild. The round plate depicts a shuttle and two carders in the center. A double chain is attached to the plate, from which hang a carder and a shuttle. With inscriptions.

the loom shuttle ! the carding brushes ! i gasped when i realized what i was looking at. one of those moments when you find something and as recognition lights up your brain, you feel very lucky you were at the right place, right time to witness.

From 3d model to sand cast silver, 30mm long.

Well....new special interest unlocked.

See, I've been redoing my wardrobe the past couple months, and I decided I needed to ✨accessorize✨ more. I dug through my jewelry collection and pulled out pieces that match what I'm putting together these days, and I've also added a few other bits and bobs (including this necklace in rhodium, because I LOVE the biologically improbable Halloween animal skeletons, but I hate that they're plastic, so this and its eared cat skulls are a more sustainable option that doesn't take up nearly as much room.)

Anyway. There are things I would love to wear, but they don't seem to exist. Like there's barely any turkey vulture jewelry, and I LOVE turkey vultures, and I want one on my wrist and I have a mental image of what I want it to look like, and it. Doesn't. Exist. So then I was thinking "Okay, what if I commissioned an artist to make one for me?" which is always a valid option. And I've found some really great jewelers whose work I want to add to my collection over time, but I've also found a bunch of mass-produced jewelry where I'm like "You know, I could do better than that!"

Which then led to me awake at one in the morning a few nights ago, scrolling on my phone through metalworking subReddits and researching different methods of making silver and pewter jewelry, and then after that looking up classes because--and yes, I AM from Missouri even if I now live in Oregon--I do best when you show me how. All of which culminated in me registering yesterday for an eight week class on basic metalsmithing through the Multnomah Arts Center that'll start next month. Once I complete that, MAC offers a variety of other metasmithing/jewelry craft classes that dive deeper into specific techniques, so once I have an idea of what techniques I like I can refine my skills.

Honestly, it's very exciting to be trying an entirely new art medium! I've been drawing casually for ages, and I've been enjoying spending more time on that in the past few months. And I've made beaded jewelry before. But metalsmithing? That's a whole new endeavor, and I am here for it. Since I'm not indigenous I don't have a deep well of cultural styles and motifs to draw on; reportedly some of my Bohemian (Czech) ancestors were whitesmiths, so I suppose I'm rekindling that in a way (but you could say that about my garden since I come from several long lines of peasant farmers.)