Wednesday 28 November 2007

Thrifting silver

Until recently I had thought that the only way to reuse the silver in this old bracelet (at the back of the picture) would be to melt it down and use it for casting. However, with my recent experience in forming, it occurred to me that the components could be recycled by forming techniques, which would also wipe out the surface pattern. The two shiny bits of silver in the front of the picture were each generated by annealing a link from the bracelet, and planishing it on a steel stake.

The process has made the links grow from 22 mm long to 25 mm long. They were each annealed twice and the pattern, which is now on the side not shown in the picture, has gone completely.

Altogether I have six links to work with. I'm going to planish the concave side of one to mount on a ring. I need to think about what to do with the rest, and would welcome any suggestions.

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