Recycling Silver in Our Work

 Recycling materials has been an integral part of our jewelry making endeavors for a long time.
For years I've sought and found copper and brass at flea markets and yard sales in the form of old plates, cups, bowls, trays etc and have cut them up and used them in our mixed metal jewels. Many years ago I used to find sterling silver ware and objects to use but when the price of silver started going up that became a rarity.

 In more recent times as the price of gold has continued to soar we've traded quite a bit at fairs for jewelry that is broken or no longer worn, chains, old class rings, dental gold and so forth. These trades have been mostly gold but as the price of silver has continued to rise we have also traded for old silver jewelry also. To the right are a series of images detailing how we use this scrap metal that we trade for. The top two pictures are scrap silver, the first jewelry items we've traded for and the 2nd scraps from the jewelry making process that we save.

 The next image shows me using my oxy-acetylene torch to melt some of this scrap in a depression I've routed out of a compressed charcoal block 

 Here is the still red hot molten blob of silver just after I've taken the flame away after being satisfied that the melting process is complet. 

 After quenching in water the blog turns silver colored again.

 Here is my tool called a rolling mill that is kind of like an old fashioned wringer on an old washing machine except the rollers are incredibly hard steel and can be tightened down. I start by rolling the above cooled blob of silver through the mill and continuing to tighten the rolling mill each time I do that so that the blob of silver gets progressively thinner and reaches the thickness that I want. I have to anneal the silver a couple of times by bringing it up to red hot in order to make it soft again or it will start cracking as it gets brittle from the stress of the rolling process.

 Here is the flattened sheet of sterling silver that I have rolled down to 18 gauge thickness.

 Here I am using a jewelers saw to cut out a double curved shape that I have scribed onto the sheet of silver using one of the templates I have created with dozens of sizes and variations of the double curved shape that we use in our designs.

 The sheet and the cutout shape.

 Two shapes, one with a new stamped design that I have just started creating. This is the 2nd time I've done this particular stamping.

 Here is the top of a hinged bracelet that has just had a shape soldered to it. At this point I will polish it and then add a 2nd shape and other design elements.

 Here is one of my new bracelets with two shapes that have a different stamped design and a gold dome between them. This is a hinged bracelet that clips on the side that I just put the final polish on a couple of days ago. This is the 2nd variation of this design. It is for sale for $335.

I also just finished this one, also the 2nd of this design variation featuring the 2 double curved shapes, two gold balls in the center and a wavy line of copper. It is for sale for $285.

This process of recycling the metal for use in our work is a labor intensive but personally satisfying process.