Now that I have all my parts, I have to make them fit together! I file neck so it will sit flush on the top dome with little or no gaps. This takes a while: taking a little metal off here...checking the fit...taking a little metal off there...checking the fit ...and so on...
Once I have the fit perfect, I mark where I want to neck to be attached to the top dome and cut a hole into it.
Then stitches or burs are raised with a graver to hold the neck from moving (I will show you this a little later) and it is soldered into place.
The next step is to make a seat for the vase to sit on. I air raised a shallow dome into my larger bottom hemisphere.
Then the top inside egde is marked for placement and burs are raised to hold the two halves together during soldering. This technique of raising burs to keep things from sliding around was new to me and I love it! When I was taught in school, we used binding wire...which sometimes distorts your work and sticks to it. :(
It is soldered upside down so solder can be added to the lip (which will be removed later).
It's together!
The lip is sawed off and filed.
Lastly, the piece is heated, pickled and brass brushed many times over to raise the fine silver to the surface and give it this final finish. TA DA!
6 comments:
Excellent! Can you tell us any more about the torch you are using to solder the two halves together?
Wow, your design and execution are impeccable! I can't imagine working on that large scale.
I am really impressed, that is a beautiful vessel! Love it!
Valerie
www.americancraft.com
beautiful!!! thanks for the tip about the burs too, I hate binding wire.
That is such an amazing piece. Thanks for the tip on the bur, will help me alot in future.
Fabulous piece!! I too have begun using 'burs' - or 'stitches' as I call them - and they are GREAT!
Janice
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