polishing lathe | Eileen Moylan

Summer Courses

03.01.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

I just got a brochure for this summer’s jewellery courses at Birmingham City University. I spent last night going through the catalogue marking all the courses that interested me. If you’ve seen the line up for this summer you’ll understand how difficult it is to narrow down my choice. They have a brilliant classes taught by really accomplished makers.

You might remember that I went on the Syncalstic and Anticlastic forming course last summer which was taught by Cynthia Eid. It was such a great week, I learnt more than I could have possibly imagined in such a short space of time and I also got to visit all my favourite tool shops in the jewellery quarter. Considering my obsession with buying new and not so new tools this was like being let loose in a toy shop for a week. The weight of my suitcase coming home is testament to how little restraint I have when it comes to jewellery tools shopping.

So here are a few of the course I really want to go on this summer.

Creative Metal Forming with a Hydraulic Press by Cynthia Eid. This class combines using a hydraulic press with surface enrichment techniques. As part of the course you get to make and use your own embossing and silhouette dies.

Creative Microfolding, foldforming and Argentium Silver, Cynthia Eid. Fold forming is a technique I would love to improve and refine. It can create the most amazing effects and as this technique makes the metal stronger you can create very light but strong three dimensional forms.

Enamelling Introduction by Tamizan Savill. I’ve never had the opportunity to study enamelling and this course sounds like the perfect way to dip my toe into it and explore various techniques. I met Tamizan in Birmingham last year and saw some of her amazing work.

Keum Boo Embellish Silver with Gold, Katherine Campbell-Legg. Keum Boo is the technique of decorating silver with very thin sheets of gold foil. With gold prices increasing this is a great way of achieving that lovely gold silver contrast without the major expense.

Polishing Masterclass by Stephen M Goldsmith. As I mentioned last week polishing is one of those jobs I would rather not have to do. I’ve been thinking maybe it’s because I’m just not very good at it! So a course like this would be great to make me a better and more efficient polisher.

So there you have my summer course wish list. Would love to hear what courses interest you.

Busy Workshop Day

08.19.2011 by Eileen Moylan //

I’ve been busy with the business side of things this week so I was delighted to get back to the workshop properly today. The break made me all the more productive, I even took some photos to prove it!

Check out my new tapered polishing mop, it’s for polishing inside vessels.

I just took this photo to show off my new pink glitter pliers! Aren’t they amazing and you can’t misplace them on a messy bench.

Fire Stain: What is it and how to prevent it

03.14.2011 by Eileen Moylan //

This week in the workshop I had the hassle of dealing with fire stain. If you have tried silver soldering you may be familiar with the scourge that is fire stain. Just when you think you’re nearly finished and you begin the final stages of polishing on the lathe those nasty little blotches appear. For those of you lucky enough not to what this looks like it is a pink or purple stain that can develop in sterling silver during soldering.

Here’s the science bit… The oxygen in the air penetrates the outer surface of the object oxidizing the copper content in the sterling silver. The silver is then pickled in sulfuric acid which removes the oxidized copper on the surface. This oxidisation is known as fire scale. The difference is that fire stain can’t be removed in the pickeling process. The problem with fire stain is that it discolours the reflective nature of the polished silver and either needs to be covered by plating or filed away.

Mostly you don’t see the extent of the fire stain until you have the piece polished and finished. The best way to see it is to hold the silver against a piece of white paper. This way you have a uniform white reflection on the silver that highlights the pinky purple stain.

Here’s a photo of a cuff link that I made recently that had some fire stain. You can see the pink blotches on either side of the cut away circle design. There are lots of things you do to remove fire stain which involve chemical solutions or silver plating. Unfortunately this can be expensive and because it doesn’t happen me that often I haven’t seen the need to invest in them. The other method for getting rid of the fire stain is by abrasive removal using either a polishing lathe or other abrasive techniques. I think the best way to remove it is to use some wet emery paper on the stained area. It can be slow work but it allows you to concentrate on the area as opposed to a polishing lathe which can soften the sharp edges and detail of a piece. Once you have removed the patches of fire stain you can then finish the piece on the polishing lathe.

Removing fire stain with wet emery paper

The ideal solution to fire stain is to prevent it from happening in the first place. As the oxygen is the cause of the stain many silversmiths recommend creating oxygen free conditions when soldering. Ganoskin have a good piece on how to go about achieving this, to see it click here. I find the best way to prevent fire stain is to make sure you are using the correct size flame for the piece you are soldering. A very hot flame can over heat the piece but also a flame that is too soft means it takes much longer to melt the solder. Both these problems can cause fire stain. The other thing is to make sure the piece is clean so you don’t need to prolong the soldering process due to dirty metal.

Hope this helps in the fight against fire stain!

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