Combining Gold and Silver without Breaking the Bank!
This three-session virtual class is designed for students ready to take the next steps in design and fabrication by learning to add gold to their work, with emphasis placed on their purse strings! Each sessions will focus on soldering gold to silver, fusing gold to silver, and making patterned sheet with gold. Paulette will demonstrate using recycled 18k gold - scraps, filings, and wire bits - to make ring shanks, earrings, gold bezel settings and more. Learn to recycle old gold jewelry, abandoned projects, or melted gold bezels into new designs and sharpen your skills by focusing on the intricacies that come from combining gold and Argentium silver at the same time! Students will receive syllabus, handouts, and design prompts for each class.
Meet the instructor
Paulette Werger is a metalsmith and teacher who works in Lebanon, NH. She sells her work both nationally and internationally and is owner of Metalpeople East, a jewelry and hollow ware studio. She has taught metalsmithing at the University of WI, Montana State University, and at craft schools throughout the country.
Materials & Tools
The following supplies will be used for course demonstrations and objectives. A suggested item and/or vendor has been provided below for reference. Click the vendor name to be redirected to a page where you can view the item. The quantities needed for each item are listed first. If ordering, please be aware that some items may come in larger quantities than needed for this class. We recommend not opening an item's packaging until the day of the workshop. Student participation during or in-between class sessions is not required - observers are welcome.
Metal/raw materials:
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1"x3" x Argentium sheet - 22g dead soft (Rio Grande)
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6" min. x Argentium bezel strip - 28g (Rio Grande)
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1" min. x 14k gold bezel wires
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1" min. x 14k gold round wire
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1" min. x gold sheet solder - 22g
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6" wire or 1" sheet x medium Argentium solder
Torch setup:
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1 x fireproof area - steel sheet, tiles, etc. (Amazon or Home Depot)
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1 x compressed charcoal block - hard (Rio Grande)
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1 x torch - Smith mini, Silversmith, or butane (Rio Grande or Rio Grande)
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1 x #0 or #1 torch tip - if getting Silversmith (Rio Grande)
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1 x striker or lighter - Silversmith system has one (Rio Grande)
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1 x soldering tweezers (Rio Grande)
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1 x soldering pick (Rio Grande)
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1 x 3rd arm (Rio Grande)
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1 x paste flux (Rio Grande)
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1 x Ronda's purple flux (Rio Grande)
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1 x copper tongs - for pickle (Rio Grande)
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1 x pickle - sodium bisulfate or citric acid (Rio Grande or Amazon)
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1 x brass bristle brush (Rio Grande)
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1 x crock pot or lidded glass container (Rio Grande or Amazon)
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1 x tempered glass container or sink - for quenching and rinsing
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1 x small brush - for flux
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1 x liquid hand soap - for cleaning metal
Hand tools:
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1 x round nose pliers (Rio Grande)
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1 x chain nose pliers (Rio Grande)
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1 x flat nose pliers (Rio Grande)
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1 x snips / flush cutters (Rio Grande)
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1 x jewelers saw (Rio Grande)
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1 x pack saw blades - 2/0 (Rio Grande)
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1 x burlife / bee's wax (Rio Grande)
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1 x bench pin (Rio Grande)
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1 x half round hand file - #2 cut (Rio Grande)
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1 x rotary tool - flex shaft, micro motor, etc. (Rio Grande)
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1 x set of needle files - #2 cut (Rio Grande)
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1 x half round forming pliers (Rio Grande)
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1 x center punch (Rio Grande)
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1 x ring clamp (Rio Grande)
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1 x rawhide / plastic mallet (Rio Grande)
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1 x steel block / steel surface (Rio Grande)
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1 x small steel ruler (Rio Grande)
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1 x sheet of sand paper - 220 to 600 grits (Amazon)
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1 x calipers - mm (Amazon)
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1 x dividers (Rio Grande)
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1 x planishing hammer (Rio Grande)
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1 x ball peen hammer (Rio Grande)
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1 x ring mandrel (Rio Grande)
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1 x bezel mandrel - 1mm to 5mm (Rio Grande)
Other/miscellaneous items:
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IF YOU HAVE IT, recycle and reuse it!
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scrap gold any karat
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melted gold bezels
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gold silver filings
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gold scrap and wire bits
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hard work surface
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fan and open window - or ventilation system
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safety glasses
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pencil, Sharpie, notebook
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rags/towels