Fig. 108. Old Scotch Brooches

Fig. 108. Old Scotch Brooches

The easiest way to make these is to draw the figure on ordinary paper, paste it on the sheet metal, and then cut it out with fret-saw or scissors. If there be "inside spaces" where the scissors cannot be used, then lay the plate on the anvil (a block of solid lead is far better), or even a block of hard wood, and cut them out with a cutting-tracer or a file. Silver is very easy to saw.

I have a pair of very pretty silver earrings which I bought of an American Indian woman, and which are made as follows: Take a piece of sheet silver of about an equilateral-triangular shape. Roll this into a long cornet or horn of a narrow cone shape. Fig. 109. Leave enough of a hole at the point to pass a wire, either to form a hook or a loop. If you choose, a coral bead may be put at this end, the wire passing through it. Before rolling up the silver with the pliers, practise making such cones with thin brass or tin. These cones also serve as pendants for brooches. A very pretty, substantial pair of such earrings, with the coral beads and wire, would not cost more than two shillings, and they would be much more attractive than most of the machinery-made and more expensive articles of the kind generally worn.

Silver wire may be braided, twisted, and woven into many kinds of ornaments. The very pretty chain pattern shown in fig. 10 on page 9 may also be adapted for a bracelet, and when so worked is called "open" filigree work - when soldered on the plain surface of rings, bracelets, or other ornaments, it is "applied" filigree.

The wires plain and twisted, when soldered along the edges of work, impart to it a very good finish, besides strength and durability. I should advise every worker to invent new ways and forms in the arrangement and manipulation of plain and twisted wires of various thicknesses, without following the special types characterizing the filigree work of each country; and he will find that when finished and polished, the reflected lights and shadows of these wires will prove very effective and pleasing.

Fig. 109. Earring

Fig. 109. Earring.

One other excellent adaptation is to solder on wires to represent the mid-rib and side ribs of foliated ornaments (see figs. 49, 53, 55, 61), using thick wire for the main lines, and thinner wire for the remainder, and if a different metal is adopted, say silver or brass wire on iron ornaments, and copper wire for brass or silver ornaments, the contrast when finished is very gratifying. Tracery and Gothic leafwork of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries have frequently been finished with this enrichment.

As I have described, any silver coin, from the size of a sixpence up to a crown, may be easily beaten into sheet silver, and formed or cut into jewellery or ornaments; and the processes are so easy that any girl who will first make the experiment with a few pennyworth of very thin brass or iron, or even sheet tin, will find at once that it is extremely easy to make objects which are pretty to wear or easy to dispose of.

It is much to be desired that those who are anxious to stimulate the general practice of Decorative Art among all classes should organize an exhibition of such jewellery or ornaments and objects of silver as are here described, made by amateurs. For the love of such adornment is innate, and since it exists it would be most sensibly gratified by encouraging young women to make their own brooches and earrings or bracelets. This would develop skill and taste at no great expense, and perhaps do more to extend knowledge of decorative art than anything else. I have observed, by the way, that in cases where girls have thus made their own jewellery, they have taken great pride in it and never tired of it - so true is it that "a poor thing, but my own," is always a special delight.

Fig. 110. Patterns for Pendants

Fig. 110. Patterns for Pendants.

Soldering silver, or any other metal, is by no means so difficult a process as it is supposed to be, but when possible it is best to take a lesson in it from some jeweller. Once acquired, it enables the workman to make or finish a great variety of articles. Thus ends may be neatly joined, and coins, gems, stones, etc., be soldered into cups or flat bangles, at very small expense, yet so as to greatly enhance the value of an article. Thus I have seen three old Roman silver coins, worth two shillings each, soldered into a silver cup which cost a pound, for which five pounds was asked, nor did it seem to be too much, as the article was really in good taste.

Fig. 111. Russian Silver Crosses in the Possession of the Author

Fig. 111. Russian Silver Crosses in the Possession of the Author.

Silver is frosted or roughened by beating it with a tool like a file, or laying a file on it and beating in the latter. It is whitened by heating it red hot and dipping it into diluted sulphuric acid (one part of acid to four of water). A wire brush called a scratch brush is also used to produce a finely scratched or frosted appearance.

A silver ring is easily made by putting a pointed iron rod or mandrel into the vice, the point upward. Then take a silver wire, pass it once or twice round the diameter required, and cut the wire and solder it, or twist or clamp the ends. Or you may take a shilling, make a hole in it, put the point of the presser in the hole, place the shilling on the table or block, and keep turning the iron while gently tapping it. The operation requires great care, and it will be aided if you place the ring once or twice in the fire to anneal it.

The pupil may remember that with the fret-saw silver of considerable thickness may be easily sawn with care. A row of ornaments or pendants in the forms of fish, leaves, vases, frogs, or birds thus sawn, with a few touches of repousse chasing or etching, even if rudely executed, form when hung on a chain a very pretty ornament. These pendants can be made from sixpences a little beaten out. Fig. no.

Any pattern for a border given in this book may be repousse-worked on a flat band of silver for a bracelet. Leave about one inch of the band to lap over.

Round holes can be made with a round-pointed file (rat-tail).

If there is any roughness on the edges after fret-sawing, carefully remove it with a fine file and emery paper.

Silver may be nielloed or blackened with the mixture of sulphur and ammonia or nitric acid.

Any leaf or flower is a good pattern for a pendant.

Any one pendant may be repeated many times for a row on a necklace, chain, or wire. Small pendants may serve for earrings, large for lockets.

Cut out patterns in thin brass before attempting them in silver. Always cut them first in paper, and then paste it on the metal.

A little knowledge of graving, such as may be acquired in a few days, is a great aid in silver work, especially for the inside lines of leaves. The back of a piece of stereotype plate or a flat piece of lead is best to begin practising with.

Fig. 112. Old Dutch Silver Work

Fig. 112. Old Dutch Silver Work.

Fig. 113. Nail Work

Fig. 113. Nail Work.