We learned about texturing and making granules (tiny little balls). Then it was time to start working on our designs. Although we could work in copper to practice if we wanted, I decided to jump straight in with silver. Time was limited, and I had the feeling I'd get bored with making the same thing twice.
After selecting a small piece of silver from the selection we had, I cut the basic shape out with a piercing saw. Having discussed the idea of colouring the robin's red breast I decided against it and had a play around with texturing instead, on a scrap piece of copper.
Once I found a texture I liked, I went at the robin and gave him bumpy feathers all over. The eye (which isn't really clear in the picture) was made with another punch, and then I selected one with a dotted line effect to mark out the beak and breast.
The last part of the session was spent polishing the edges and untextured areas with wet and dry paper (like sandpaper for metalwork), and then burnishing the edges to strengthen them. I also punched a hole in the top of the pendant so it could hang from a jump ring.
Part of the next session would be spent finishing off with polishing and adding a jump ring, but that left me wondering what to do with the rest of the time. Luckily Roland had mentioned drop casting - pouring molten silver into water to see what shapes you get - and I had the idea that maybe I cold give that a try and see if it would give me some inspiration.
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