Two classes

It has become somewhat of a tradition...Every year I take at least one class with Jens Torp and one with Cocky Wildschut.  This year was no exception. 



We made a tureen this year.  Actually we started last year when we turned the wax model of the bowl on the lathe (see also here).  Lots of fun to do but very messy.  Poor Trees (the classes are held at Trees Beertema's house) found wax on the floors all over her house. 


I didn't finish the lid so I had to turn it at home.  I only had a year to do this, so I started on the lid a few days before the deadline ;-)  Having learned from experience I took my lathe outside and turned the lid in my garden.  After turning a tight fitting lid for the bowl, I engraved a little design on both the bowl and the lid.  Then sent it off to England, to Jens.  


Jens had all our wax models cast.  The caster uses the lost wax technique, where the wax is replaced by the silver.  This is how it came back from the caster. 


 In the photo below I have done a lot of work to the lid (filing, drilling, gauging, papering) and the handle has been installed (the handle has been threaded so it screws off and on).  This part is ready for polishing.  

The next step was finishing the bowl and making the hinges for the handles.  Tiny, tiny hinges.  One part to be soldered to the handle and the other part to the bowl.  A tricky step as with too much heat it could just all melt into a blob of silver.  Not enough heat and it won't solder.  


When I started soldering the handles, I found it very difficult.  I had one handle soldered, but the next one just didn't stick.  Jens took over from me and found that we had a problem with the burners.  Small consolation that it wasn't all due to my inadequacy.  ;-)


As we were running out of time, Jens did the rest of all the soldering for us.  
After the soldering, lots more filing and papering followed before I could start the polishing process.  


The last step was putting some oxidizing agent on the silver so the carvings will go black and stand out more against the silver.  Very smelly stuff this oxidizing agent.  


The final step is a lot of polishing (again) to get the black stuff off.  Then cleaning in the ultrasonic cleaner and drying the silver in a bowl of sawdust.  
There is still a bit of the black left in parts so I will have to do even more polishing.  It looks worse in the photo than in reality.  


The other class I took was porcelain painting with Cocky Wildschut.  I chose to paint a vase in a Japanese style, based on a dish I had seen.  

The tulip vases were painted in a previous class but needed another coat of blue.  Unfortunately they did not come out as well as I had hoped.  I liked them better before the second coat.  


I do like the vase though.  Quite a simple but decorative design.  


And I had a bit of fun making a little film clip again.  No reason in particular for it, other than I enjoy playing with these editing programs sometimes.  Humour me ;-)




Comments

  1. Votre soupière est une merveille Josje, quel plaisir cela doit être de savoir créer de si beaux objets, idem pour le vase, la décoration est très délicate et si bien réalisée.

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    1. Thank you Jean-Claude! Yes I am privileged to be able to take these classes and to learn these techniques. In principle I *should* be able to do a lot of this at home now. But to be honest, the teachers offer a lot of support. I think I will be doing some more wax work in future though. That was really fun!

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  2. The entire process is quite fascinating Josje. I never stopped to think about how silver objects are actually fashioned from start to finish so this post I found to be very informative. Your silver tureen is EXQUISITE and I am certain there is much PRIDE of ACCOMPLISHMENT for having made it, as well as your lovely china, yourself! :D

    elizabeth

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    1. Yes it is wonderful to have made the tureen from start to finish. Not all silver objects are made in this way of course, but for fairly complicated shapes like this tureen, it is a great technique.

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  3. What a beauty! I think you are too critically evaluate themselves. Excellent work. This is a fantastic!

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    1. Thank you Юлия! I am very happy with what I've made, but I do see where I could improve myself on a next project.

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  4. Well we've done quite a lot during those 2 classes and the effort of your work shows off!
    Nice to see the steps of the Silver workshop back...

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    1. Yes we've done a lot. I often forget to take photos, but I saw you photographing your tureen so I remembered :-))))))))

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  5. Hi Josje! Dank voor het laten zien van dit proces. Het is erg leerzaam om dit proces van zilverwerk te kunnen volgen/zien via jouw blog, het resultaat, de terrine, is dan ook prachtig! Het zou mij persoonlijk geweldig lijken om deze workshops eens te kunnen volgen.
    Fijn weekend gewenst.
    Groetjes, Ilona

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    1. De grote lijnen van het proces uiteraard. Ik ben altijd van plan meer foto's te maken maar vergeet het meestal als ik bezig ben. Ik geloof dat ik het al eens eerder tegen je heb gezegd, maar als je ooit de kans krijgt, moet je zeker meedoen aan zo'n workshop. Dit keer deden er een aantal mensen mee die nooit eerder met zilver hadden gewerkt (zij kregen een van Jens zijn gietmodellen) en hebben een prachtige terrine afgewerkt.

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  6. Wat een geweldige workshops met een geweldig resultaat. Helemaal passend in jouw huis.

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    1. Ha Roelie! Dank je wel. Hij staat al te pronken bij het andere zilverwerk ;-)

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  7. Wow, Josje, it is such magnificent work!!! and to think you started it last year.... and waited all this time to get to the silver cast steps! That is patience and devotion! But the results are so worth it! And to think that you can say you made it yourself!!! And the skills you are learning are just marvelous! (I am a little envious of the classes you get to take!) The ceramic piece is also just gorgeous... it is hard for me to see anything I would want different! Beautiful work! Thank you for sharing the steps you take!

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    1. It was difficult to have to wait that long! But it was worth it. It is a great technique to learn and I think I will be using it again. If you have a lathe and know how to work with it, then using wax will be an easy step. I suppose the more difficult part is finishing the silver. That's more difficult than it looks. But fun. And it is fun to make a piece from start to finish!

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  8. Wow Josje, that tureen looks gorgeous! I'm so impressed with how you manage to make the wax model. I have a lathe, but never had the opportunity to use it yet, but to me seems difficult. Especially a bowl-shape. The tureen turned out (pun intended ;) ) beautiful! I can only imagine how hard those hinges must have been and what a relief it was to find out it didn't work as planned due to the equipment ;). Your vases are lovely and I think it's great to film the big one like that, it's nice to see it turning and to have a full view of it. The music made me smile and was just perfect for it :D.

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    1. Thank you Monique! Well the lathe is not that difficult, but as with everything, you need to know what you are doing. The bowl shape takes a bit of time and you have to measure, measure, measure the thickness of the wall so that it becomes nice and thin but not too thin. I think the thickness of the wall of the bowl is 0.6 or 0.8 mm. Yes you have guessed that quite correctly ;-) It was a bit of a relief that Jens had to solder the hinges. I was worried my hard work would melt into a big blob.

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