Yesterday I alloyed and milled out my own metal for the first time. One of the luxuries of living in Phoenix is having a handful of local jewelry suppliers. If I ever need a shape or gauge of wire or sheet I
don't have, all I have to do is go to my local supplier,
Lonnies Inc. So, I had never before tried to make my own. Well, I have always wanted to make the
Japanese alloy shibuichi, so I decided to finally do it yesterday! Shibuichi is a copper/sterling alloy.
Carbon coating the ingot mold, so the metal comes out more easily.
Melting the metal!!
Pouring.
Ouch,
that is hot!
I made two small ingots for wire and a larger one for sheet.
All cleaned and ready for rolling out!
I got my workout rolling down the wire!
Now that I have it made, I need to decide what to do with it. When I make something with it, I'll be sure to let you know.
For the last several weeks I have been teaching a class at Phoenix Art Center on Texturing Metal. It has been lots of fun and I've made tons of samples. Techniques I've covered in class include, roller printing, hammer textures, etching, reticulation, fusing, and solder inlay. Head on over to my flickr page to see what each one is... (or click on the photo for a larger version).
Pouring.
