Begin With Glass

Yesterday I took a field trip up to the glass supply shop I like, the Glasshopper, in search of more dichroic glass and fine silver wire.

I thought you might wonder what dichroic sheet glass looks like. And if you've never used fine silver wire for fusing to make links, you might be curious about that too.


Here's a photo of a few pieces of my dichroic glass haul. I scored some great textures and colors. They fuse up so beautifully. And the wire in the photos is 12 gauge and 18 gauge fine silver wire, for fusing projects. I was very low on fine silver wire and I've been making some links for chains. This should hold me for a while now.

Isn't that glass gorgeous, even in its raw state?

Wire and Fire - Part 5 - Connections

Fusing Silver Links - Linkages

To pull up all 5 parts of Wire and Fire, the 'Fusing Tutorial' label will bring them together - here's a quick review

Step 1 - Safety Check - Always check your safety setup and make it a routine, safety first, it's tempting to jump right into fusing but it's so important, don't skip this step

Step 2 - Equipment Check - Assemble and use the correct equipment to prepare for the fusing session, check that everything is ready before you start lighting torches and heating metal to avoid delays while working, load the torch with fuel before each session to keep interruptions to a minimum

Step 3 - Create Individual Fused Links - Create the smallest size closed loops first, then prepare wire to create the larger links to join together for the chain


If you are making a five link chain, create the three closed loops first, and prepare the two that will join those together to make the chain. It's a good idea to make extra wrapped jump ring links, in case some don't turn out on the first try you have standby rings ready and can keep linking.

The three large links in the photo at right are fused but loose, and can be used like this, lots of designs for single fused loops look great for earrings and connectors on necklaces. Or they are ready to have two links added to create a longer five link chain.

Step 4 - If you have small loops fused and intend to apply texture using the chasing hammer and bench block, go ahead and do that before adding the larger loops, it's much easier to do before the two large links are passed through the smaller links

Step 5 - Add the linking loops to make the chain

Prepare the firebrick by digging a little trench or ditch in it that's long and wide enough for two loops to fit into and stand upright. The link you are fusing will lie down flat on the firebrick, but now you have the two additional links that need somewhere to go that's stable and out of the reach of the flame from the torch so they don't overheat and melt. The already fused links should be facing away from the torch, and the open side of the wrapped jump link as far to the other side of the loop as possible.

Use a swinging motion in the shape of a letter 'C' on the open side of the joining loop you are fusing. Keep the torch flame away from the other side, where the other links are. The link will fuse when the area receiving the heat starts to glow, shimmer and look like liquid. Watch the area of fusing very closely and be prepared to react when the fusing happens.




Pull the torch flame away immediately to avoid melting the loop - if it happens, quench all the loops in the water and use your standby loops to try again.



At this stage don't handle the links or the firebrick with your fingers. Even though only one link received the fusing heat, the others have received transferred heat and are hot enough to cause a blister. Use the hemostat or metal tweezers to drop the fused links into the water to quench them.

Now there are three links joined together. To add the other fused loop use the last open jump ring and repeat the process, carefully keeping the already-fused links well away from the torch flame.



The photo shows two three-link units. It is trickier the longer the chain and the greater the number of links are added. It just takes practice to learn how to watch the metal as it reacts to the heat. Be prepared to melt a few links before it is perfected. Practice, practice, practice.

The heat of fusing makes the fine silver (.999) wire very soft, or anneals it. The links will need to be hardened again to be able to be used without losing their shape. If you plan on shaping the round links into an oblong or oval shape, do that before they are hardened.

Stretching the round loops to make ovals or oblong links is a good test to see if the fusing is sturdy, if not completely fused they will pop open. If that happens trim the ends to make them flush again, and re-fuse. It's better if it happens at this stage rather than later when you are making a stunning necklace or bracelet and one of the links chooses that time to fail.

The links can have texture applied with the bench block and chasing hammer and be used as they are in a shiny bright silver look. Or they can have a patina applied to darken and enhance the look of the texture and give them that rich antique look. But either way, they need tumbling with stainless steel shot to polish them and further harden the links to make them tough and work ready.

I hope this series of posts about fusing silver has inspired you to give it a try - and that you enjoyed reading about it. Even if you don't want to take a torch in hand yourself, now you know what goes into creating those lovely pure silver chains.

Any questions, comments? Are you going to try it yourself?

Wire and Fire - Part 4

Loop the Loop

This is 16 gauge wire, wrapped around a large dowel for a mandrel, and the ends cut with a flush cutter.

Have seen some use the jeweler's saw to cut the loops off the mandrel but haven't had good luck doing it that way. But when using the flush cutter, unless it's a higher end cutter that gives a flush cut on both sides of the wire, it's important to cut both ends squared off cleanly. Even using a file to get the ends really flat is useful and needed sometimes.

The two ends of the loops must touch each other, even have pressure against each other. The loops in the photo have not been closed to each other, see the gap in between? The fusing will not fill a gap like that, the wire must be touching really tight and close.

There are a couple of jump ring tricks to use to get the links closed really tight.

Have found that it's easier to fuse small loops closed first, then put larger loops through and fuse them after. Trying to fuse a small loop with another loop joined is too hard to do.

Plan how the loops will go together, and first fuse closed all the first set of loops, leaving some open to use to join the others together later. Put the closed loops on the firebrick with the opening away from you at twelve o'clock position on the brick. You will always know where the opening is, and you will be facing the flame away from yourself.

The hottest part of the torch flame is just beyond the tip of the flame that's blue. Use that part of the flame to heat up the loop.

Gradually the link will begin to glow, and get a rosey and then a reddish color. Watch it closely, in just a few minutes the silver at the cut ends will get glossy and melt together. As soon as that happens pull the torch flame away, or the links may overheat and melt. A number of links were melted, it's just part of learning how hot the silver will get.

Take the fused link in the hemostats and drop it into cold water to quench it.

It will sizzle like crazy, and you know it was still very hot.

Do each link one at a time to close all the first loops. These closed loops will be joined together later with other loops to create the chain.

Or use the planishing hammer and texture the loops to use on their own.

Heating the silver anneals it and makes it very soft, so it's important to harden the silver even if you aren't going to texturize it with the hammer. Use a leather head mallet to work harden the metal, or put it in the tumbler. Either one will harden the loops and make them strong without putting the forged texture on them. If they will get a patina, wait until all the links are done before putting the patina color on them and tumbling them, it saves time.

Learned the hard way to be sure to texture the small links before adding the large links to them, it's much easier.

One more section ... joining links to each other - are you still interested?

Wire and Fire - Part 3 - Tumblers

Work In Progress - Silver Links

It's compelling, mesmerizing, to start in on creating the links. To watch the silver glow, grow red, glossy, and then the moment of fusion.

But before that, here are some before, during and after photos of the finishing process. It's good to know what the end goal is, before starting the fusing, gives structure and direction. So that the links created are the ones you wanted.

The first photo is of fused links, work hardened and hammered to texture, but not patinaed. The natural fine (.999) silver color. Because the fine silver doesn't need to be pickled to remove firescale, the links will remain that beautiful shiny silver color.

If you are looking for a more vintage, antique look, or just want the texture to show where the links have been hammered, a patina needs to be applied to darken the bright silver.

The second photo is two strands of links, one a 3-oval chain and the other a 5-oval chain, that have been darkened with liver of sulphur, see the darkening and the variation in color on the metal.

The third photo is the 5-oval chain after tumbling with steel shot in a tumbler for 30 minutes. Still patinaed, but bright on the highest points, darkened in the crevices.


Tumbling also hardens the silver. When it's heated to fuse, it anneals the metal, makes it very soft. Hammering to texturize hardens it, and so does tumbling.

Still in the tumbler is the 3-oval chain, after almost an hour tumbling, to brighten even further.

Wire and Fire - Part 2

Equipment Check

These links were made with 16 gauge fine silver (.999) wire. With wire, the larger the number of the gauge, the smaller the diameter of the wire. So a thicker wire would be 14 gauge or even 10 gauge.
Using a butane torch, some of the thickest wire may be too large to fuse because the torch doesn't reach a high enough temperature to cause the silver to reach fusing stage.

The heat resistant mat is the type used by lampworkers to protect the work surface, it's inexpensive and a good idea to have one, with the firebrick on top of it for fusing.

Firebrick is the type used in kilns and can stand very high temperatures. It's very soft material and the brick is porous and very light in weight, not like a fired clay brick. It will absorb the heat from the torch and help keep the links at temperature, acting as a heat sink around the area receiving the torch's flame.

The two sets of long handled silver tools at the far right are hemostats (or some call them forceps) that are usually made of titanium or stainless steel. Keep some just for fusing that are very clean and not contaminated with sterling silver, patina, flux or other residue, to protect the fine silver. Got these at Evie's Tool Emporium on Etsy, medical suppliers might have them also. Use them when handling the links after fusing to avoid burns on your fingers, when dropping them into the water to quench them. They are also good for holding pieces of wire while the ends are heated to form balls of silver for headpins. Because they have a locking mechanism, you are less likely to drop the hot piece of wire.

The long metal pieces with yellow handles beside the torch are soldering picks. They can be used to move things around without harming the silver or being affected by the heat of the torch.

The butane torch and lighter are sitting on a ceramic tile. These are handy to protect the work surface, and to designate where to sit the torch down after it is used, to avoid touching the hot nozzle accidently. It's placed within reach but well out of the way, and the tile makes it easier to be sure it is in the same location each time.

The torch is a butane torch from the hardware store, not a self-lighting microtorch. It has a safety on it to avoid accidently turning it on. The handle stays cool even while the torch is lit. Have found it a good idea to fuel up the torch (do this outdoors) before each fusing session to make sure there's plenty of fuel, as the reservoir doesn't hold a lot of butane. A creme brulee torch might work, if it reaches a high enough temperature, but if the torch is too small it can't hold enough butane for very long fusing times.

Other things that are useful are mandrels or round object to wrap the wire around to make loops of different sizes. Metal knitting needles are useful as they are sized in millimeter diameters. A size 10 US knitting needle makes a large loop. Wooden dowels of various sizes also make good mandrels.

Flush cutters and a metal file are important to cut the loops and make the edges flat before fusing. Buy the best quality you can, they last a long time and get a lot of use, the higher quality tools will give much better results.

A steel bench block and planishing hammer are useful for work hardening the links after fusing and adding texture, these can be found at Connie Fox's site, and she has a starter kit (right now it's on sale) with all these in one stop. You can get a bench block pad to deaden the hammer blows to the anvil or bench block, in the photo you see the alternate solution of stacked thick mousepads.

Get everything, set it up and get ready - next topic - preparing the links and first fusing ...

Wire and Fire - Part 1

Fusing Fine Silver - Safety and Setup

FUSING STATION PREPARATION:

It's important to have a safe, prepared area to do the fine silver fusing.

During a recent spring cleaning in Studio B (basement) the area set aside for using the torch was cleaned and re-organized.

The firebrick and heat protective mat is from Delphi Glass, which is a good source for metal and glass fusing and warm glass supplies.

There are sites offering the idea that a regular brick or concrete block is good enough to use with the torch, but two things make that a bad choice. One, sometimes a brick that's heated too much will explode - not a good idea to have fiery hot brick shards flying in your work area. The other is that the firebrick acts as a heat sink, collecting heat in the area near the links and enhancing the fusing, and a regular brick won't do this. While it's possible to ball the ends of silver wire holding the wire in the air, it's very, very hard to get a link up to temperature while holding it in air.

The lighting should be task lighting that can be easily adjusted up or down - while fusing links the glowing color of the heated metal is a clue about the stage of fusing, bright lighting makes it harder to see the subtle color changes.

It's an urge to jump right into the creative fun of fusing, BUT safety is always first - have a post on the blog about fusing safety, but here's a quick re-cap with specifics about fusing fine silver.

SAFETY INFORMATION:

Having recently had a finger get a small burn from the new soldering iron, the first thing coming to mind is a caution about high temperatures. The firebrick will get very hot, as well as the nozzle of the torch and the links themselves. Keep it in the front of the awareness - DO NOT TOUCH them and be cautious of their location at all times. Burns are painful and take a while to heal, it's worth a few minutes of care to avoid a burn from accidently picking up a hot link with your fingers, or bumping the nozzle of the torch and getting a blister or burn.

Wear a heavy leather or vinyl apron and closed toe shoes when fusing. Early in the process while learning there may be times when a molten ball of silver drops off unexpectedly or a link is overheated and balls up. If it falls in your lap or on your foot, it may still be hot enough to cause a burn.

Keep a small container of water with ice in it near the fusing station. If you get a little burn, apply ice immediately to reduce the burn and the likelihood of a blister forming. Keep this water clean and hope you never need to use it, it's insurance just in case.

Always point the lighted torch away from yourself. One way to insure this is to put the open ends of the links you are fusing at the 12 o'clock position on the firebrick, so you are pointing the flame away from yourself. Store torch fuel and other flammables far away from the fusing station area.

The torch burns oxygen, keep a window slightly open to allow in fresh air, allow for good ventilation.

Pull long hair back, wear a short sleeved or sleeveless shirt, and cotton rather than a synthetic fabric. Safety glasses are always a good idea to protect your eyes. Make sure the surface is stable, not wobbly, and fire resistant. And have the fire extinguisher nearby and know how to use it.

Also recommend keeping pets and children out of the area during actual torching times, to avoid distractions and accidental knockovers.

Because fine silver doesn't form firescale during fusing, there's no need for hot pickle (a mild acid that removes the firescale) or solder and flux. If you fuse sterling silver, you will need those chemicals and acids also, and there are safety precautions to keep in mind when using those that won't be necessary with fusing fine (.999) silver.

Fusing fine silver is fun, magical and the results are wonderful once it is learned. Just a little safety and focus on protection is worth enjoying the experience to the maximum.

Next topic ... just what is all that equipment and how is it used - Interested?