Silver Prices

With silver prices heading upward, I thought I would take a look at the history of silver pricing. How much has it really fluctuated?

The price of silver is driven by speculation and supply and demand, like most commodities. It is affected by currency fluctuations, inflation fears, and geopolitical risks. Silver prices can be extremely volatile. For instance, in January 1980 the price of silver was $49.45 per troy ounce (ozt) but by March of that same year, it had dropped to $11 ozt.

More recently, the average annual price between 2010 and 2015 for one ozt has varied like this:
2010 - 20.19
2011 - 35.12
2012 - 31.15
2013 - 23.79
2014 - 19.64
2015 - 15.68

So it’s difficult for silver artists to predict the cost of their supplies, especially since most of us are not economists. So what do we do?

Of course, we try to stock up when prices are low. At the beginning of this year, silver was about $14.50 ozt. As of today, it is $16.95 ozt. That may not seem like a big difference, but when I am producing jewelry I sometimes use an ounce or more per day. It adds up.

Another thing we do is save all of our scrap silver, such as the little pieces left when cutting out a shape. Some people melt and reuse it, others sell it to a refiner for cash. I sell it back to my supplier and use the money to buy more silver. I just recently sent in some scrap silver and received over $300 for it.

What are some ways that you try to save money in your hobby? Tell me in the comments.

Cat
www.ckmetaldesigns.com

School Review

I didn't keep up with posting from school like I meant to. As it turns out, I was disappointed with my school experience.

The jewelry fabrication semester didn't teach me anything that I didn't already know. I was looking forward to learning new skills, and that didn't happen.

Then came stone setting. All of the stone setting was done in cast rings. There was no instruction in how to hand-fabricate my own settings. So that was disappointing too.

All in all, I felt it was a waste of a lot of money.  I think I may give the William Holland school a try when I have saved up some more money.

Cat

End of First Semester

For the rest of the Jewelry Fabrication "semester", we mostly did things that I've done before.  Soldering, cleaning up your jewelry, making rings, forming metal into shapes.

I made a cool keychain with my initials on it.

I am using those initials to have a stamp made for myself so I can stamp my jewelry with my initials, a makers mark.

This week was my "final exam". They gave me this pile of silver:

And told me to make this out of it, with no help from the instructors:

So this is how mine came out:

I was pretty pleased with it, and I got an A on my final project.

Now I have a week off, then we start a semester of Metal Properties and Classification. That won't be as much fun as hands-on work, but I'm sure I will learn a lot.

If you want to see some of the jewelry that I've been making, visit me at CKMetalDesigns.com.

Cat

Melting Metal

I melted metal all by myself today...no supervision. It was scary, but I did it and poured it into the mold, no problems. Yeah!

Making Rings

Today I am going to learn how to make and resize rings. First I have to melt some silver to use for it, then shape the silver into a square sheet.

I made two beautiful rings, and then horror! I was told to resize them so I had to cut into my beauties. I made one bigger and one smaller. They both came out looking good, so it worked out well after all.

We’ll see what my next project is.

Catching Up

Last week, after I finished my coin, we used rectangular brass plates to practice sawing, filing, and sanding. Even after all that, I still can’t saw a straight line, but I’m getting better at it.

Finally, this week I started on a real project.

I melted silver into a blob, and turned the blob into a wire and a sheet. Then I used the wire to make oval jump rings and solder them into a chain. I used the sheet to make a toggle clasp and made my chain into a bracelet.

Pictures to come when I am at my computer.

Cat

More Filing!

First thing I did today was finish off my coin by sanding it smooth. My fingers are really sore from all the filing and sanding. My shiny coin:

Then, Marc handed me four squares of brass and I got all excited because I thought it was time to drill! Alas, no. More filing. I had to file all the edges straight and make sure the corners were 90 degree angles. So here they are:

I'm pretty sure tomorrow is the day I get to practice drilling. It should go fast because I know how to drill, but I've never drilled brass before. It's a pretty hard metal so I hope it isn't more difficult to drill than silver. I'll let you know tomorrow!

Cat

First Day of School

today was the first day of jewelry school. We had orientation in the morning, then we got started on our first lesson.

We were given a brass coin with writing and a picture on it and told to file one side down flat. I think I have cramps in both hands after a full day of filing!

After one hour:

After three hours:

After four hours:

After five hours:

Yes, I filed that silly coin for five hours! But it looks nice, doesn't it?

Cat










After four hours:

Working With Metals

For a while I've been wanting to expand my jewelry work from beading into working with metals. I got a kick in the rear when El Novio bought me a butane soldering torch for Christmas last year. The only problem was, I didn't know the first thing to do with it!

I played around, soldering little scraps of copper to each other, but nothing resembling jewelry. Then a kind friend of mine spent three days with me teaching me the basics of soldering and working with metal. Now I could really make jewelry!

Soon the butane torch wasn't enough and I bought myself a "big-girl" torch, the Orca EZ Torch, which uses a propane tank and draws in oxygen from the air. Then I took a few workshops at Jewelry Creations Workshop in Miami. I could tell I was getting hooked on this hobby and wanted to learn more than I could through project oriented workshops.

I found out that there is a jewelry school in Miami, Miami Jewelry School, that offers real classes and can teach me everything I want to know about creating metal jewelry. I signed up for classes and I start school on August 20th.

I'm so excited to be embarking on this new endeavor! I'll be updating my blog frequently as I gain knowledge and new skills. Follow my progress while I'm in school and see all the new jewelry that I'll be making.

See you on the 20th to let you know how my first day goes!

Cat

A Totally Beady Christmas

I know it's a bit early for thinking about Christmas, but those of us who handcraft our gifts have to think about it early. Lots of gifts to make and not much time if I wait until too late.

Someone I know is having a totally beady Christmas this year. I make her an Advent calendar every year, and this year I'm filling lots of the slots with jewelry. Here is what I've made so far for her.

I just love the little wreath earrings! They are from a bracelet pattern by Beads Gone Wild, I used just one of the motifs.

Are you handcrafting gifts for the holidays? Have you started on them yet?

Cat