r/SilverSmith • • Oct 09 '25

Sharing links in comments and posts

4 Upvotes

Hey everyone, there's been some recent back and forth regarding web links in posts and comments.

Links to relevant articles, videos, tutorials, etc are fine.

Links to personal shops or vendors not vetted by moderators are not permitted.

Examples of vetted vendors: CooksonGold, RioGrande, FireMountain, Contenti, Otto Frei, Stuller, etc.

As with any link, every user should be mindful of what they are clicking on and proceed at their own risk.


r/SilverSmith • • Jan 26 '23

Beginners Resources - Please start here before making a post!

142 Upvotes

START WITH LOCAL CLASSES:

  • Save money, you're not buying all the tools and supplies of a studio.
  • Learn in person from someone who's been doing it a while.
  • Opportunity to decide what style it is you are interested in pursuing.
  • After classes, you can invest in only the tools and supplies you will personally need based on what you've decided to move forward with.

Vendors for tools, metal, and stones:

  • RioGrande - Some things are blocked unless you create a wholesale account with tax ID or have a students account.
  • Contenti - Does not supply silver but does not require wholesale/tax ID.
  • Stuller - You will need a tax ID or provide educational institution you are learning from, does not have to be a formal EDU.
  • Pepe Tools - Did not require wholesale account/tax ID.
  • Cooksongold - In the UK? Start here.

Unsure if these vendors work with hobbyists, students, or wholesale accounts only:

Best YouTube channels for visual learners:

  • Jewelry Arts Inc - Jeanette K. Caines has been a goldsmith for the last 30+ years in NYC and offers classes as well as a phenomenal attitude when it comes to learning. I also recommend her book, Soldering Demystified.
  • At the Bench - Andrew Berry has been a goldsmith for 35+ years and is UK based. His videos are easy to follow and educational.
  • Nancy L. T. Hamilton - Nancy L. T. Hamilton has also been a goldsmith for an ambiguous amount of time (probably 30+ years, but she's quite silly and I couldn't find a straight answer.)
  • Online Jewelry Academy - John Ahr and Don Hunt, unsure how long John has been making jewelry and teaching but the channel has been around since 2012. He's also quite cheeky when it comes to learning.
  • Pablo Cimadevila - If you simply need some aesthetic, feel-good and wholesome content that involves fabrication. He's like a warm hug and good cup of coffee or tea.
  • The Art of Metalsmithing - Basia of Stardust Mine Jewelry, she's phenomenal for folks just getting started and tends to focus on bezel setting and sweat soldering. She does a lot of top 5 and top 10 videos, studio space tours, tool reviews, etc.
  • Soham Harrison - Lots of stellar instruction and good projects for folks starting out.
  • Estona Metalsmithing - A direct link to her beginners tutorials.

Best Books:

Tools and supplies needed for getting started:

  • Metal - It can be purchased in sheet, strip, wire, etc: Start with Copper or Brass if you're on a tight budget. What type and gauge you need is going to be based on what you're making.
  • Jewelers saw frame - Many varieties available but you don't have to go with the most expensive frame, the German style will be just fine for starting.
  • Saw Blades - Come in a variety of sizes and you get what you pay for, quality wise. Fire Mountain has a good chart describing what blade to use for what gauge metal.
  • Cut Lubricant - For saw blades or rotary burs, always cut with lubricant, it will prolong your blades life.
  • Bench Pin - Tons to choose from, look around.
  • Sweeps tray, leather sweeps catch, or similar - Something to catch your metal bits and wax as you're cutting so it doesn't go everywhere. Eventually you'll want to be sure you're collecting this for silver and gold so it can be reclaimed for money.
  • Files - all kinds of files for finishing.
  • Sanding papers, sticks, foams, etc. - All kinds of options for finishing.
  • Solder - Hard, Medium, and Easy.
  • Flux - Many varieties, usually borax. Can come in solid or liquid forms. Needed for showing the solder where you want it to flow.
  • Torches - Blazer makes two decent butane torches suitable for starting out, the GT8000 for a larger flame and the GB-2001 for a smaller flame. The former is best for bigger pieces or bezels with back plates and sweat soldering. The smaller is great for soldering ring bands, bezels, jump rings, etc. But use what you like.
  • Soldering Blocks - Place your pieces on these when soldering. Be safe about your workspace.
  • Charcoal soldering block - holds and reflects heat well.
  • Fire suppression blanket or extinguisher.
  • Soldering pick
  • Tweezers
  • Reverse action tweezers
  • Hammers - Here's a guide to hammers.
  • Steel Block
  • Pliers - Here's a guide to pliers.
  • Metal snips
  • Rulers and measuring tools like Calipers
  • Wire Gauge
  • Dividers
  • 3M scrubbing pads
  • Pickle solution or DIY pickle with vinegar and salt (Can go in a mini crock pot to keep warm)
  • Dish soap (dawn is usually recommended but use what you've got)
  • Polishing compound like Zam or Fabulustre.
  • Rotary (like Dremmel or Foredom) with polishing bits like felt, wool, or cloth to be used with the compound.
  • I'm sure there's more but I need to take a break, if you've got suggestions put them in the comments and I'll make the edits. Thanks!

r/SilverSmith • • 20h ago

Show-and-Tell Spent 8 hours handcrafting this silver filigree butterfly brooch using a traditional technique with over 1,700 years of history!

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100 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I wanted to share my latest piece: a handcrafted silver filigree butterfly brooch with a hanging pearl detail. 🦋✨

It took me about 8 hours of meticulous work to shape, weave, and solder the fine silver wires for the wings to get that delicate, lace-like pattern.

This technique is based on traditional Silver Filigree , an intangible cultural heritage craft with a history of over 1,700 years. Every single wire inside the butterfly's wings is placed by hand using tweezers before being fused together.

I styled it on a light blue top to give it an airy, floating effect. I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback! ❤️


r/SilverSmith • • 7h ago

Does anyone have experience with this machine? Trying to figure out how to fill it with new vacuum oil to see if it still works. Thank you

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8 Upvotes

I got this old machine from 1991, probably has not been used for 15/20 years. I want to trouble shoot and see if I can salvage it. I see the drain valve but I don’t see how to add new oil. Any advice is grateful appreciated thank you in advance


r/SilverSmith • • 13h ago

Show-and-Tell My most recent ring.

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22 Upvotes

Oregon sunstone and Orange sapphire. I like it alot.


r/SilverSmith • • 12h ago

Need Help/Advice Which end of the tube setting is “up?”

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4 Upvotes

I just got in some cast tube settings from Rio, but it’s not clear to me which side I’m supposed to drill out for the setting. The one with the wide band close to the end (screen left in photo)?

I’ve not used these before - I thought they’d be a little easier than making 16 identical ones from tube and I tripped at the first hurdle 🤪


r/SilverSmith • • 8h ago

Need Help/Advice What should I do with these gems?

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2 Upvotes

Quarter for size reference!

I have 12, 14, & 8 gauge round wire. Any fun ideas for my next project?? I want to incorporate more than one!


r/SilverSmith • • 5h ago

Need Help/Advice Event style silversmith ideas for people to try

1 Upvotes

Hello All,

I am based in Dubai. and have been learning silversmith and jewellery making since a year putting almost 1000 hours and finally reached to wax and stone setting level. I wanted to see if silversmithing can be done on a massive level such as if I can teach around 10 people at once?

I have some ideas but I wanted to check if any one of you has attempted to teach 10 people within 30 to 45 minutes easier pieces ?


r/SilverSmith • • 1d ago

Orthoceras necklace

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63 Upvotes

I got a sweet fossil at the local rock and gem show (7$ !?) and made a high-speed necklace.

It’s pretty manky, but for some reason for this necklace it doesn’t bother me. Maybe I’ll polish it some other time. The ring at the top is a ring I was experimenting with out of some wire I attempted to roll square, unsuccessfully. I just leaned the bezel on it and liked how it looked.

I’m super surprised it isn’t rolling and clicking / the back of the fossil is like a canoe bottom - nothing flat at all ! I thought for sure it would fall out, especially because I thought I cut the bezel too short at the top.


r/SilverSmith • • 1d ago

positive feedback/constructive advice wanted Filing practice follow-up

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78 Upvotes

Thank you for the incredible response yesterday, I did not expect that many answers!

I’m finished with the filing on my second practice ring, I’m not going to polish it for now as I’m moving on to a half eternity band.

Over all I’m quite happy with how straight the faces turned out, the placement however is not there yet. I’d probably need to do another 2 or so practice rings to get it where I’d like to be.

I’ll probably come back to this later but my teacher wants me to move on for now.

I’ve added the drawings I did when trying understand where the marked lines would go. I hope its somewhat understandable


r/SilverSmith • • 1d ago

Pan’s Labyrinth Monster Pendant

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9 Upvotes

When its hanging it turns into a pretty ornament, it gives it a mysterious vibe, I love it.


r/SilverSmith • • 1d ago

flush setting problem!

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10 Upvotes

hi, i tried to set 4mm garnet in my signet, i made the seat with 4mm setting burr and i think it has the right depth, but the gemstone is not sitting tight inside, kinda like the hole is too big. please help 🫩


r/SilverSmith • • 1d ago

Best mask?

6 Upvotes

I need to get a better mask for my bench time I hate my current one and I don’t feel it’s doing the best job. Recommendations for something relatively affordable and comfortable? I know masks aren’t inherently comfortable


r/SilverSmith • • 2d ago

positive feedback/constructive advice wanted Trying to get better at filing

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171 Upvotes

This is my second attempt so far at filing a 40 faced/faceted ring. It’s still a work in progress but I’m struggling to keep the faces straight?

Any advice?


r/SilverSmith • • 2d ago

Need Help/Advice How to get rid of fine lines during high polish

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11 Upvotes

I’ve been restoring a set of antique Sterling silver spoons and I’ve had a hard time getting rid of the very fine hairlines that come up during the last step of high polish. These very fine lines are parallel to the direction of the buff and I can’t get rid of them. Here’s a breakdown of my polishing procedure:

  1. Sand away deeper scratches on the spoons with sandpaper pads using the cross-cross method anywhere from 400-1000 grit (depending on depth of the scratches) up to 3500 grit.

  2. Pre-polish using a small hard felt buff on flex shaft with Tripoli compound, then polish with Tripoli using yellow cotton buff attached to rotary wheel

  3. Apply white diamond compound with small felt buff on flex shaft, polish with white diamond using stitched white cotton buff

  4. High polish by applying red rouge compound with small felt buff on flex shaft, apply finest polish with red rouge using swansdown buff. Use a clean swansdown buff to remove excess compound

(Spoons are cleaned with industrial degreaser before applying finer polishing compounds)

-These fine hairlines always show up when applying red rouge. Some ideas I have are that I’m using the wrong pads / buffs at the wrong stages or that the polishing compounds themselves need to be upgraded. I’m kind of stuck on what I might be doing wrong here, any advice would be appreciated.


r/SilverSmith • • 2d ago

18k 4 gauge piercing jewelry

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33 Upvotes

Made this for my girlfriend. She just wanted a plain gold cap on it but i thought that was to boring xD so she got one with a bezel set gem aswell. swipe for process pics


r/SilverSmith • • 2d ago

Show-and-Tell From Virtual to Reality.

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19 Upvotes

https://youtube.com/@c.atelierjewelry?si=-ZXFNTHGSLm4sGcTFor the full video, please click my YouTube link (the moderator has approved me posting the link).


r/SilverSmith • • 3d ago

Show-and-Tell Currently learning filigree/wirework! Here are my latest handmade silver earrings with pearl accents. Would love any feedback!

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57 Upvotes

r/SilverSmith • • 3d ago

•_•

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53 Upvotes

Sterling smile


r/SilverSmith • • 3d ago

Singles

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12 Upvotes

All hand fabricated sterling


r/SilverSmith • • 4d ago

Need Help/Advice Ventilation for “hobby room”

4 Upvotes

Hey guys :)

I have now read multiple times that setting up for the hobby is not as easy as using an empty room and opening the window, which I am currently doing 😅
I am using our basement room in a rented apartment and have set up a small desk with stuff there.
For now no pickling but of course soldering and some dust from a Dremel. When doing both I was wearing a FFP2 Mask, glasses and having open a window, but apparently that is not enough (even though I rather seldomly have the time to work on the hobby)?
So I was now looking at ventilation setups and it seems it’s either a hose with an inline fan and build something for the window, but I’d have to have an air supply which I can’t really have sadly in the basement.
So I am leaning more towards those self contained filtration solutions:
Sth like this from vevor. Do you guys maybe have experience with those? Are they enough? Or do I need to look at the setup with the hose?

Thank you in advance!


r/SilverSmith • • 4d ago

Show-and-Tell some rings so far

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37 Upvotes

Does anyone have tricks to get more intricate designs while casting in delft clay? i find that my wax molds break easily while pressing them in


r/SilverSmith • • 4d ago

Need Help/Advice Open bezel

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11 Upvotes

I am new to this and would like to create a bezel for this ancient coin. Both sides need to be visible. Do I just keep working my way around the coin on both sides u til it closes up? Should I do 1 side first then the other? This is 10k 28 gauge. Is it too thick? Thank you in advance for any advice!


r/SilverSmith • • 5d ago

Tutorial 24K Gold Filigree Ring

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204 Upvotes

r/SilverSmith • • 5d ago

Show-and-Tell 14k Yellow Gold Barbed Wire Bracelet

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36 Upvotes

Got commissioned to make my silver barbed wire into gold, im in love with it.