It’s been a while since I last wrote about my RMIT projects… so, still looking at my first semester there, now on to silversmithing…
First year, first semester, Silversmithing, project #1: ‘Flatware’
This project was used to explore forging, and we were to produce two pieces of flatware (from the spoon or fork family). During the research into the history of flatware, I fell for Roman spoons and still think they’re lovely; those from the Mildenhall Treasure were favourites.
from visual diary of the time
Then, reading my visual diary, it seems I got carried away with the golden mean – the traditional proportion favoured by the Greeks. Not sure about the connection to the Roman spoon though – perhaps I was trying to understand why I was attracted to the shape? Anyway, in playing around with the golden mean mathematics, I drew the first spoon I ended up making from copper (it’s just over 7cm high).
from visual diary of the time; amended copyright notice: not to be reproduced without permission
copper spoon; original image by Mark Kral; amended copyright notice: not to be reproduced without permission
This started as a copper billet that had to be hammered (forged) and basically wacked into shape; there was no soldering involved, but there was certainly lots of filing.
The second spoon was a partner to the one above, but with a rounder form; and it is smaller, as it was made from sterling silver (from an ingot we cast ourselves from silver granules). Sterling silver is harder to work than copper, so I was happy that I’d decided to do the ‘simpler’ one in silver.
silver spoon; original image by Mark Kral; amended copyright notice: not to be reproduced without permission
I gave this spoon to my god-daughter on her christening in early 2006 … I’d like to think my brother understood how hard it was to give away something that took so much effort to make, but she’s pretty special and I hope she grows to treasure it.
… previous post in this series: RMIT Year 1, Semester 1, Enamelling #4 …
Melbourne Jeweller 