Handcrafted sterling Silver Jewelry

For those who have an appreciation and love for fine pieces of handcrafted sterling silver jewelry it would be more than likely that some of the jewelry that they may opt for would have been fashioned by a properly trained silversmith. Much of the pieces that are available would not be that of handcrafted sterling silver jewelry. Due to the popularity of silver as a metal most of the jewelry would have been mass produced and processed by means of machinery. This type of jewelry does have different categories and standards and it world be fair to say that much of the mass produced silver pieces are of an acceptable standard. On the other hand, handcrafted sterling silver jewelry would not have been produced in such huge quantities.

A silversmith may or may not have the ability to actually design a piece of fine handcrafted sterling silver jewelry. However, he or she would most certainly be in possession of the craftsmanship in order to shape the jewelry. There are many talented silversmiths who do also design jewelry and would therefore combine artistic talent with that of master craftsmanship. A silversmith shapes the metal when it is at room temperature. This would be the complete opposite of the blacksmith who would shape a metal when it was extremely hot. Handcrafted sterling silver jewelry is shaped gently with the light taps of a hammer.

As a metal, silver is very yielding and this gives the expert silversmith many choices as to what he or she would want to create. In creating handcrafted sterling silver jewelry there are various methods that a silversmith would be able to make use of:

- Forging and forming – from single piece of metal – hammered under pressure

- Work in wax – cast pieces (lost wax casting) – wax evaporated in kiln

- Fabrication of metals – cut and constructed – soldering or riveting

There are silversmiths who choose to only make handcrafted sterling silver jewelry while others prefer to only make utensils. Such choices of course mean that the silversmith would be an absolute expert in what he or she creates. For this reason, a piece of handcrafted silver would undoubtedly be of a superior quality to any article that has been mass produced for the sake of quantity. For a very special piece of handcrafted sterling silver jewelry it would be advisable to insist that it be completely hand made and perhaps even designed in order to produce a piece of jewelry that would be unique.

It is only fairly recently that the term of silversmith has been used by craftsmen who only make handcrafted sterling silver jewelry. In times gone by they only produced silverware such as candlesticks, bowls, cups, plates, etc. A silversmith would also have the training to work with other metals such as gold, bronze and brass. The technique and temperature for working in different types of metal would differ however the silversmith’s primary metal would be that of silver. Gold had for many years been the most popular metal used for jewelry but in recent years silver has made a huge comeback in fine handcrafted sterling silver jewelry.