Question: Should You Take a Silver or Metal Smithing Course To Learn Skills for Miniatures
It is often difficult to find classes specifically dealing with miniatures. If you don't have any artisan miniaturists who teach classes in your area, you may still be able to learn very useful skills by attending other specialist courses with skills very useful to a miniaturist. Try to speak with an instructor first, so that you understand exactly what skills they will be teaching, and decide if the course will offer you opportunities to learn skills you can transfer to your work in miniature.
Answer:
Silversmithing or Basic Metal Jewellery courses (not metal clay jewellery courses) offer experience with many techniques and tools miniaturists will be able to use for future projects. Here is a list of common techniques taught in one day or night school silver working courses which are very useful for miniaturists. Try to find classes where the focus is on general skills, not completion of a particular piece of jewellery (although that is usually a method of ensuring a student learns all the steps in completing a finished piece, even in foundation courses).
Basic Skills:
- Characteristics of Metals - Working with various metals, usually brass, copper and silver in sheet and wire form.
- Cutting and Filing Metal - Working with a jewellers or piercing saw - filing metal. This becomes useful for cutting fine wood and metal shapes for miniature furniture as well as metal.
- Soldering - Soldering skills for silver smithing require working with tiny pieces of solder and a variety of metals. These skills transfer over for electrical wiring projects, and metal forming projects for miniatures - making copper pots, making silver miniatures, electrifying a dolls house, making working miniature lamps, assembling metal wire furniture (baker's racks for example).
- Metal Shaping and Finishing - Forming and shaping metal - applying finishes with tools, patinas, and various polishing compounds. The skills taught may include the use of rotary tools (dremel or foredom) and may include texturing, forming and shaping of metal, as well as various patinas. These skills carry over to making metal miniatures, as well as using rotary tools, and applying various effects to metal miniatures.
More Advanced Skills - Usually taught in a higher level course or separate courses after the basics are covered:
- Hinges and Rivets - Very useful for forming your own furniture handles, making fine hinges for furniture and dolls house miniatures.
- Lost Wax Casting - How to create intricate metal miniatures by carving them in wax, then casting them. Very useful for miniaturists who may need to make one off castings of very small parts or those who want to make metal masters for multiple casts. Final objects can be used as a mold master for future castings.
- Dapping and Forming - Higher skills in shaping metals - useful for learning to shape and work with metal, to make all manner of miniatures, from metal baths to kitchen equipment.
- Metal Punching - Using Dies - Forming repeated elements with metal punches - Useful for miniaturists who need to make repeated fine, thin parts (specific handles and hinges for furniture, parts for boats or other vehicles)
- Making Chain - Useful for scenes where particular chains are required, making miniature chain mail.
