Swage Blocks, and Back Again: A Hobbit-like Man's Hardie Hole.

The Humble Swage Block

Why this sudden interest? Well: This last weekend, I was honored to teach a small “Artisans’ Row” style class in raising vessels. (No…not “Nuklayar wessels…” though that question was asked numerous times…) And in my raising class, I was using a swage block. One of the good people, kind enough to come and listen to me blather, asked about swage blocks, in general, and wooden blocks in particular. I had been using a wooden swage block, myself that day. (And also asked: who I was…and why he had no idea who I was…and from whence had I sprung…It was a little awkward…and I hadn’t even brushed my hair.) So. Here we are. Shaping Notch, and Bench Pin Fluting Horn Hardie, and Tool Holes My personal wooden Swage Block, constructed from Red Oak, with Hardie Hole, Raising Horn, Fluting Horn, Tool Hole, Shaping Notch, Pierce Work Bench Pin, etc... There are few to no references to swage blocks in ancient literature, and this is a shame. SHAME!!! From the Bronze Age find, the Cape Gelidonya Block, we know that swage blocks have been in existence for over 3200 years. How many more years? We cannot tell, off hand. As yet. So, for argument’s sake, let’s call it 3201 years, with a hedge of up to maybe 5000 years. Give or take. Yet, they do not show up in various works of the time, such as Cavelli’s Ars Malleus. Even the 1500’s paintings of St Eligius, and the 1450’s woodcuts by Durer of St Eligius, all fail to depict a swage. Swage free…the lot of them. Plenty of depictions of anvils, many of stakes being used. One or two images of "shaped stumps." Why? Swage Block from Cyprus, 3200 years old.  The above pic is of a swage block found by undersea archaeologist George F. Bass and his team at the site of a Bronze Age shipwreck off Cape Gelidonya, Turkey. The shipwreck from which this was pulled is estimated to have occurred roughly 1200 bc, which makes this thing, as the experts say, "freaky old, yo!" This is the era of the stories of Homer, the vessel probably from Syria or Phoenicia. Hammers found on the site were the ovoid pierced stone type. This may be the oldest known tool of its kind. Look closely at the image above, would you? The cut grooves are both V shaped, AND half rounds. There are two different sized tool holes. 3200 years old. In function, it looks like one of my modern steel blocks. The uses HAVE NOT CHANGED IN 3200 YEARS!!! WOWZERS! I would speculate that the majority of artists depicting medieval jewelry and metalsmithing studios didn't know quite what they wee seeing in many cases. So, where is the swage block? It is such a ubiquitous tool. To all kind of metalsmiths, not just jewelers. It is labeled "indispensable" by some, yet judged unworthy by others? There are numerous reasons, of various level of opacity.  The Cape Gelidonya block is an excellent example of a small anvil of that period. There are so few Bronze Age metalworking tools extant, that little can be said about style or development. Most of the metal of that era has been recycled numerous times and those pieces found in museums quite rare compared to the popular use of the time. Why? Materials are expensive. Were then. Are now, too. The Bronze Age anvil had developed into more of a multi-function tool than either the modern swage block or anvil. Most of these tools developed over the ages in a dependable series of material steps, starting with wood, stone, bronze, iron, steel, to high grade steel. And to save on material, studio space, and money (whatever moneys that era required) having both and anvil and an independent swage block was not always feasible.  "The Anvils of Bronze Age Europe", by Margaret Ehrenbery written (exhaustively) in The Antiquaries Journal, she describes a plethora small bronze anvils, not to be confused with bickerns, which are located in museums in Western Europe and the British Isles. Most have been dated from about 1200 to 700 BC because of the material comprising them. They are not just little blocks with a flat side, but some of them have horns, punching holes, swages of various shapes in them and a stake for mounting them. Relatively small, (it’s not a contest!) they contain just about every complexity or feature that has been used on smiths’ anvils we see throughout the history of people banging on metal.1 Above, an engraving of a Bronze Age anvil found in France at Fresné la Mère as described by both Ehrenbery above and John Evans in Ancient Bronze Implements of Great Britain2. It is believed to be a typical multipurpose Bronze Age anvil. It can be used in two positions. The genius of these tools lay in the metal in the stake not simply being used to hold up the other end, but in being usable in multiple possitions. John Evans has this to say on Bronze Age anvils, “In my own collection is what appears to have been a larger anvil of bronze, which was found with other instruments of the same metal, at Macarsca, Dalmatia. In form it is not unlike an ordinary hammer-head about 5 inches long; but the eye through it appears to be too small for it to have ever served to receive a haft of the ordinary kind, though it probably held a handle by which to steady the tool when in use. One end is nearly square by slightly convex; the other oblong and rounded the narrow way. Both ends are much worn. On one face and one side are rounded notches or swages. This tool has been cast in an open mould, as one face presents the rough surface of the molten metal, which contains a large proportion of tin. The other face and sides are fairly smooth.”2  This passage concerning the "eye" Evans speaks of is probably a punching hole, or Pritchel hole, not a hardie hole. Though, it may have served both purposes. Taking these ideas into account, the Bronze Age anvil had features of both anvil and swage block. Which was a good idea for people with limited resources. The block was generally not a separate tool and when it appears, as in the Cape Gelidonya block, it is actually a simplified anvil of that time.  Beyond the Bronze, and into the Iron:      While many manufacturing techniques carried over from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, one did not, and that is casting. The bronze age smith was largely a foundry worker; the Iron Age Smith was not. The Iron Age smith forged wrought iron with his hammer and anvil. The Bronze Age smith was primarily a casting metalsmith, who also did forming and refining, where his spiritual descendants, the Iron Age Blacksmiths, were hot-work fabricators first, and then may have done casting to accentuate their iron and steel workings. Under these later men, the anvil became a different kind of tool. The anvil developed into a larger, flat and sturdy work surface. It was much less a multi-function tool than the Bronze age anvil. When forging iron, it was common to use helpers with large mass moving hammers, and the delicate features of a multi-function tool would quickly become battered, broken, and useless. Anvil/swage abuse. It ain’t pretty. In the Western Iron Age, the smith had to forge an anvil to shape, a difficult job requiring several men and significant effort, and a material outlay different from their predecessors. This new material was vastly valuable. And with a new large tool came more outlay of time and materials on the array of smaller tools, as well. Anvils with a variety of shaping stakes took over from the swages with the shaping curves and divots built-in.  So anvils developed and simplified in form, with the multi-function swage falling forgotten and replaced by separate, smaller tools. However, by the 16th century we are seeing anvils with distinctly shaped bodies. “Church windows" began to appear on anvils, as need for the multi-utility of the anvil’s shape grew in the absence of swage blocks. It is speculated that the sides of these anvils could then be used as swages, particularly for the plate workers such as armorers, and even the later steam engineers and tinkers that followed. In fact, examples have a distinctly flat side where no feet extend so that the anvil can be used on its side. It would not be until the Industrial Age that the anvil started to develop into the multi-function tool it is today. However, it has developed as a completely different tool than the Bronze Age multi-function, “Swiss Army Knife” style of tool represented by the true swage.  The Shapable Shapers:    Possible other reasons for the absence of swage blocks in many shops is the substitution of temporary materials for many of their utilities. The swages were there but they came and went. It would be easy for authors writing about the tools of the smith to overlook them. In 1122 Theophilus describes a shop with anvils "broad and flat, long and round as well as swages on stakes." There he also describes the use of lead backing and "wood blocks with troughs or notches." Illustrations of a gold smiths shop in 1576 by Stephanus show depressions cut in the wood stumps supporting the shop anvils and stakes3. The tools of this shop are unchanged from those of Theophilus from the 1120's, and are probably not different from earlier work shops and studios, as technologies had not drastically changed in those eras. "Stumps," a great shape changing tool for shaping metals, are used for both hot and cold work. Thin material such as iron table ware can be dished hot in a wood block the depression forming as the wood burns. This leads to the burned depressions, which can then be scraped and used for cold forming work. Wood blocks, and dapping blocks are also carved in positive and negative halves for a variety of work. This method is especially useful for thin and nonferrous metal work. A great deal of light and heavy sheet metal work such as armor is produced in wood blocks that seem to be nothing more than a short section of log, unless one looks close. (This presumes One knows at what One is looking, and that is problematic, too.) After a wood block, dapping block or swage     becomes too worn for continued use it just becomes more fuel that is added to fire the forge. Thus there is often no evidence left behind for we, the curious researcher. Lead blocks were used for hundreds of years as a standard tool in the metal working shop. It was used for file cutting and straightening, dishing, repousse' and embossing. For dishing the depression in the lead block was not cast but was hammered, or chased, into the block as needed.4  (For the sake of full disclosure: I hate Lead Blocks…they are as unto a plague upon the world. Like 18 K White Gold…and Marshmallows.) After a time when the lead block became too battered on both sides it was melted down and re-cast in a simple slab or block shape again. It was an ephemeral tool and easily overlooked by those writing about the tools of the smith. Today the lead block is frowned upon due to both its toxicity, and its invasive nature in interacting with other metals, but they still have uses. Evil, horrifying, soul wrenching uses. Break out the PIG!!!  It was not until the 1400’s that the Western world began casting iron in real quantities. This changed the character of iron working in Europe and was the beginning of what we now call The Industrial Age, beating the Renaissance bloody, lifting its wallet, and leaving it shaking in the gutter. Swage blocks as separate, unique tools would come roaring back as foundries spread and the cost of metal dropped. However, until the 18th century, and the Age of Machinery, cast swage blocks were tools made by individuals and quite rare, each one, like a thumbprint, showing the versatility of use and the methods of the user. Changes in Form and Function: Sometime in the mid-17th century the square hardie hole became a feature (not a bug) of blacksmiths anvils. Originally intended to hold a small steel chisel upright for hot cutting, drifting, and other uses for the hardy hole developed. Miniature bickerns (narrow round anvils) and bottom swages started to become standard anvil accessories. Having a hole to key then in place and prevent them from hopping off the anvil during use made bottom swages a popular tool. An innovation that changed anvils versatility, and brought smiths added benefits, as well. The metal swage, and the practice of making custom wooden swages, returned its status as a common shop tool. With industry and modern machines of the steam era came the need for machine bolts of all sizes. At first the smith forged all the bolts, upsetting and heading them by hand and dressing with a file. And here is where anvil top swage tools, and stakes of greater variety came into popular use. When a smith needed a great number of stakes, a swage block would become an economical alternative. As industries that became more complex, relying upon engines, and mechanisms developed, the smith was relegated to making the large machine parts that were not mass produced. The factory smith was also called upon to make numerous axles and shafts with shoulders that were dressed with swages. Slowly but surely those “Smiths” became “Machinists” by usage and trade, and this was the era of the industrial factory blacksmith and the Industrial Swage Block. Blocks for these purposes were the first block manufactured in production quantities. Industrial swage blocks became popular enough that they were found in common store catalogs by the late 1800's. Modern Jewelers' Small Swage Block, available on most jewelry supply catalogs. 1. Ars Malleus, Cavelli, Translation by K. Smith and W Coleman, Grohman u. Son, 1968 2. Anvils in America, Richard A. Postman, 1998 3. Ancient Bronze Implements of Great Britain, Weapons and Ornaments of Great           Britain and Ireland, John Evans, 1881, Longmans, Green and Co. London.           4. Theophilus On Divers Arts - 1122, Translation by John G. Hawthorne and Cyril Stanley Smith, 1963 5. Sheet Metal Workers' Manual, L. Broemel, 1942, Frederick J. Drake and Company, Chicago. Further reading: The Complete Metalsmith, Tim McCreight, Davis; Revised edition 1991 Moving Metal, Adolf Steines, (Translation by Berger and Berger) Blue Moon Press, 2001  Silversmithing, Rupert Finegold and William Seitz, Krause Publications, 1983

Raised Vessels

Raising

"There is only one way to Raise- The Way that Works."

Tim McCreight, Complete Metalsmith

Raising is a metalworking technique whereby sheet metal is formed over a stake or other solid object by repeated 'courses' of hammering and annealing. (I have written about annealing in earlier pieces...)

The sheet metal, held at an angle to the raising stake, is formed using the tried and true "BANG-BANG-BANG Method" by hammering just in front of the contact point where the sheet metal meets the raising stake. When done properly, this both stretches AND compresses the metal, causing deformations in the structural plain that allow for a flat sheet to become a vessel with contiguous walls. You read that right...stretches AND compresses!!  

 When executed correctly, raising allows the smith to efficiently shape the metal without thinning thus avoiding the risk of cracking, a common occurrence. (Be Warned...Beware...Knowing is Half the Battle...Go Team Venture!) In raising, the metal at the edge of the sheet is compressed and thickened as the form is gradually narrowed. This technique is an standard skill of silversmithing and is used to create seamless vessels such as vases, cups, bowls, carafes, pitchers, euers, etc.

Why?

Good question!!

Raising, when done properly, allows the crafts-person to create a seamless vessel. This makes a vessel that is stronger, inherently, and suffers from far fewer failures encountered by seamed vessels. Without seams, you lack the capacity to have seams that did not solder, or fuse, completely. Without seams, you lack spots where differences in alloys cause problems like temperature compression/expansion differences, alloys' oxidation rate differences, rivet failure (rivets...honestly...), galvanic corrosion...so many things. Lemurs may even be involved. 

This method also require far fewer resources. Far fewer different steps. No need to cut and measure separate parts to be formed as vessel walls, then attached. Keeping in mind that each place of attachment can represent its own examples of failure, and breakage. 
Expending fewer resources on a project is key, as well. A talented smith can complete a raised vessel with a sheet of metal, a form, a hammer, and a heat source. No need to add in soldering alloys, or other complex attachment point solutions. 

Now, Once a vessel is raised, there is no reason ornamentation cannot be added...and throughout history it has been. 
Such as:

And:

Not attaching extra ornamentation is an option that has allowed for the metal varieties themselves to shine through, like this Mokume Gane piece:

(NO! Go back and LOOK at that bowl! Looook at it!!)

But, details and extra flourishes can add so much, I admit. Like in these two pieces from roughly 90 CE. 

As the quote at the beginning stated: "...The Way that Works."

There are many ways to do this. I have seen dozens of different techniques. I have tried dozens, as well. The methods presented here are the methods I use. The methods with which I feel the most comfortable. If you find them somehow unworkable, I'm open to questions. 

Starting with a circle of metal sheet. (I'll assume one has taken the time to mill out a sheet from an ingot of refined ore, and then cut it into a circle...)

Using a scribe, having determined the center, you then decide upon how big the base will be, and scribe that circle. 

Form completism, scribe concentric circles 1/4 inch apart leading from your base measurement, up to the outer edge. 

The goal is to change this flat shape efficiently into a graceful risen form. Keep in mind, if you will, that the furthest material from the center has the greatest distance to travel from the original plane, and because of this, extra effort may be required to bring those furthest edges up and into line with the rest of the desired design. 

Unlike in Sinking, where the metal is stretched by hammering on the inside of the vessel's form to stretch the material thinner, Raising is worked from the OUTSIDE of the form, compressing the metal in concentric planes, while stretching the metal in the radial direction. 

Within these 1/4 inch concentric circles, starting at the center and working around each circle, then moving to the next circle outwards, and so on, once you have reached the outer edge is called a Course, or a Coursing. 

For this forming method, Cross-peen hammers and cross-peen mallets are your go-to tools. The cross-peen hammers' oblong face pushes the metal twice as far on the plane of the hammers' handle, drawing the metal structure out further than it pushes it to either side. The distribution of force is directionally Inequal. 

First turn:

You are going to concentrate on placing your hammer blows just past the point where you have the sheet angled to contact the Raising Stake. 


First Full Coursing:




After each Coursing, the metal will be work hardened, and need to be Annealed if you want to continue to raise the walls further.


The making of a Fluting and Raising Stake!

 Crimping or Fluting:

 Crimping or Fluting is used to quickly raise a flat sheet into a vessel. Some prefer to sink their forms first, others claim that Fluting the form radially will allow for even more quickly raising the form.

Using the Fluting stake, make radial crimps, which will ultimately make your form look like a flower...or a very rugged cupcake paper.
Yes. I just wrote that.

Smooth these flutes over your Raising Stake using a cross-peen hammer or cross-peen mallet in the standard raising method, working from the center to the edge.



Further Raised Walls:

Walls raised high, and brought in on themselves to create a graceful necked vessel. 

Fire Blows: A Look at Blowpipes

A blow pipe is a simple devise consisting of a simple tube with a graduated interior diameter. Air is forced through the tube by means of the lungs to add extra oxygen to a flame, increasing its heat. By having the interior diameter restricted along the length of the pipe, the air pressure is increased, and the force of the air entering is focused and strengthened as it exit's the pipe to interact with the available flame provided by the use of a lamp. The flame could be produced by a simple oil lamp, an alcohol lamp, a candle or even a more modern gas fed flame. This simple technique of rapid oxygenation can produce temperatures high enough to melt small amounts of gold, alloys and solders.

What does this mean? Exactly?

(Technical stuff ahead, try to not nod off…I’ll be brief.)

While there are ways to join your various and sundry metal bits together, the most popular methods are Soldering and Fusing (or Fusion Welding).

Soldering is a process that joins two pieces of metal by using a third metal and melting it between them to form the bond. Typically, solder is used, the specific alloy depends on the two items being joined.

Fusion welding is a bonding technique for metals were two parts are heated right up to (but not past) their melting point while sitting in contact with each other. At a temperature dependent on their precise composition the surfaces of the parts start to melt and flow together. Upon cooling the two parts are firmly joined. If brought past their melting points, you wind up with a pile of molten metal cooling on your workspace, and your ears riddled with your own salty, salty language.

What do these things have in common? HEAT!

Much of the jewelers’ art depends upon heat. And not just any heat. Directed, reliable, precise heat.

While many early jewelry was made with the use of what can be described as “mini-forges”, small clay/ceramic/stone forges that used force air to create a hot spot above the forge at a chimney-like protrusion, these devices where further refined over time to smaller and smaller scale for the production of finer and finer (more fine, one might even write…blink, blink) jewelry. This culminated in what we now call the “Blowpipe”.

When a stream or jet of air is directed through a flame, fuel air mixing is enhanced and the gaseous cone of heat exiting the flame is intensely hot while at the same time controlled and directional. This is the same principle used to make forges hot, hot, HOT! But, on a much smaller scale. Jewelers engaged in lampwork have used the blowpipe since ancient times, with the blast being powered by the user's lungs. For small work, mouth-blown blowpipes had been used with candle flames or alcohol lamps. The cleaner burning the fuel used, the more controllable the process, and more predictable the outcome. Metals used in jewelry work have melting temps ranging from 1800 to 3200 degrees Fahrenheit, though 3200 is an outlier (platinum) and most of the alloys used melt in more the narrow range of 1800 to 2000. This is higher than the average brazier or camp fire will allow.

The first evidence of the use of a mouth blow pipe for alloying gold with silver and casting was in Ecuador and Peru circa 200 BC. This simple and successful technique is still used today. Starting in the 1800s, blowpipes have been powered by mechanisms, and devises of all stripe. Initially powered by bladders and bellows in the same fashion as one sees in larger forge operations, but now blowers, compressors and compressed gas cylinders are commonplace. While blowing air (atmosphere, or lung expulsions) is effective, blowing pure oxygen produces higher temperatures, and it is also practical to invert the roles of the gasses and blow fuel through air. Modern blowtorches and oxy-fuel welding and cutting torches can be considered to be modern developments of the blowpipe, the blowpipe’s spiritual grandchildren, if you will.

(Still with me…?)

During the Middle Ages, this heat was provided by the primary means of the Blowpipe.  The simplest of these tools were a tube of copper, the interior diameter of the tube graduated from its widest at the mouth-end, to the narrowest diameter at the spout end.

How does one come by such an incredible and useful tool? You make it!

I won’t go into the process involved in mining ore, smelting, refining metal, and milling sheet. This would lead to a paper that never ends. So, here we jump to a reasonable stage One:

1)      We start with copper sheet.

This THIN copper sheet (20 gauge is my suggestion for thickness for this project) will need to be annealed if not dead soft already. (Annealing is the recrystallization of metal in order to reduce stress caused by work hardening. The metal is heated; the heat (judged by color, a low cherry red glowing state) is held for a short period of time after which the metal is allowed to slowly(relatively) cool. The heat on top of your coals in the forge will work quickly for this, though you must keep an eye on the heating, too hot and the copper melts. (A modern plumbers’ torch works well for this, if you don’t have a forge. (The use of the modern torch is also safer and more convenient for the modern metal worker who has limited funds, and safe working space.)

This process removes the brittleness making the metal more malleable allowing it to be worked again without breaking or cracking. Annealing may be needed many times while working a piece.)

Once softened, you will need to cut a strip of the copper to 20mm wide by 15cm long. Taper one end into as even a point as you can make it.

2)      Roll the Strip into a tube.

Cut a straight, narrow channel into a sturdy wooden board (I tend to use Red Oak for this…very sturdy) with a rounded bottom. Lie your strip of copper into the channel. Using the cross peen end of your Goldsmiths Hammer, hammer the middle of the copper strip along its length into the round bottomed recess in the board. This will begin the process of creating a tube. (Anneal!)

Next we shall put the tapered end of the copper strip into the largest whole of your drawplate that will allow you to grasp that pointed end now protruding from the other side of the drawplate, and draw the strip through. This will bring the strip further into the shape of a tube. (ANNEAL!!) Using the drawplate, we further constrict the circumference of the tube by progressively drawing it through smaller and smaller holes in the drawplate, annealing regularly. Waxing the outer surface of the tube with a lubricant, like beeswax, will be helpful in making the draws smooth.

(A drawplate is a sheet of metal, wood, or stone with graduated holes through which wire or tubing in this case, is pulled to reduce its circumference and cause it to be toughened by work hardening. (Anneal between each drawing…))

As your sheet became strip, and the strip became tubing, the tubing became thinner, and longer via the drawing process. Be careful to use slow, evenly distributed force in each pull of your various draws, this will keep the tubing straight and the seam of the tubing straight as well.

Between each annealing, you will notice your copper is darkening. This is caused by oxidization. This can be cleaned by pickling. Pickling is a method of cleaning the surface of metals via a mildly acidic solution. Beer vinegar is the mediaeval method, though very slow due to its very low molar count. (relative acidity) A stronger solution can be made from distilled vinegar and salt. (1 tbsp. salt per 2 cups vinegar) Kept warm, (90 to 100 deg F) this solution will clean the copper surface in an hour or so. Modern packaged pickling solutions are available, and very fast and effective. All pickle works better warmer rather than colder. Once removed from the solution, rinse in clean water and dry the copper. No need to let it re-oxidize on you.

3)      Repeat this process to produce another length of tubing, with an outer circumference just thin enough to fit inside the first piece of tubing.

Do it.

4)      Solder the seams of both tubes.

Using the even heating technique of your preference, flow silver solder into the seams of each of you newly created tubes. Cut the entire pointed end from the larger tube, and the very end of the pointed end from the slammer tube. Be careful in both cases to not collapse the tubes, you need them open. Pickle and clean as before.

5)      Solder the Tubes together.

Placing the non-pointed end of the smaller tube snugly into the end of the wider, solder the two sections together. Pickle and clean. You should now have a long, graduated tube with a small pointed end.

6)      Using a burnishing pick end, slowly widen the wider of the two tube ends.

This will be the end that goes into your mouth, held by your teeth as you blow. You can further define the end using a file to cut a notch around the outer circumference to aid in giving your teeth a gripping purchase on the blowpipe.

7)      Test your new blowpipe!

Blowing into the pipe, direct the current of air across the tip of a flame from an alcohol lamp, oil lamp, or candle.

8)      Practice, Practice, Practice!

Practice will make all the difference in how useful this new tool is in your studio life. You may find at the outset that you need to build up your wind to be able to sustain a flame tip for any reasonable time. Smokers beware; this will be doubly challenging for you. 

Drawing of blowpipe in use.

Goldsmiths Hammer. 

Pair of silver flanged earrings made using copies of Bronze Age Tools for the National Museum of Ireland. 35mm. The same processes may be used to create the flanged torcs and sternum plates that were popular between 1200 and 1000 BC.

Simple ceramic oil lamp as fuel source.  

Copper blowpipe, with bent end to allow work from behind the flame.



Sources:

1) Wethered, Newton. Mediaeval Craftsmanship and the Modern Amateur: More Particularly with Reference to Metal and Enamel,

Longmans, Green, and Co., 1923.

2) Untracht. Jewelry Concepts and Technology. ,

Doubleday, 1985

3) Various. 7000 Years of Jewellery

British Museum Press, 1986

Ya'll Realize I "Snapped" Years Ago, Right?
Or: The One Where Muin Quickly Relates "Arting".


People ask "How do you...?"

Regularly.

I love that shit! LOVE IT! There is no end to my interest in talking about "How" I made something. If you know "HOW" and have suggestions for me, because you do the thing, too...HELLS YES, I want to talk with you about "HOW"...!

Actually, my next post will be a "How I..." post. But, for this one, I answer the question that is rarely asked, but should always be.

"Why...?"

"Why do you Art?"

Get into the Way Back Machine, and we will see the Proto-Muin doing art at a very young age. Not just drawing, either. Painting. Carving was big with the Proto-Muin. Using a pocket knife to carve bits from the woodpile. Sometimes trying my little pudgy hand at stone carving.

AND, and this is an important and, AND I READ ABOUT THE ART! I spent hours pouring over pictures of art. Of craft. Of Modern. Of historical. All the Art. I loved looking and reading about it. In early art classes I was often asked "Why do we do this?"

"Why" is the question most people should, and consequently don't, ask themselves. Do you have busy hands? A bizarre nervous tic that forces you into acts of pottery? No. That would be awesome...but, no.

What about some deep need for YET ANOTHER carved lintel? Somnambulism that results in random conte drawings of hands?

No.

Why artists art is integral to being an artist. Ask a carpenter why they carp. Go ahead, they'll look at you like you're a doofus. They will.

It's what they do. Don't judge.

Sure, there are some out there who do their various art forms for the ever present need of cash. And, don't get me wrong, money is nice. It's a need. Can't art if you have nothing with which to art, and you die of starvation.

But, you don't actually do your art for the cash. You do your art for the need. Creating a thing that fills a void in an otherwise full universe. The world is packed with stuff. PACKED!! But...

But, there is something missing. Some thing. A need is not being filled by the object, or image you are making. This isn't hubris. (It may be, but not to the Odyssian scale one might expect)
 There is a hole in the world that the artist sees. The crafts-person notices that gap. We work to fill that void. We act to make the world just a little more complete.

Even the art that we see as "pretty". Or the art that has a "message". It fills a need. Creating the work is a part of completing the world in which we live.

Some of it is practice for the bigger piece we plan to make. many studies, sketches, maquettes of something not yet extant.

And Some of these works are intensely practical. I know many artists who make tools, clothes, various useful items. Now, why do they make them differently than every other one ever made?

Think about it. Clothes. We need clothes to protect us from the elements. So, why are there so many variations? Cloth? Billions of kinds! Shirts? Billions of variations of cuts/styles! We want a world where we can not just cover our selves from sunburn and cold, but we want a world where "Han Shot First!" is proudly displayed! Where Captain Picard says "Make it so!" on our chests, and we harbor a secret wish that the hotty across from us at the table will DAMN WELL MAKE IT SO!!! We want French cuffs on our silk shirts, because we have just made the BEST CUFFLINKS IN HISTORY!!! The gods, themselves will envy my new hat!!!

And tools...so many tools. Some very different tools do the same job. "Why...?"

Knives? They cut. Okay, make a sharp thing. A thing we can hold, and cut other things. Simple? NO! Our hands are different shapes, and we have different grips! We are cutting different things!

We need different knives! They each have a job. A different job. And a different purpose. We need them to perform different tasks. And we even need them to look different from each other. Why? This is mine...I like green...I like mahogany...I like bronze...my knife is bare bones...my knife is ornate Greco-Roman...I use a tanto blade...

AND, we have different opinions about what "attractive" is. Was. Might be. We even conjugate our aesthetics!

Drawings, paintings, printings, ink work! It is communication. We don't just communicate with words. Words are easier. So why use images? Because "words fail."

Not all the time, but, they do. When I say, have you seen "X"? and the audience says "...no..." How, then do I communicate that image?

Not just the absolute image, the Platonic Theory of Form, but MY impression of that image. I know a woman named Anne. Have you seen her? When I ask that, I ask not just to state that a woman I know is named Anne, and that she is, indeed, visible in the regular light spectrum; but also that you know her on sight as do I. I see her neck, The gentle swan-like curve, the caramel shades of tan that gently fade from one hue to the next, accentuating the interplay of light on the surface, and sleek muscles twining beneath in a dance of purposeful grace. You know...? Anne?

And, yet. Words fail.

So, We paint! We draw. We etch. We CARVE!

These are the things we do to communicate in this world.

"Why do you art?"

Many reasons.

One reason.

The reason.

To fill a void the world has put before me.


More "How" coming soon.

There are details...

The world is filled with details. Always has been. (It's true!) It's not a conspiracy..not quite. Almost. Maybe...

if it is...YOU'LL NEVER KNOW!!! HAHAHAHA!!!!

So, to get to it:
Working in metal has a mystique to it, even a mysticism. The local blacksmith was important. His hearth was where tools that grew the community were made, and the tools of War and Defense were created and refined. Those who held (and to this day hold) the knowledge of metal working are the ones who make and break a group. This is science. Before the understanding of science existed, this was how we progressed. Specialized knowledge handed from Master to Apprentice.

This month we will be centering our concentration upon the "Fine Metals."

What are we talking about here? Gold. Silver. Let us start here.

Gold is easy to alloy, works beautifully, and doesn't (in it's pure form) oxidize. (Endirtify...not really a word...)
Gold is traditionally measured in Karats.
Why?
And what does it mean?

The word Karat : from Old French, from Medieval Latin carratus, from Arabic qīrāt weight of four grains, and the traditional weight measure by proportion when creating a Gold based alloy. Late Middle English: from French, from Italian carato, from Arabic qīrāṭ (a unit of weight), from Greek keration 'fruit of the carob' (also denoting a unit of weight), diminutive of keras 'horn', with reference to the elongated seed pod of the carob.



What does this mean? Simply put, carob seeds, being uniform in size and weight, were used as a cross culture standard weight. Measuring the weight of precious stones (Carat Weight), and the weight by proportion of fine metals in making a gold alloy. Karats measure the parts per 24, so that 18 karat = 18/24 = 75% and 24 karat gold is considered 100% gold.

As such: You want a metal more valuable than silver, but not as valuable, nor as malleable, as gold for a new form of coinage? Enter Electrum! (Electrum is believed to have been used in coins circa 600 BC in Lydia under the reign of Alyattes II...and counterfeited later that same year...but, that's another paper for another day...)

(Okay...but, quickly! Here: According to Herodotus, the Lydians were the first people to use gold and silver coins and the first to establish retail shops in permanent locations. It is not known, however, whether Herodotus meant that the Lydians were the first to use coins of pure gold and pure silver or the first precious metal coins in general. Despite this ambiguity, this statement of Herodotus is one of the pieces of evidence often cited in behalf of the argument that Lydians invented coinage, at least in the West, even though the first coins were neither gold nor silver but an alloy of the two.)

A 12K alloy of gold and silver! When weighing out the metals to make the alloy, you separate 12 karat weights (the weight of 12 carob seeds) of pure gold, and you them measure out another 12 karat weights of silver! This will give you the alloy the Ancient World knew as Electrum, and is called in modern parlance "12k Green Gold."

Common gold alloys are:

24k (Not really an alloy...its 24/24ths gold...or "pure")

22k Yellow Gold (22/24 Gold, 1/24 Silver and 1/24 Copper)

18k Yellow Gold (18/24 Gold, 3.5/24 Silver and 3.5/24 Copper

18k White Gold (18/24 Gold, 5/24 Nickel, and 2/24 Silver)

18k Rose Gold (18/24 Gold, 1/24 Silver, and 6/24 Copper)

14k Yellow Gold (14/24 Gold, 5/24 Silver, 5/24 Copper)

14k White Gold (14/24 Gold, 8/24 Nickel, 2/24 Silver)

14k Rose Gold (14/24 Gold, 8/24 Copper, 2/24 Silver)

10k Yellow Gold (10/24 Gold, 7/24 Copper, 7/24 Silver)

10k White Gold (10/24 Gold, 10/24 Nickel, 4/24 Silver)

10k Rose Gold (10/24 Gold, 10/24 Copper, 4/24 Silver)

9k Yellow Gold (9/24 Gold, 8/24 Silver, 7/24 Copper, ?/24 dreams of legitimacy)

9k White Gold (9/24 Gold, 10/24 Silver, 3/24 Copper, 2/24 random elements...boogers...fractured hopes...it's a grab bag, really...)
9k Rose Gold (9/24 Gold, 10/24 Copper, 4/24 Silver, 1/24 Really? REALLY?! GAH!)


Most of these alloys are codified, and standardized across cultures and countries in the modern world, and there are laws that dictate what one can and cannot call "Karat Gold," and this is a good thing. This allows the buyer to know what to expect from each purchase.

While Rome had many laws regarding the purity of their metals, they also turned a blind eye to adulterated metals being traded externally to the Empire. Later cultures tried for standards, when they found their finances being made worthless by having monies cut with inferior metals. (Much of the "Fine Jewels" of the English Royalty on display in the Tower of London are actually plated metals, low karat gold, and spinels. (not "rubies," so much as...well, a red stone consisting not so much of corundum, as  a magnesium/aluminium oxide...oops!)

There have always been questions of the "legitimacy" of the gold presented for payment throughout the ages. And the laws that came into being to regulate the coinage of different realms, and cultures have always been contentious.

These standard measurements have been in place specifically to combat the adulteration of coinage. And as such, have made the lives of jewelry workers and metalsmiths easier by virtue of the use of a standard metal language. 14k is 14k, no matter where you put your boots at the end of the day.

These practices may have gone in and out of fashion throughout history, usually as a means to a political end (I'm looking at YOU, England...), and sometimes as a control on market values for means of trade (England...Italy...France...Germany...England...China... England...)., but the common standardization of values and weights always reappeared.

Some references:

1) Herodotus. Histories, I, 94

2) Carradice and Price, Coinage in the Greek World, Seaby, London, 1988

3)  Walter W. Skeat (1888), An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language

4)  Comprehensive Jewelry Precious Metals Overview: International Gem Society (IGS) (2015)

5) Coinage and History of the Roman Empire. II: Coinage. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn ISBN 1-57958-316-4

6) Royal Etymological Dictionary, @2013 Harper & Wales