Making of: Winged Victory of Samothrace (Part 2)
Posted by Carmel Cinco on
This is a continuation of Making of: Winged Victory of Samothrace (Part 1)
Photo 13: To establish a good join between the impression and the backplate, I sand the back of the impression.
Photo 14: An air vent is punched out of the backplate to prevent the silver from exploding when the two pieces are soldered together
Photo 15: Flux is applied to the backplate and solder chips are arranged. A torch is then applied to the backplate to allow the solder to flow.
Photo 16: Flux is applied to the back of the impression and re-applied to the backplate.
Photo 17: The pieces are torched until the solder flows between the impression and the backplate. The silver is air-cooled before placing in a citric acid solution for cleaning.
Photo 18: After rinsing the piece in a neutralizing solution, the seam is checked for any gaps.
Photo 19: Next, I outline an edge on the backplate with a black marker and then saw off the excess silver.
Photo 20: Instead of a hollow back, the back is now covered.
Photo 21: I file and sand the edges for a smooth finish.
Photo 22: After adding a bail, the pendant is polished to a high shine using various polishing wheels and a rotary tumbler.
Photo 23: Patina is applied to darken the silver.
Photo 24: The pendant is polished again to remove the patina from the high surfaces. The remaining patina in the low surfaces beautifully brings out the texture of the impression.
Thank you for reading this far :) I hope you enjoyed seeing the steps taken in making this pendant.