Scraps, anyone?

I went to class last night ready to melt away all the mistakes of the past year. Long shot, right? SILVER mistakes, that is. Roger (in his kindest "if you were my sister" voice) asked if I would want to learn how to fuse my scraps instead. Though I had no idea what he was talking about, of course I wanted to fuse metal!

Just watching the whole process is such an education. But last night he held on to the top of my hand and torch while I held the torch! He would back the flame on and off, quickly and slowly; the metal was rosy then flashy white to molten. Can you believe he really taught me how to do this?

After we finished the cross, I immediately started cutting up the other chunks of my scrap to try it again. I did OK on my own. Roger came over and cleaned up some of the edges. After it was all fused I hammered the inside, shaped the edges and bent it around the bracelet mandrel to form a 1.5" wide cuff. Talk about a chunk of silver! (No pictures yet because Roger took it to tumble in his shop this week.)

So much of this learning metal stuff is by feel/sight/experience. Like cooking with my grandma's recipes and wondering why my Zwiebach doesn't turn out like hers---it isn't enough to just have the formula.

I have always been a learn by doing person. I have also struggled to remember certain things I've learned---I can barely help my 7th grade daughter with her math anymore---but this metal stuff is really sticking. The images, the play, feel and sight of the metal is something I hope never leaves me. I just can't believe how lucky I am to be learning like this right now.