(torch blowing) - So we're back here today at Craft Alliance, and I'm joined by Kelly.

And Kelly is a metalsmith and an artist here, and she's got some stuff set up for us to try out today.

What are we lookin' at here, Kelly?

- Matt, thanks.

I'm glad you're here because I would like to share with you how to do some solder inlay.

- Okay.

- And so we're gonna take copper and hard silver solder, which is an alloy of zinc, silver, and copper.

And we're gonna melt that into a design that we create on the flat sheet.

And it's great because this is an ancient decorating technique where the value comes in the difference in color, you've got silver versus copper.

And we'll put a nice patina on this copper, and that design will really pop out.

- Okay, cool.

Well, how do we get started?

- Well, the first thing we're gonna do is we need to anneal this metal.

You wanna feel that, can you bend it very much?

- So it's- - It's kinda stiff, right?

- It's a little bit, yeah.

- Yeah, and so to anneal, we are just going to soften the metal.

So I'm gonna light this torch up.

(torch sizzling) We're gonna bring it up to a nice kinda dull red.

- Okay.

- And so it makes this copper malleable.

And if you wanna learn a little science here, we're really realigning the crystal structure inside of the metal.

When you hammer, or you roll, or you work on non-ferrous metals like this, it can get really, really stiff, and it's just those molecules all like scattering.

And when you soften it, they all line up straight and you can roll an impression, you could hammer texture in here.

You wanna try this one for me?

- Sure.

- I'm gonna go ahead and quench this one in the water and make a little sizzle.

Okay, we'll leave that there.

And so just hold your torch a little higher, keep your blue cone off.

- Okay.

- There you go, that's the hottest part of the flame is right after that blue cone.

- Right at the point, I guess.

- Yup.

So you'll see the copper kinda go through different colors, it'll look really pretty and rainbow.

But don't stop there, you wanna go until it's dark and oxidized, and has a dull glow, and then you know it's soft.

That's lookin' pretty good.

- Alright, so I'm just gonna shut the torch off?

- Yup.

And grab those tongs.

(copper sizzling) - Try not to take too much grit with me outta the tray there.

- (laughing) Very nice.

- Alright.

- Matt, we softened the metal by annealing.

- Yes!

Okay- - Got that one.

- So this metal is prepped and ready for design.

I've got my fancy design here that I made- - So I probably won't get quite that ornate with mine, but- - That's okay, that's okay.

So you can achieve this with wire, which is what I think works really great, by taking a piece of packing tape and tape it to the metal sticky side up.

- So that's more or less what I was thinking, I think I'm pretty close.

- As long as they're partially stuck because we're gonna sandwich it now, and you just put this right on top of here.

Pick that up, and we'll go to the rolling mill and make your impression.

(copper crunching) Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.

Whoo!

That looks good!

- There it is.

- Okay, what we have to do now is put flux on here to protect the metal from oxidizing.

We wanna brush it on, try to get it into all these grooves.

You can just put that higher now, mm-hmm.

(torch blowing) (torch blowing continues) - Ooh, that's a good one.

- I think that one might've taken.

- Hey!

Good job!

- Well, we have yet to see.

(Matt and Kelly laughing) (copper sizzling) Cool.

- We're not probably real thrilled with the way the design looks right now.

- Yeah, our lines are a little muddy, I'd say.

- This is the important step.

So first, safety glasses, very important.

This creates quite a bit of dust.

In the past, I've had to sweep the copper dust away, so that's why we're gonna wear our dust masks, protect our eyes.

And we do this on a steel block so that it sucks the heat out of the copper 'cause copper is very conductive, right?

- Exactly.

- So I'm gonna hold it down tightly, and be straight up and down, and start with my foot pedal.

(sander buzzing) I like to keep it moving so I don't accidentally create a new indent, right?

- Okay.

- I'm just gonna move it a bit, but I'm gonna do the whole thing.

- Okay.

- You wanna give it a try?

- Let's give it a try.

(sander buzzing) (copper squeaking) - Whew!

- Well, we could spend quite a bit of time on that for sure.

- Ugh, you're not telling me anything I don't already know.

- (laughing) No, no.

(Kelly laughing) - So you get the idea though, it's just a... You know, I got... We both got a little bit revealed.

- Mm-hmm.

- So we just go through the different grits until ya get it as shiny as you want.

I usually finish up with a piece of steel wool, and that way it's totally clean and grease free.

And then, I like to use liver of sulfur.

I use a gel in a warm bath of water and I just place it in there, and it gives it a really nice contrasting patina.

- It gets the copper nice and dark, and brings out the color and the silver.

- Yeah.

Usually, the copper won't take the patina, but sometimes it will.

And if it does, I'll just outline this with a Sharpie.

- Okay.

- A black Sharpie marker, and then put it as a patina.

- Just kind of to resist the etch?

- Yup, exactly.

- Okay, I see.

- And the last step is I use a little bit of paste wax over my design.

And I've got one over here finished, if you wanna see?

- Yeah, please.

- Here it is.

- So this is the design that we've been workin' on here.

- Yeah.

- You can kinda see.

- Can you tell?

- Yeah.

- A little bit.

- That's pretty cool.

(Kelly laughing) You went ahead and cut it out and everything.

- Yeah, so- - That looks really nice.

- It could be a little pendant, or you know, turn it into some jewelry.

- Awesome.

- So overall, it's a good technique.

- Very cool.

Well Kelly, thank you so much for showin' me a really cool technique today and spendin' some time with us.

Thank you so much.

- Thank you for having me.

I enjoyed working with you, it was awesome.