I’m looking on Amazon at some of the Metalsmithing books. I see
several by Tim McCreight that look good.
He has several books that look good but I can’t decide on which one
would be most useful for me. Could someone tell me the difference
between these titles and which you feel covers more and is the best
of the lot?
I am a novice. My favourite Tim McCreight book is ‘Metalworking for
Jewelry’. i own ‘The Complete Metalsmith: professional Edition’ and
‘Jewelry: Fundamentals of Metalsmithing’ too, but my favourite is
the 1981 ‘Metalworking for Jewelry’. It just seems to go into the
right level of detail for me, as a brand new metalworker. To me as a
novice, "the complete metalsmith’ is… complete. It covers everything, concisely. I would need more confidence in the basics
before this will become my go-to manual. ‘Fundamentals of
Metalsmithing’ has a lot of the same content as ‘metalworking for
jewelry’ but the abundance of eye candy distracts me from the
simplicity of the steps required to carry out a procedure. Just my
opinion- I love ALL my Tim McCreight books (even if he is
self-taught ;-)), his warmth and enthusiasm just comes through in
everything he writes.
My other favourite book (as a novice, again) is “Jewellery making
manual” by Sylvia Wicks (1985). It covers everything, in exacting
detail, somehow. I love it.
I also have the Complete Metalsmith: Professional Edition, and refer
to it frequently. Sure, I’ve got lots of other books, and like most
of us, I’ve bought books that I refer to little or not at all, while
others are of great use. I’ve found there is a learning curve in
buying reference material as well, that as I become more familiar I’m
better able to discern what will help and what will collect dust on
the shelf.
Tim McCreight’s Brynmorgen Press is now releasing a book on Chasing and Repousse: Methods Ancient and Modern by Megan Corwin. Her work is exquisite, and so will be
the book. It can be reserved now, and should be on the shelves
shortly. Google both Megan Corwin and Brynmorgen Press for more
Look for "Chasing, Ancient Metalworking Technique with Modern
Applications" by Marcia Lewis.
I would like to say that if one has the opportunity to take a
workshop with Marcia, it will change the way you work. Marcia is a
gifted teacher. Her book is concise and direct; as is she.
Just chiming in to add a positive comment to the NorthWest
Pitchworks recommendation. I just got done teaching a term on
chasing, using mostly NW Pitchworks pitch. Very nice stuff. (We used
the medium) It’s a bit softer than German (medium) red, and loads
softer than black death (burgundy) pitch.
I’ve used all three, and they all have their places, but if you have
to start somewhere, start with the NorthWest stuff.
Just chiming in to add a positive comment to the NorthWest
Pitchworks
I too, am a fan of NorthWest Pitchworks. I have some home made black
gunk in a big cast iron skillet I will use for really big pieces, but
my workhorse is a chasing bowl with the stuff from NorthWest
Pitchworks. My favorite trick with it is to clean it of the work
with warm oil. I keep a jar or peanut oil on my bench- I was shown a
great patina for copper using it and the solvent effect for warm
pitch is a plus.
how do you use the peanut oil for the green patina?"
David asked about the process off line as well. The short answer is
you don’t - you make a gorgeous rich brown finish. Many (most) people
think of patina as the blue green oxidation finish on copper, but the
definition can be broader. As Fred Taylor said in an article “Is it
Seattle ‘Grunge’ or is it Patina?”, “the definition of patina is a
lot like the definition of pornography. It’s hard to say what it is
but you know it when you see it.”
I use the word in a broader sense to include any weathered looking
finish. The controlled torch heat on the copper with a thin coat of
the peanut oil (which has a high heat tolerance for a vegetable oil)
forms a great warm, varnish film on the copper.
The peanut oil has a number of functions. Like linseed oil, it
polymerizes in the presence of heat and oxygen to form a varnish. See
the wikipedia article on drying oils. The torch heat also turns the
copper and the oil brown, with a rich depth - sort of a combination
of a heat patina, a wax and a lacquer. It takes me a while to relearn
the process every time I use it. I get a different result each time
it seems. A fellow member of the Colorado Metal Smith organization
showed it to me and said it was a standard finish used in several
jewelry classes.
For what it is worth, the Wiki on verdigris states “**Verdigris is
the common name for the green coating or patina formed when copper,
brass or bronze is weathered and exposed to air or seawater over a
period of time. It is usually a basic copper carbonate, but near the
sea will be a basic copper chloride.[1] If acetic acid is present at
the time of weathering, it may consist of copper(II) acetate…”
I would like to say that if one has the opportunity to take a
workshop with Marcia, it will change the way you work. Marcia is a
gifted teacher. Her book is concise and direct; as is she.
I would second that and add that her pieces that she shows are more
impressive than what is shown in her book.