[Jewelry making - Article 01039] - Re: [Orchid] Good sapphires set in silver

[John Donivan]

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    Not really the same topic - call it "The Big Picture". The working
    properties of metals are fixed and known. Over the millenia those
    properties have come to be understood by metalworkers of all kinds,
    and it would be pretty literally true to call it a language.
    Everybody who desires to be any sort of metalsmith, silversmith,
    goldsmith, whatever needs to understand this. What I've been trying
    to get at about strengths of materials on this thread is not my
    opinion, it is the language, and I'm just speaking it. Students are
    just learning that language, and that's fine. It's when some imagine
    that that can reinvent it that they get into trouble. The melting
    point of silver is what it is, it cannot be changed - you can make an
    alloy, but that's not silver anymore. The very same with ductility,
    malleability, shear strength and everything else - they are what they
    are, and you either understand them or you don't. It's not a guessing
    game, for those who work in the industry (which is vast) or a matter
    of opinion. You can set any stone you like into any metal you like,
    what you cannot do is make silver, for example, behave like anything
    other than silver. And there are a great many people who know just
    exactly what that is. Trying to pretend otherwise doesn't mean that
    one can fly higher or run faster, it means they don't speak the
    language, and those who do will simply acknowlege that. 

    I don't know Peter Rowe, and to my knowlege his work is not online.
    What I do know is that he speaks the language - he may not agree with
    what I say here, but we both know which end is up, and we know it of
    each other, too. That is the essence of language, afterall. James
    Miller and I have exchanged courtesies, and it wasn't explicitly said
    but underneath was "we share the language". Everyone is welcome to
    learn it, the community is large, complex, wonderful and incredibly
    knowlegable. Just don't try to pretend that it's "bloo" because we
    all know it's blue. 

http://www.donivanandmaggiora.com
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