Menu

  • Home
    • Overview
    • Our work
    • Our team
    • Governance
    • History
    • Collections
    • Press
    • Working here
    • Contact us
  • Stories
    • Overview
    • Become a member
    • Crafts magazine
    • Magazine stockists
    • Read, watch, listen
    • Events and perks
    • Issue archive
    • Advertising and sponsorship
    • Institutional subscriptions
    • Membership FAQs
    • Get in touch
    • Editor's Note - January 2024
    • Gift a Crafts membership
  • Directory
    • Overview
    • Make First
    • Education
    • Participation
    • Craft School
    • Craft learning resources
    • Craft careers
    • Young Craft Citizens
  • Gallery
  • Collect fair
    • Overview
    • Our commitments
    • Equity advisory council
    • Toolkit for change
    • Reading list
    • Community guidelines
    • Overview
    • Policy briefings
    • Research library
    • Consultation responses
    • Overview
    • Craft UK
    • Resources
    • Join the directory
    • Opportunities
    • Overview
    • Appeals and projects
    • Patrons
    • A gift in your will
    • Corporate partnerships
    • Our supporters and partners

Quick Links

  • Let's craft
  • What's on
  • Opportunities
  • Subscribe
Home
Login
Crafts CouncilStories

How to make your silversmithing practise greener


ByIsabella Smith

3 December 2021

Five ways to make metalwork more sustainable


Isabella Smith

3 December 2021

  • Sustainable craft
  • Metalworking
  • Silversmithing
  • Jewellery

Jeweller's tools. Photo: copyright Kat Om, 2021

As the climate crisis hits home, we must all consider how we can tread more lightly on the earth – and craftspeople are no exception. Here are five tips from silversmithing experts on how to reduce your ecological impact: from sourcing more ethically-mined metals, to making the most of every scrap of waste.


Elisavet Messi at work. Photo: copyright The Goldsmiths' Centre, 2020

Recycle your own silver

Reusing the metal dust and scraps left behind by your work is an important practise to adopt, says artist goldsmith Elisavet Messi. ‘It gives you a range of creative possibilities and you are in full control of your bullion sizing, quality and footprint.’ The process begins by collecting and separating scrap metal. Once you have enough to melt, you cut your selected metal into small pieces and place them in a crucible, where they can be melted (using a torch) into an alloy.

Messi recommends starting with silver. ‘Silver is the easiest for beginners. Once you get an understanding of the process, it's really easy to apply the same method to gold and other non-ferrous metals.’ Soldering experience is necessary, making it a process appropriate for late beginner and intermediate-level makers. However, it does require a suitable studio: ‘To recycle metal, you ideally need to have a forge or a set-up where you can use a powerful torch safely.’ For those without access to such facilities, Messi recommends using refineries and scrap services instead.


Recycled metal rings by Stefanie Ying Lin Cheong

Choose ethically-mined metals

‘I believe it’s important to choose to use Fairtrade metals, as only through this scheme are you guaranteed that safe environmental practices are used when mining,’ says Stefanie Ying Lin Cheong, who sources these for her jewellery and sculptural objects. ‘It also supports small scale miners to receive a minimum price for their gold. I can trace my gold to the mine it came from through FLOWCERT, which is always nice information to pass on to customers.’

Unlike when it first came on the market in 2012, today Fairtrade gold and silver are easily available for purchase. ‘To use and buy Fairtrade gold now, an individual can apply to the Goldsmiths registration scheme,’ says Cheong. ‘Once registered, you can purchase the chosen gold through a variety of suppliers.’ There are still limitations, however. ‘It’s very difficult to source Fairtrade findings and chains, therefore it's worth thinking about this when designing and planning your pieces.’

Like Messi, Cheong recommends recycling Fairtrade metals where possible. ‘I reuse all of my scraps, dust and offcuts by melting them into ingots, wire or sheet. I also take on bespoke work recycling clients' gold and silver into new designs – that way the metal can hold sentimental value, which is a lovely thing to retain.’


  • Shrouded Vessel by Adi Toch. Photo: courtesy the artist

  • Silversmith Adi Toch at work. Photo: Thom Atkinson for Crafts magazine

Avoid toxic chemicals

For Adi Toch, there’s an ethical imperative to choosing less harmful forms of surface decoration. Though in the past she used what she describes as ‘highly corrosive formulas’, today the silversmith picks plant-based options in her own work, and runs ‘Blushing Metals’ workshops around the world to teach eco-friendly forms of patinating. ‘I’ve used peanut oil to coat vessels in a mottled, chocolate-brown lustre, and in my series Shrouded, I bury raw metal forms in the earth for months before retrieving them. Mud, water, minerals and capitulated air do their work on the surfaces, creating polychromatic patinas.’

Toch recommends trying hardboiled eggs as an alternative to pure sulphur for oxidising silver, and vinegar in place of ammonia. ‘It takes longer to develop and depends on room temperature, but the results are fantastic: velvety turquoise patinas on copper, brass and gilding metal.’ Because of the harmless, everyday nature of these materials, eco-patination can be explored by makers with any level of experience. As Toch puts it: ‘Why not try using your kitchen as a metal colouring lab?’


Gold Chloride Bowl by Sandra Wilson. Photo: courtesy the artist

Use metals recovered from e-waste

‘On a typical mobile phone you could recover some copper, silver, gold, tin, palladium, nickel, zinc, aluminium, lead and cadmium,’ says Sandra Wilson, a professor of ethical metal design. The silversmith and researcher has been collaborating with scientists to explore hydrometallurgy: a process of soaking electronic devices in hydrochloric acid to recover particles of precious metals, which can be filtered out of the resulting solution. Wilson uses these recovered metals to create patinas on silver vessels (see Crafts' 'Restore, repair, renew' issue for the full story).

However, be warned: for now, it’s best left to those with access to a laboratory with good health and safety regulations. ‘It is still a risky and intricate process,’ says Wilson. ‘Although there are YouTube videos showing how to recover precious metals at home using common household chemicals, I wouldn’t advise following these. I would also encourage craftspeople to collaborate with chemists and colleagues from different disciplines.’ She recommends purchasing from companies sourcing precious metals from e-waste, such as Metal Clay (‘they sell a Japanese extra thick Keum-boo gold foil made from recycled gold’). She adds: ‘We all need to start asking bullion suppliers where their metal comes from and encouraging them to provide a recovered e-waste option.’


Melting silver. Photo: Pixabay

Be mindful in your broader practise

When it comes to going green, it’s not just the making process that’s worth bearing in mind. Consider switching to a green energy provider to power your studio, choosing companies that generate power from renewable resources. When it comes to packaging your work, try using recycled packaging materials, reusing old packaging, and avoiding unrecyclable laminated and UV varnished materials. For paperwork, 100% post-consumer waste paper stock is a good choice, as are vegetable or bio inks and re-manufactured printer cartridges. Let your customer know about your environmental efforts: the more that clients are aware, the more supportive they will be.

Further resources:

  • The Ethical Making Resource
  • Ethical Metalsmiths: The Community for Responsible Jewelry
  • The Goldsmiths' Centre: Skills Hub and Courses

Share

  • Facebook 
  • Twitter 
  • Whatsapp 
  • Email 
  • Pinterest 
  • ...

Stay informed and inspired

Get the latest craft news in your inbox

Follow us

  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest

Crafts Council
44a Pentonville Road
London N1 9BY

hello@craftscouncil.org.uk
+44 (0)20 7806 2500

Reg. charity no. 280956

  • Our work
  • Our team
  • Working here
  • Community guidelines
  • Privacy policy