Roger Barnes - Silversmith

Programme Outline

This programme features Roger Barnes creating a brooch for his wife from a small square piece of silver. Firstly he heats the silver, then coats it with a special black waxy material which makes it easier to see the details of his designs as he scratches them on to the silver, in this case creating a circular pattern. The next stage involves dipping the silver into a bath of nitric acid with a little water which bites into the etching – the wax protects the areas of silver which he doesn’t want etched. The brooch is then cleaned and tapped gently into shape with a special hammer to create a curved shape. Roger then cuts out the brooch using a fine saw. Using a fierce heat he then fixes a housing ring onto the top of the brooch, into which he places a moss agate stone. The moss agate consists of petrified moss contained over millions of years in stone (transparent quartz). The bubbling of the flux at this stage helps the soldering process and cleans the surface. The ring is pinched to ensure that the stone is held in place, a pin is attached and the completed brooch is polished ready for his wife to wear.