Artisans: Coppersmith

Artisans: Siân Evans, Coppersmith.

My next subject was Siân Evans, a coppersmith from Hastings, East Sussex whose passion for her work was obvious. I saw the start of 3 beautiful bowls being made and some of the processes involved.

The copper is first cut to shape and then Siân added her rabbit motif and date to the metal. It is then heated to a specific temperature, which is judged by the colour, before it can be worked with in the forged moulds. Two wooden hammers are used to slowly perfect the curved shape, with touch being the most important sense to judge whether it is perfect.

After this a copper ring is created from a rod, with the ends being joined by solder. This is then filed and polished before being attached to the bowl itself, again using solder. Water is poured into the ring to both cool it and show any leaks in the solder joint. Sadly I wasn't able to see more but I include a photo of a finished bowl so that you can see the beautiful end product.

Do take the time to visit Siân's web site where you can see more of her work.

Note: Click on an image and use left and right keys to view the whole set, or click Slideshow for full screen viewing.