The Pounded Nugget Of Silver
January 21, 2008
Silver when it is in its natural look will not carry much weight for the eyes of the beholder. Look below and you would say hmm.. looks like just another piece of metal. As always click for a larger image if you need to see it.
Doesnt look like much huh. But in the hands of the Malaysian artist this piece of silver can turn out to be a multitude of things such as a brooch, earrings, rings, buttons and much more. Look at what this 63 year old silver artist has done with his nugget .
Now doesnt that look beautiful. This is all handcrafted and not machine made. Thus the delicacy of this job could be seen from the finer details of his craftsmanship.
Silver could also be used for home decorations such as vases, book holders and much more. Looking at another artist with his silver nugget in this case maybe many more silver nuggets and look at the tall vase that he has created with it.
This is another example of how well the Malaysian craftsmen use their hands to create the most beautiful objects.
The Definition Of Silver
January 21, 2008
Silver is a very ductile and malleable (slightly harder than gold) monovalent coinage metal with a brilliant white metallic luster that can take a high degree of polish. It has the highest electrical conductivity of all metals, even higher than copper, but its greater cost and tarnishability have prevented it from being widely used in place of copper for electrical purposes, though it was used in the electromagnets used for enriching uranium during World War II (mainly because of the wartime shortage of copper). Another notable exception is in high-end audio cables, although the actual benefits of its use in this application are questionable.
Among metals, pure silver has the highest thermal conductivity (only the non-metal diamond’s is higher), whitest color, the highest optical reflectivity (although aluminium slightly outdoes it in parts of the visible spectrum, and it is a poor reflector of ultraviolet light). Silver also has the lowest contact resistance of any metal. Silver halides are photosensitive and are remarkable for their ability to record a latent image that can later be developed chemically. Silver is stable in pure air and water, but tarnishes when it is exposed to air or water containing ozone or hydrogen sulfide. The most common oxidation state of silver is +1 (for example, silver nitrate: AgNO3); a few +2 (for example, silver(II) fluoride: AgF2) and +3 compounds (for example, potassium tetrafluoroargentate: K[AgF4]) are also known.
Now that you are done with the Silver education let us continue on to the next post where the art of Silver crafting is used to create wearable designs as well as decorations.
