PROCESSES USED IN THE PRODUCTION OF WORK SHOWN ON THIS WEBSITE ARE LISTED BELOW IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
Annealing: heating metal using a torch (naked flame) or kiln so that it becomes soft (or workable)
Fabrication: is a catch-all word used to describe the making of a metal object which usually involves shaping with files, joining with soldering or rivetting techniques and finishing with files, emery (sandpaper) and polishing
Raising: forming a shape (usually a hollow form such as a vase or bottle) from flat sheet metal using hammers and shaped stakes in wood or metal, it is an incremental and slow process, for example to raise and fabricate a teapot from a suitable metal takes between 200 and 300 hours
Rivetting: a cold-joining technique using metal pins (short rods) to hold two or more other pieces together, the pin is inserted in pre-drilled holes in the material to be joined and the ends of the pin are upset (or flared slightly) to hold the other material together
Soldering: a hot-joining technique, silver soldering (or brazing) involves heating the pieces to be joined and the silver solder up to the melting temperature of the solder, this is just below the melting temperature of the pieces to be joined, the solder melts and bonds with the material that is being joined
Welding: a hot-joining technique that usually involves melting the material to be joined (and usually a 'filler' of the same material) in a controlled way along the seam of the join - most welding is achieved using strong electrical currents (arc welding) to melt the two pieces at their joining point
Work hardening: most metals become hard (and difficult to work) after they have been worked by bending or hammering