Soldering Stencils by Lierre

For those of you who may not know my smith sister, Michelle of Lierreworks filigree.

In my personal and professional opinion Michelle is the next GREAT emerging filigree artist. It is an honor to call her a friend and more truly a smith sister. 

Over the last few (6) months Michelle and I have been working on developing what is know known as the Soldering Stencils by Lierre. 

These titanium frames are a fantasic new offering we are excited to release on November 18th 2022. More information coming soon!

Here is a message from Michelle about our collaboration. 

 Click here to see product

Dear metalsmith friends,

I would like to introduce you to the “Soldering Stencils!” I am super excited about these and am grateful for Chris who made all of this possible.

So what are they?

In essence they are titanium frames that you can solder inside of!

My idea came from the filigree community where they make open-work jewelry out of many small soldered pieces. Traditionally, artists would make their own templates out of thick brass or copper wire, place all their small bits inside, and then apply solder by either sprinkling or dabbing it in a granule form and solder them together. The thickness of the outer wire would generally keep it from adhering to the pieces because of the difference in heat conduction.So in an effort to improve on the tradition, Chris and I came up with frames in titanium that are durable, don’t create as much of a heat sink, and are exact in their shapes; more exact than I could ever be if I made my own the old fashioned way.

I am pretty sure they can also go in the pickle without an issue. (Chris?)**  my first trials I used some solder paste and also solder chips placed with a tiny paint brush and I am happy to say that none of my silver bits adhered to the titanium.

So what we want to know is how could you use it?! I would love to see all different ways of creating something with the stencils. Could you fuse in them? What about creating something outside the frame instead of inside? Could you use balls, tube, granulation, scraps, mesh, wire, different materials?

Sky is the limit! I look forward to hearing your feedback and seeing your creations.

Michelle

**Chris’ Note

Titanium will be completely unaffected by an acid pickle. Some of the 300 series stainless steels are also safe for long term immersion in pickle.