“The only thing that happens quickly in silverwork is mistakes. I work on the principle of brute force and ignorance.”I’ve spent 30 years working with silver as a hobby, and I’ve come to this course at West Dean all the way from Cornwall because the tutor here is so marvellous. You need to keep it thick in the middle and thick at the edge, and gradually it spreads and the cup shape grows up,” says Michael. He began with a flat disc of silver about 4 millimetres thick and 60 millimetres across. lt was curved on a raising anvil, and the beating process has begun that will ultimately convert the object into a tumbler cup.”The idea is to spread the metal.

The silver cost him pounds 319, and the tray is so heavy that he is worried that once he loads it with a bottle of wine and a few glasses he will find it hard to lift.Ian, a retired chartered surveyor from Hertfordshire, is comparatively experienced at working with silver, and has his own workshop at home. His problem is how to achieve a flat, smooth surface for the base of the tray, because silver can buckle when heated.The solution to this is patience, patience and more patience – plus a delicate combination of knowing how much to heat the metal base and how hard to hammer the tray’s rim. Certainly it is an act of love.Next to Ian sits Michael Soley, intent on hammering a piece of silver that looks like an ashtray. As Ian Collinson, pausing from perfecting a silver tray, explains: “It’s like making love to metal.

To achieve the hand-beaten look, that burnished finish, you have to make thousands of little regular blows – almost like kissing the metal. Once you lose concentration, then it’s time to go and do something else for a while.”
Ian’s tray is the most ambitious item being made on this particular five- day silversmithing course at West Dean College in Sussex, which provides a state-of-the-art workshop and skilled instruction from Derrick Grady, a professional silversmith.The tray began life as a flat disc and a long strip of silver, called a “wire”, which Ian has patterned and soldered to the disc that will form the 10-inch base. A quick glance at the intense facial expressions is enough to understand that the relationship between a hammerer and his piece of silver is deep and meaningful. The cacophany of clattering hammers sounds like the Seven Dwarfs setting off to work, or perhaps Father Christmas in his workshop tapping out toys by the million But once inside the studio, reality replaces the fantasy This is silversmithing in full clamour. I’m 80 now, I read without glasses, I walk without a stick and I am disgustingly healthy.”. The Spice Board of India lists remedies for stomach ailments and sore throats, and quotes an elderly lady as saying “For the past 65 years I’ve been eating cardamom mixed with honey at least once daily …