The Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-06-15, Page 19Silversmithing .usiness "shaping up"for Stoddart
BY JOANNE WALTERS Winning the awards
Slowly but surely. means a lot to Bob
That's how Bob Stoddart because it means that
of Goderich is developing some of his work will be
his silversm.i-thing getting into the limelight
business. He has tran and his name will become
sformed a garage at the recognized. His work will
back of 133 St. George's be presented in shows
Crescent into a studio and across the province and
he is currently kept busy will be up for sale at the
doing custom work for same time.
people and building up his SHERIDAN GRAD
stock. Eventually, he Another reason why
would like to open a store Bob feels fortunate in
with a gallery setting having had his studio
downtown but at present open for a year now is
his jewelry and collection
of silver products is still because of statistics
quite small. A lot of time which prove it is difficult
and effort goes into each for many silversmiths to
product. It can take as keep operating. Out of his
long as 16 to 20 hours to graduating class from
make one ring and that's Sheridan College School
why building up one's of Design, only three are
stock is a slow process, still working in metals.
explains Bob. The total cost of training
a silversmith or gold
Up until now, Bob's
business has come to him smith over a three year
mostly through word of period at Sheridan
mouth. Only recently has College is about $12,000
he begun to advertise per student. When they
under the name of graduate, many of them
Maitland River Silver- can't continue in their
smithing. He is convinced trained (craft due" to ex
that his business will pick lenses.
up and in fact, he has � Unlike many of his
even done better so far as fellow students who took
a silversmith than he had out loans to help them
ever hoped. It is only his through school, Bob
first yearas a worked his way through.
professional craftsman One of his jobs during
competing against other that time was teaching
craftsmen and already he crafts. With no student
has won some significant loan to pay back when he
awards. For his design of finished his course, he
a man's 10 karat gold ring was able to take out a
with carved black walnut loan to • help get his
inset, he received an business started.
Award of Merit from the So far, he has spent
Metal Arts Guild and for about : $6,000 on .equip -
his design' of a woman's ment for his business and
10 'karat gold ,cocktail says he just has the
ring with carved black basics. He is hoping to
walnut in the centre, he purchase a vulcanizer
received an award from soon which he says will be
the Ontario Crafts a real Godsend. The
Council. The cocktail ring vulcanizer will allow him
was judged the best piece to make a mould. of a
at a regional conference finished product so it can
show in Sarnia and will be be copied. At present, if
entered in the finals in he gets an order for more
Toronto. The ring will be than one of the same
on display in the Toronto product, he has to hand
Dominion Centre from carve each one in -
July 6 to 29 and in the dividually, and this slows
Better Living Centre at him down greatly.
the CNE from August 16 Bob spent a year on the
to September 4. Oakville carripus.,„ of
"I never expected to S h.e r i da n College
win any. awards at all this studying creative art and
year and I was quite photography. He still
pleased'," said Bob. uses his photographic
In order to even get skills to photograph his
one's pieces entered, they creations. Originally he'
have to go through a jury had been interested in
and it's lucky to even get painting and ceramics
past that, he explains. but he soon discovered
that he preferred working
with metal.
"Most people think of
metal . as hard and un-
movable but to a
silversmith, metal is one
of the most movable of all
materials," says Bob.
Bob next went on to
spend three years at
Sheridan College School
of Design, originally
started by the Ontario
Crafts Council of which
he is now a member. He
highly recommends the
school to anyone in-
terested in silver-
smithing. It offers one of
the best courses in
Canada in this area of
work and .the teachers
are excellent as well, he
says. He himself studied
under one of the top
silversmiths and one of
the top glass blowers in
Canada.
In order to become a
silversmith, Bob says you
pretty well have to take a
course of some kind. He
has met a few self-taught
silversmiths but by
taking a course you have
the advantage of learning
faster and newer
techniques, he says..
EXPENSIVE
UNDERTAKING
Bob has not forgotten
Sheridan since he
graduated from there. He
will continue to use the
college facilities for
reference or machines
and tools that he might
need for certain crafts. If
he is able to start up a
gallery in town, he would
like to make it an outlet
for Sheridan students to
sell their high quality
ceramics and hand blown
glass pieces. Many
craftsmen are very
limited as to where they
can sell their pieces,
according to Bob. Han-
dcrafted items are ex-
pensive to begin with
because of the amount of
work that goes into them
and then stores where
they are sold, add onto
this eady expensive
price in order to make a
profit for themselves but
causing people to just
pass them by.
"Around this area, I
don't think that people
realize just how much
work goes into each craft
and therefore, they can't
Silversmith Bob Stoddart heats up a half bowl of pitch or tar, in order to do
some chasing work'. When the pitch is soft, he takes a piece of flat metal and
pushes it into the bowl. Next, he takes a chasing hammer and other chasing
tools to hand hammer a design into the metal. The purpose of chasing is to
refine and define the forms of the design and to bring them to the height of
relief desired. It is an ancient form of decoration for metal objects. The
pitch holds the work securely so it can be easily angled for working. (Photo
by Joanne Walters)
un�ic� Stcindl tlu L•xlcilsc,•
says Bob,
Bob buys his silver and
gold from Imperial
Smelting and Refining
Company in Toronto. He
saves his scraps and
sends it back to the
company which can then
reprocess it. But, he buys
it for much more money
than he can sell it back to
them for and so he is
forced to add on the cost
of his waste to his final
products.
His findings, such as
backings for broaches
and chains for necklaces,
also comeifrom Toronto.
However, all the firms he
deals with, are American
based which means he
often has to wait as long
as two weeks for his
orders plus pay duty on
them when they arrive.
Tools are expensive
too, says Bob and many
of them break. He has
broken several needle
files while working but he
tries to keep costs like
this away from 'his
customers as much as
possible. Once he is able
to afford more and better
equipment, he will be
able to keep costs away
from the customer even
more.
Working with metal
can be very frustrating
too. Mistakes can be
made so easily. Once,
says Bob, he was working
on a candle stick holder
for a customer and was
getting close to the
finishing stages when he
•accidentally melted a
portion of it. So, he had to
re -make the whole thing.
And, of course, he says,
he can't add the cost of
these mistakes onto his
customers although they.
are very costly to him
personally.
Silver rings cost
anywhere from $30 up,
says Bob. "It doesn't pay
for me if I charge less
than $25."
His two award winning
•
gold rings cost $350 and
he has a silver bracelet
which sells for about $130.
He even made his own
hinges and catches for
this bracelet. He does this
for a lot of his jewelry.
Bob feels that people
are happier if they buy
from a` silversmith .or
goldsmith. A lot of
jewelry from commercial
retailers are machinery
cast, he says. Hundreds
of this jewelry are
churned out at a time.
But each piece of jewelry
from a silver or gold-
smith is individually
made and the beauty is
that you 'never get the
same copy twice of
anything, says Bob.
MAKING A '
COME -BACK
Silversmithing had
died out for awhile but
this high quality art form
is corning back now, says
Bob. As the art gets more
well-known, people are
wanting the products
more, he says. He feels
that people are tired' of
machine -made things.
Another problem up
until recently, says Bob,
is that 90 per cent of the
crafts sold in Canada are
made in the U.S.
However, he says,
Canada is now producing
and better known
more
craftsmen.
Bob says he only knows
of a few other silver-
smiths in this area. There
are twc, in New Hamburg
and one in. Stratford.
Teri are many in the
larger cities, especially
Toronto, but you get a lot
of bad products in the
cities too, he says.
Bob decided to• come
back to Goderich to get
away from all the hustle
and bustle and com-
petition of the city. Also,
when he decided as a
Sheridan grad, that he
wanted to look for a job in
his tine in Toronto, he
discovered that he was
over -qualified. All that
the employers wanted,
were assembly line
workers, he said.
Bob had another
alternative which was to
attend the University of
Turn to page 2B
Silversmith Bob Stoddart has already spent about $6,000 on tools
and equipment for his business and says:he just has the basics
Starting up yourF,own silversmithing business is an expensi e
undertaking btit4rofb feels he has,done quite well for his firsty - r.
te.1
SIG.N,
Unlike many of his fellow grads at Sheridan College, he worked
his •way through school rather than taking out a student loan.
Therefore, he was able to take out a loan when he finished school
in order to start his business. (Photo by Joanne Walters)
L
s'
• 131—YEAR 25
THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 1978
SECTION TWO
Silversmith Bob Stoddart uses this kiln to do casting work. Basically this
consists of constructing a model in wax of suitable thickness and forming a
mold over the outside of the work to be cast. The wax is then drained or
"lost" by heating the entire mold which is left with a hollow spacd formerly
occupied by the wax. Into this space the molten metal is poured until it fills
the void completely. (Photo by Joanne Walters)
•
Silversmith Bob- Stoddart uses a special saw to cut his sheets of silver which
come frons Imperial Smelting and Refining Company in Toronto. He works
in.a garage, at the back of 133 St. George's Crescent, which he has tran-
sformed into a studio. Once he builds up his stock, he hopes to open a sotre.
Bob studied silversmithing and other crafts at Sheridan College's School of
Design for three years. (Photo by Joanne Walters)