I’ve been working with my dad for several weeks now. I started out making something he calls tube candleholders, which hold tealight candles. These are shaped by cutting rectangles of pewter out of a large sheet and then using a rubber mallet to beat them into the correct shape around a metal stake – something very cathartic for a person dealing with marital difficulties!
The next step is to weld the seam together. I remember being bad at welding 20 years ago. I’m still bad at welding. Fortunately, the step after that is to file down the seam until the metal is smooth, so my lumps all disappeared. Then, I planished them. Planishing involves placing the pewter against a very smooth metal stake and then hammering it with a smooth-headed hammer for a dimpled finish. The shape of the stake differs depending on what is being fashioned. I like these candleholders because the the planishing is relatively easy. If you are planishing something cup-shaped, you must hit exactly the right spot or instead of an attractive dimple, you will dent it out of shape. But these candleholders are planished on the same metal rod they are shaped around, so it is pretty much impossible to hit the pewter in the wrong spot.
I have ADD, which means I have very little patience for boredom. Generally, anything that forces me to just sit and think drives me crazy with frustration. Attempting meditation of any sort has always been a complete failure for me. I can’t even comprehend how people can find it relaxing. But to me, planishing feels like I imagine mediation is meant to be. It requires just enough concentration – on where to hit next, on keeping the pewter and hammer clean of any debris – to stop me from really thinking about anything else. I find it very relaxing.
I took a crappy photo of my finished product:
Here is a better photo of my father’s version of the same thing:
(You can see the his other candleholders on his website, by the way.)
Next, I tried to make a few quiaches (Scottish drinking vessel). It was my first kick at spinning again, and I kind of messed up the first one I tried to spin on the lathe, causing the surface to ripple rather than be completely smooth. But that is the brilliance behind planishing. It was invented to hide all the imperfections created when shaping a bowl, and it works. There were some spots I had to go over a few times, though, to work out the dents I created making mistakes.
No longer any good for a quaich, I transformed my small bowl into a porringer when I soldered on a handle my father cast. Soldering is the standard method of attaching handles or bases. I am much better at soldering than welding. I like soldering.
The final product is a one-of-a-kind piece in my father’s catalogue, as he doesn’t planish his porringers.
Becoming a Pewtersmith 