Module 5: Design
with your instructor:
Rodger Taylor
About this module
Each module on this Foundation Programme has introduced you to a specific Argentium Silver making technique, which can now be developed and applied to your own designs. Module 5 requires you to apply all of the skills and knowledge that you have gained to create a design (or designs) of your choice.
Through this design process, you will gain a broader understanding of how you can manipulate, form, construct and finish jewellery items, whilst developing your own ideas to continue your Argentium Silver journey.
Module Intro Video
Tools Required (Not supplied)
Small gas torch (& butane gas)
Charcoal block
Flush cutters
Flat, round & snipe nose pliers
Half-round pliers
File, needle file & sanding stick
Jewellers’ piercing saw & blades
Bench peg
Kiln or domestic oven
Oven-proof or pyrex dish
Metal tweezers
Argentium flux & small brush
Argentium pickle
Glass or ceramic dish for pickle
Safety glasses
Additional Tools Suggested
Heat resistant pad
Spinner tray for charcoal block
*Items can be purchased from the website or appropriate suppliers.
Learning outcomes from this module
To further practical experience and understanding of making processes, whilst demonstrating:
- The ability to implement and apply the skills and knowledge gained from modules 1 to 4.
- An understanding of the design process involved in constructing an item of jewellery.
- Imaginative use of the materials provided.
- Control of all aspects of construction.
- Competence in working in Argentium Silver.
- Application and control of finish.
Module Assesment
Assessment for this Design Module will be based on the above learning outcomes. Your assessment will be carried out online, where you are required to submit photographs that clearly demonstrate the quality of your finished product. You will also be required to complete a short tick-box questionnaire to show your understanding of this specific process. Help, support and constructive feedback will be offered.
Successful completion of each Foundation Module is recognised by Argentium Courses, in association with the Argentium Silver Guild and Argentium International Limited. Upon successful completion of the Foundation Programme, you will be awarded a Certificate and offered free membership to the Argentium Silver Guild.
Your Instructor
Rodger Taylor
Roger is a Freeman of the Goldsmiths Company, Freemen of the City of London, Member of the Goldsmiths Craft and Design Council. He has many years of experience across many disciplines. After graduating in 1967 with a Masters Degree from the Royal College of Art in Silversmithing, he was employed by David Mellor in Sheffield working on product design and silverware. After leaving Sheffield he spent many years managing an engineering and electronics company in London.
Roger established his design studio “Taylor Designs” in Highgate Village in 1980, producing Jewellery and artefacts for many well known retailers including Andre Bogaert, Gucci, Platinum Shop, De Beers, Theo Fennell, Stephen Webster, Leo De Vroomen, Wilkinson Swords. After closing in 1992 he accepted the position of full time Senior Lecturer at Middlesex University, where he became involved with the early development of Argentium Silver with Peter Johns - the creator of the material.
Roger invented “The RT Blanking System”, patented in 1975 and published by the Goldsmiths Company in 1980. It is a simple low cost metal blanking and forming system now widely used by jewellers and metal workers, especially in the USA. This is just one example of the many technical developments and applications associated with him over the years.
From his home workshop Roger continues to design and craft fine commissioned jewellery items as well as using engineering technics, including CNC profiling. Roger continues to develop new technical applications for locks, clasps, jigs, tools and fittings etc. for the jewellery industry.
He is currently acting as a consultant for both TiSento and Tirisi jewellery companies, with their design base in Holland and volume manufacturing in Thailand. He has now taken up the challenge to help and develop the story of Argentium Silver with this new Argentium Courses Programme.
Roger states that “at heart I am a technical person loving all technical aspects of design and making, especially when it comes to volume production. Resolving problems with a one-off piece of fine jewellery is great, but the technical development becomes lost in that one item. However to be able to use that information and apply it to producing in volume is not only satisfying but more profitable.