Hi, moms!
My fifth-grade-son is a silversmith for his school's colonial marketplace event next month. He has to make 40-50 items that a silversmith would have sold in colonial times. Any ideas? I have racked my brain and looked online, and there were ideas to make knives and spoons (cardboard covered with tin foil) but he wants to do something "cooler" than that! Any advice will be appreciated! Thanks!
I have to thank everyone for all of the responses I got! You guys are amazing. My son wound up making spoons, bowls, candle stick holders, and coins out of Play-Doh and spray painting them silver. (thank you, Natalie B!!) The bowls and candle stick holders weren't to scale, but they looked great. He put a birthday candle in the candle holder and they were the first items he "sold out" of! He made different patterns in the clay for the spoon handles and candle stick holders and when they were spray painted, they looked awesome. Thanks again, ladies!
Spoons and forks and utensils were common items for silver smiths back then. Other items besides cutlery would be serving bowls, creamers, candlesticks, snuffers, etc. We read the book Johnny Tremain together as a family and that's where I got the info.
They made silver serving trays, silver tea pots, silver punch bowls, silver cups, silver baby rattles & silver teething rings. Silver banks, silver false teeth.
Wow, what a job for a fourth grader!
A couple of web sites I looked at mentioned that a lot of silversmith's of the time would call themselves goldsmith just because it sounded better and that a silversmith would work with silver and work with gold.
The other thing I saw was the list of spoons, etc, and large hollow items (I'm guessing water basins or vases).
Good luck on this!
mugs (beer steins), water pitchers, plates, vases, candlesticks, belt buckles, shoe buckles, jewelry- necklaces, earrings, pocketwatches, bracelets, serving platters, soup tureens. See if you can get to the colonial Williamsburg website for more ideas. Good luck.
My son thinks anything with a sharp edge is "cool." Knives, swords, axe, any kind of weapon (sorry!)... how about horse shoes or tools (a shovel?)
Good luck!
maybe he could bend up some paperclips, twist them together, make them look like something? I think 40 is a lot, so he'll probably get bored after doing just a few of anything, I know I would!
Hi, I am a retired elementary teacher, hope this idea helps.
Make the mugs and utensils etc. out of play doh or clay. Find common names used in those times and inscribe them put the dates of those times on them as well. Then let them harden over night. Next spray paint them with silver, metallic spray paint. And voila!
swords? bullets?(ask teacher first), coins, tea sets, buckles, picture frame, jewelry, teeth (ha!)...
wow, 40-50 items seems like quite a lot to have to "make". Maybe mix it up a little with a few pcs of armor such as a few sheilds, swords etc. Maybe some candle sticks or some crazy tin foil skulputures - I dont know, wrap tin foil around some cool branches ha., maybe some belt buckles etc. for 40 or 50 things he can get creative on a few of them and I'm sure he'll score himself an A+! good luck!
I'd go with swords too. He can discuss the detail that went into each one. If I am not mistaken, swords back then were made specific to each individual it was made for and their purpose. My son came back from the Renaissance festival so intriqued by swords and had to have one of his own. They were really nice looking, but maybe a trip out there can give you more ideas. I am not sure it is still going on right now.
THe usual stuff comes to mind- jewelry, cups, tea sets, platters. THe silversmith would have made any decorative metal pieces. You could have him draw a jewelry design and make it out of foil or even wire. Wire is relatively cheap at Hobby Lobby or walmart in the craft section. How much time does he have?
........platters, water pitchers, baby cups and porriagers....candlesticks, etc........
Think expensive antique silver.....LOL......
What about taking a balloon and molding the tin foil around that to create a bowl? He could make plates around paper plates using tin foil too. He could take a popcicle stick and 'carve' designs into his bowls and plates. This was it is different and 'cooler'.
good luck
you will have to ref the historical time but what about buckles for belts, shoes, tea pitchers, bowls, horse ...forgot the name of the things that they are led on there faces/mouths by did they have pretty emblishments. the end of ladies fans had silver ends. of course jewerly, clocks, music boxes. again forgive me for not knowing my history time line better. gun or other weapons, would they have made door knockers, mirrors with a handle, brushes, combs. good luck.
Maybe some jewelry from an inexpensive spoon handle. The dollar store would be a place to start. The little aluminum handle can probably be cut with some wire cutters and can be bent to be a ring or maybe even a napkin holder. That would make 2 more items. Ge out your aluminum foil and get ready...he could cover cardboard with foil to resemble a belt buckle. Also maybe covering a plastic or styrofoam bowl could be like having a metal bowl / gravy boat or something. A plastic wine glass or plastic mug could be covered to be a goblet or mug that a silversmith may have made. He could also cover a plastic ladle with foil and resemble a silver ladle. A styrofoam meat tray can be washed and covered with aluminum foil to resemble a silver tray.
He can roll the foil and make bangle bracelets or necklaces. The ideas are endless.
Good morning!
Candle holders - look up pictures on the websites for differnt designs. Make them from clay & spraypaint them silver. (I don't know if the clay would soak it in so you may have to put a clear laquer first.) Bowls & trays would work out of clay too. Use a real bowl to shape them & get it as thin as he can. Remember its supposed to look like metal at the end.
A lot of items had the engraving - like trays & bowls.
Dont make the trays full size. Trace the engraving pattern from pictures onto the clay. I've seen them use softly rounded pointed wood sticks on a thick copper metal at the craft stores.
Or do it on foil for the trays. The foil is thin so it would need to go around card board (or thin balsa type wood depending on your budget) first then do the tracing.
Make sure you do not fill in the design with paint. After the silver you might try a light rub of black paint & wipe it off so you can see the design outlined.
Have fun - hope you have time for all this.
S.
How about candle snuffers (long and thin with a little cup on the end to snuff candles) or candelabras/candlesticks. Those would be fun to add to the mix. Sugar bowls and creamers might work too, all made of foil. What a fun project! He'll remember it forever.
My husband suggested a set of silverware. A complete set. Also what about cups and old timee mugs that men used to swig beer from?
