For the second tutored project, I decided to sign up to a four-day silversmithing course at West Dean College in West Sussex as a general introduction to working in silver. I hoped to be able to build on my knowledge of forming and brazing brass items and to learn traditional ways of hand raising, forming, and soldering silver. Over the past year or so, silver has become extremely expensive and this has made me hesitant to start experimenting with it in my workshop. Therefore, this course served as a structured way for me to meet other people, and start exploring this precious metal under expert guidance. 

West Dean College was the perfect setting for this course. Entering the college driveway, the gates opened onto a world of daffodils, well-kept lawns, spring sunshine, and even a resplendent cock pheasant—all heralding the approach to this stunning former manor house which is now a college of Arts, Design, Craft and Conservation. It felt familiar and welcoming: my years at Dartington International Summer School in Devon, on a similarly impressive estate, were formative for both my professional trumpet career and personal life—it was even where I met my wife. How amazing, then, to find that there is an equivalent in the world of craft at West Dean College, not just in physical terms, but in the spirit of the place as well. There is an atmosphere of openness, exchange and a feeling of opportunity. West Dean College is something of an institution and there are certainly people who have fallen in love with this place who return year after year. I attended a four-day course, ‘Silversmithing – an emphasis on traditional skills’, with tutor Julian Stephens. The title alone was enough to pique my interest.

The course began on Thursday 19 March 2026. Our class gathered in the bar at a table reserved for silversmiths and I introduced myself to the others who had already assembled. We discussed our interests and aims for the course over dinner. We then went to the silversmithing workshop and discussed design ideas and some of the processes that would begin in earnest tomorrow. The short session served as a good introduction. Julian had been very generous with his time before the course began—he rang me on a video call while I was in Vienna to discuss design ideas and the approach for what I would do on the course. Although I wanted to attempt to make a fluted tube (working towards the fluted ferrules on the William Bull trumpet), I was quite content to use this course as a general introduction to working with silver. Aside from engraving it, I never formed, annealed, or soldered any silver workpieces up until this course; I was keen to begin under expert guidance and avoid any bad habits or preventable mistakes. Due to the cost of silver I worked on small test pieces rather than long lengths as I would have done if working in brass. 

Speaking of costly materials, I had purchased a 110mm silver disc with 0.8mm thickness and I intended to make this into a tumbler. I was keen to learn the technique of raising using (mostly metal) hammers and stakes, as I am sure there will be cross-transferrable skills that may apply to making trumpet bells. 

The Thursday evening session was relatively brief; people were keen to start work on their items but Julian stressed the importance of design and planning. The making would start properly the following morning. I learned early on about ‘sweeps’ and ‘lemel’, the precious metal filings and dust collected beneath a jewellers’ workbench. I had also never worked with a bench peg before and Julian noted the importance of this wooden rest which helps you to support and work on small items.

There were eight people on the silversmithing course. Caroline and Fiona were making silver spoons, Brye, Kate, Phil and Vanetta (and myself, as a side project) were making raised vessels in silver, copper or gilding metal, and Julia was continuing to work on two rather impressive projects, a silver tankard and a silver gravy boat. As well as having a general overview, I wanted to work on silver tubes, forming D-shape silver rings, and I wanted to try chasing a twisted pattern into a tube as well. 

On Friday 20 March, I began making some tubes to form a ferrule. I had brought some mandrels from home and I formed the tubes in the usual way. I overheated the first one while attempting to solder it due to the unfamiliar oxygen-assisted torch: I soon learned to use the smaller torch on the right hand side of the soldering hearth. I cleaned up the tube and soldered it underneath the ferrous wire. I was using a special type of silver solder and Julian showed me a technique to help the solder flow using a titanium prong. I also used borax and a product called ‘Argo-tect’ to try to minimise fire stain (the copper in sterling silver can become oxidised and leave a stain in the surface. This is minimised by keeping heating to a minimum, and by using products like Argo-tect).

I was keeping an ear out and watching Julian’s demonstrations of the raising process while working on my tubes. I had an inkling that there might be a rush on the hammers and stakes required to start this process, so I decided to work on the tubes first and start raising my cup later when there would be less demand for the tools required in the early stages of raising.

Julian came over while doing his rounds and we discussed the approach to chasing. It might be that the ferrules I am making are a bit small—perhaps they need to be bigger so that they can be hammered back to the finished size once the decorative elements are chased in. I worked on two tubes in the morning and made a second oversized tube, which will fit over the outside of the basic tube. 

I finished making those tubes and at about 14:00 (after lunch), I started working on my raised tumbler, firstly forming the basic shape from the flat disc. Using the smaller end of a tapered wooden hammer, I began forming the vessel using a wide divot carved in the end of a tree stump. I then transferred to using a four-sided raising stake held in a large standing vice which was also mounted on a tree trunk section. After the first round of forming, I annealed the workpiece and left it to cool before placing the item in the heated pickle bath. Using a compass and marker pen, I marked the centre of the vessel and marked concentric circles and a starting line to use as guides. I then used a curved metal raising hammer (one side of the hammer was flatter than the other) to begin forming the metal in conjunction with a stake. The workpiece is hammered in the negative space just beyond where the stake comes into contact with the workpiece: this allows you to narrow the vessel (from a wide bowl to more of a cup shape). Before each annealing, the edges were de-creased with a rawhide mallet and the edge of the rim was ‘caulked’—that is to say hit on the edge with the flatter end of a raising hammer. This prevents the rim from becoming too thin. By the end of the day I had almost caught up with the other cup-raisers, so I went back to working on my tubes. The workshop was busy and noisy with many people hammering simultaneously, but we were all pleased to be making good progress on our various projects. 

On Saturday morning (21 March) I continued to work on my ‘side quest’ which was still quite bowl shaped at the start of the day. I also continued work on the oversize silver tubes which I made on a 12.5mm mandrel. I made some rings out of 4mm D-shaped wire and formed them ready for soldering. The calculation for this is: diameter of the tube × π + 2 × height of the material. Julian showed me a soldering technique where the pallion of hard silver solder is drawn up from the bottom of the tube (though this might not be possible when soldering longer tubes). I then soldered the rings onto each end of the tube using easy solder and Easy-Flo flux.

Goldsmith James Fairhurst, a friend and colleague of Julian, visited the workshop to explore before leading his own course at West Dean College. It was great to meet him and for us to explain our project ideas to him; he took a real interest in what everybody was working on. 

Over the next few hours, I continued raising my cup, leaving it to pickle while I worked on the test ferrule, and vice versa. Julian showed me a way of using leather over a mandrel to chase the fluted ferrule pattern. I already had a suitable chasing tool, and we simply traced the lines by eye to mark out the design. In the future, it will be much neater to mark this out using a template. I gradually deepened the lines while chasing, and although it was done by eye, the result looked quite convincing. However, it is not quite the same as the ferrule pattern on the original Bull trumpets. That said, I was delighted to start chasing on the tubes and I need to do some more experiments to ensure that the ferrule functions as an airtight fit between the other tubes of the trumpet when it is finished—but all in good time. The ferrule split slightly while chasing near the seam: this was nothing serious and would be easily repairable. Julian was also pleased with the results of the test ferrule and we’ll have a go at chasing the floral pattern and the dots tomorrow, for which I will need to make some chasing tools. He said that he would like to take a photo of my test ferrule, and I was pleased with this for a basic first attempt. This is part of the iterative process of developing a ‘new’ model of trumpet—even though it is a replica, much of it is new to me.

In the afternoon I formed another short tube and Julian showed me a technique of caulking the seam before soldering it. This might be difficult on a long tube, but it seems to form a strong bond without any loss of tube wall thickness. Basically, he took a flat sheet of silver and hit the edge of it with the flat end of a raising hammer against the flat surface of an anvil. Julian did this and showed me, on my digital vernier callipers, that this had taken the edge of the silver from 0.5mm to 0.8mm. The edge of the sheet is then squared up with a file and soldered. I used hard solder and used the same technique as soldering the ring (where solder is drawn up from the bottom of the piece, placed vertically). This was effective but it might not work on long pieces (e.g. c. 600 mm tubes). The caulked seam is hammered with a rawhide mallet against the mandrel, forming an external ridge from the excess inner material. This ridge can be filed flush without thinning the seam; this avoids making a flat and creates a strong joint. I expect that this will be a game-changer especially when it comes to making tubes that will need to be bent. 

I watched all of Julian’s soldering demonstrations, noting tricks and techniques that would soon be useful to me. It reminded me of the old adage about listening closely in a musical rehearsal—general advice often applies directly to your own part. I paid attention to his guidance on hand raising, forming, soldering, and planishing, knowing that I would soon be using these skills myself.

On Sunday 22 March, our final day, I asked Julian for a lesson in ring forming—a skill required for both the Ehe III trumpet (lanyard rings) and the Bull trumpet (ferrules). He demonstrated the process using ring-forming pliers with half-round jaws and suggested using parallel-action nylon-jaw pliers to straighten joints without marking the metal. Proper alignment and tension are crucial, and I then soldered the rings to the tube using a vertical approach to draw the solder up from below.

I continued rounding and planishing my raised vessel while I had access to the necessary stakes. With time short, I focused on making chasing tools from silver steel bars rather than working on the second test ferrule. Using files, needle files, and a rotary tool with diamond burrs, I shaped the tools, and Julian showed how to file the shanks hexagonally—a deceptively simple technique he made look easy.

After lunch we had an hour or so either to finish making something or ask Julian any final questions. I felt that I had learned a lot and was pleased with my progress both on the tubes and the cup. I decided to planish my cup while the necessary stakes were available. My goals for the course were not to come away with complete items, necessarily: for me it was more about learning skills and taking ideas and inspiration back to my own workshop where I could continue and practise. I met some wonderful people on this course and I tried to follow their progress at regular intervals, amid the general hubbub. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at this beautiful flint-finished building; the exceptionally well-kept grounds and gardens were beautiful places to explore, alongside the pristine (crystal clear) River Lavant.

The course ended with a thorough tidying-up session. We lined up our workpieces for a group photograph, though Julia and the two spoon makers were unfortunately not there when we took the photo. Despite this, the display looked impressive, and we took photos of our assembled workpieces.

I mentioned to Julian, our course leader, that it must have been exhausting to have had so many people vying for his attention and working on such radically different projects. One moment he would be showing a vessel-raiser the ‘sweet spot’ on (well, just beyond) the stake, the next he would be showing someone else how to solder a spoon bowl onto the handle, help someone flatten the base of a bowl, chase an ornate design on some metal held in pitch, form a ring, solder a tube, polish a cup, pierce a decorative lid, or offer specialist advice on a vast array of silversmithing techniques. I was impressed by how quickly he seemed to be able to adapt to these different tasks—from extreme hammering to delicate soldering! He said that he loves it; he is clearly in his element in this sort of environment. I must say he coped with ‘the chaos’ brilliantly and did a great job in keeping us occupied and making sure that we were all getting the most out of our time on the course. Before the course began he was fantastically generous with his time and he helped me to plan the tools, techniques, and materials that I would need to bring with me. I can’t thank him enough and I look forward to showing him how the silver trumpet project progresses. I'd also like to visit his workshop in Brighton at some point in the future. 

The silver trumpet project is progressing well: the steel bell mandrel is finished, and I look forward to studying the more ornate aspects of the instrument with Ray Walton in Faversham and Miriam Hanid in Suffolk next month. 

I would like to thank Julian Stephens for an inspiring course, my fellow course mates for their teamwork, and everyone at West Dean College—a truly beautiful place that I am certain I will return to.