After a devastating breakup with my girlfriend of 5 years, I traveled to the city of Taxco in the State of Gurerro, Mexico.  I went to expand my horizons and specifically, to learn silversmithery. Taxco is considered the Silver Capital of North America. Through couchsurfing.org I found a place to stay with Efrain Balbas and his family.  Efrain owns a restaurant, and the day I arrived he introduced me to Uli Brix and Dani, who own a jewelry workshop right next door to the restaurant.  They invited me to come by the next day, and check it out. The next morning I rang the bell and was buzzed in. I climbed two stories down the cramped rickety iron spiral staircase. I talked and laughed with all the people diligently soldering, drying, stamping, oxidizing, polishing, stone setting, and much more. After a while Uli told me to come down to his own personal hell. We both climbed down two more stories, all the while the temperature raising. At the bottom the room was jam packed with all kinds of heavy machinery. Lathes, presses, and many I did not recognize. I could barely hear Uli talking because in a corner a huge propane torch was blasting the shiny contents of a crucible.  After explaining and demonstrating the smelting process Uli told me it was my turn. I added 2 kilos of pure silver grain into the still hot and smoking crucible, then the small amount of copper. I then positioned the torch and smoked cigarettes and joked with Uli until the silver was liquid. Every once and a while he would toss in some borax and stir it a little. Sweating, and with my heart pounding, I picked up the torch, grabbed the crucible with the long tongs and attempted to smoothly move and pour the molten silver into the mold, all the while holding the torch hot and steady. My arm shook because of the heat and weight. I smelted eight kilos of silver that day. Uli gave me a shard of crucible that had borax and silver built up on the side. The rest of the week I spent making that shard into my first silver piece. Here are some pictures:

In Mexico in 1993 they chopped off three zeros from the peso and started minting new coins. From then until 1996 the centers of the ten peso coins were made with sterling silver. When I went to Mexico in 2000 a Jeweler in San Cristobal told me this, and I started collecting them. Unfortunately, at Hotel Chocolate in Oaxaca city, a cleaning boy stole all of them. =[ However this last visit I managed to pick up a couple. I made a pair of earrings for my momma with some garnets I also picked up while I was there. The centers of the coins are hanging from swivels so you can see both the Mayan calendar, and the Mexican eagle. Here are some pictures.