I became a silversmith more by accident than by design. I went to college to learn to make furniture but was drawn to metalwork instead. I taught myself to engrave some years after leaving college. Now I either engrave or carve nearly everything I make, to the point that I sometimes make a piece just to have something on which to do some engraving. Recently I have been experimenting with inlaying as a way of applying decoration. It is possible to inlay fairly thick pieces and leave them proud of the surface to give depth, rather than carving away the surface.
I sometimes wonder why work in silver rather than other metals, and I think the answer is that sterling silver is by far my favourite metal to work with, so far.
