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Family crest pins, like the one they made for Mrs. Kermit Roosevelt, are just one of many products of Mrs. Frances Schimpff and Mary Frances Schimpff, a mother and daughter team operating in a downtown studio in Bloomington, Illinois. These two have turned what started as a mutual hobby into a very nice business, free from cut-throat competition so often found in the mass production fields. Everything in their shop is custom made and satisfied customers are the rule.

Upon returning home from an art course in St. Louis a few years ago, Mary Frances brought a great ambition for jewelry design and was more than surprised to find that silversmithing had been her mother's hobby during college days. And it was just shortly after this the two of them put their heads together to see what they could design and create as silversmiths.

"Maybe it was the art class, but even from the beginning Mary Frances was the better silversmith," recalls Mrs. Schimpff good-humoredly.

That may be true but the way it shapes up now neither one of them could be called the boss and they are so constantly collaborating that it is doubtful if it could be determined where one starts and the other leaves off in this delicate work.

TO PLEASE a few friends who were interested in their efforts in jewelry design and to work together congenially was all Mrs. Schimpff and Mary Frances had in mind. The small greenhouse behind the Schimpff's home made an ideal place to work and they utilized one corner for their early experiments.

The lighting was excellent (they both dislike working by artificial lighting) and the even temperature of the greenhouse was comfortable for their work. Although this first work was crude in design it still pleased their friends, and, as neither of them had extensive training in their craft, they learned the hard way—by trial and error.

It wasn't long before they were out of a hobby and into a full time business. They wore their own silver jewelry to various social functions where it attracted much favorable attention. A friend, Mrs. C.C. Jones of Bloomington, gave them an order for a bracelet, which they filled to her complete satisfaction. In 1941, she referred them, to the Helen Harrison shop in Bloomington and the two women began making rings, bracelets and others pieces of jewelry for sale in the Harrison shop.

"The business just grew," says Mary Frances.

"That's right," agrees her mother. "And I don't believe that even in the beginning did we invest more than $25 in silver and the tools necessary to start."

THE MOST frequently used tool in the craft of silversmithing is the jewelers' saw (or piercing saw) and both women agree that this is the basic tool. Mrs. Schimpff says that the saw offers the most difficulty in mastering. This saw consists of a frame and a fine toothed blade and is similar to a fret saw or coping saw. The length of the blade is 5 inches and the two end portions are without teeth and are of different temper than the cutting portion.

Both women believe that having a good place to work is most important, and to this end designed and built their own workbenches and other benches in their present location after outgrowing the greenhouse shop. The workbenches are merely high desk affairs, complete with high stools, and placed close to the windows on the third floor of a downtown building studio.

In the designing of a workbench particular attention was paid to the "V" block, or bench pin, which is a thin but sturdy slice of wood mounted onto the bench edge. The bench pin, which is about 6 inches long and 3 inches wide, is aimed at the midriff of the worker and has a small aperture sliced through it for free use of the saw while holding a piece of work. This pin should be mounted at a height which will allow the forearm to be horizontal or parallel to the floor when the saw is held against the work and the work is at the blade's midpoint.

Watching either Mrs. Schimpff or Mary Frances at work, you notice that the saw blade is held perpendicular to the work and an up and down motion is used.

"It's the down motion that cuts," explains Mary Frances.

"Yes," says her mother, "and the curves should be maneuvered naturally—as one wheels a bicycle. The angular changes are harder and require more practice."

IN THE manufacture of a family crest, first of all a small piece of tracing paper is utilized to copy the design. These actual crest designs usually come in the mail to the Schimpffs and are mostly from the pages of some precious family book or record. These are first photostated and the copy placed away for safe keeping. After a copy is made, which may or may not involve subtle changes to make the work in silver possible, then a small piece of 20-gauge silver is selected. The silver is in sheet form and the piece to be used is slightly larger than the actual design to be worked.

The price of sterling silver varies on the market from 85 cents to $1 an ounce in sheet form. It is advisable for the beginner to use copper for his early efforts with saw and file.

The next step is called annealing, and is simply the heating of the silver to a point where it is red hot and then quickly cooled in water. This makes the silver easy to work with and pliable enough for the purpose of shaping and cutting into the desired design.

The small silver piece is ready now and a thin covering of liquid glue is spread over it completely and the traced copy paper placed thereon. The Schimpffs are careful not to pull the tracing one way or another as this tends to stretch and distort the design.

When the glue has dried, it is time to use the jewelers' saw, being very careful to cut "just a thought" from the traced lines. This careful use of the saw is where craftsmanship enters in but there's more to it than this. There's the careful and painstaking technique involved that comes only from the hours of actual experience in working with silver.

ALTHOUGH EVERY crest is different in design, the basic rules of the workmanship remain the same. The standard advertised family crest is 2½ inches and this size is varied very little. The Schimpffs' family crests are adapted to this size. It was found that this size was the best for lapel pins or for mounting on wallets and the like. Most of the crests are made to be used as pins.

Now the all around pattern is cut in silver and the Schimpffs are ready to work out all mounted parts such as helmets, spears, and other smaller parts. It is advisable to cut these parts out separately and then solder them onto the main design. This involves rather painstaking work and Mrs. Schimpff and Mary Frances use a mounted magnifying glass for this intricate bit. They both have tried using a jewelers' glass but it proved uncomfortable for them.

When either of the women has metal to remove from the inner portions of a design, she drills small holes in the portions to be cut out and punches the silver out lightly, using a center punch and a light hammer. This internal punching is called piercing. It is sometimes necessary to use a lubricant on the saw blade, such as beeswax or paraffin, when internal sawing is to be accomplished after punching out the main body of metal to be removed.

At this point the Schimpffs remove the glued tracing paper with warm water and commence the forming and rounding out of the pieces that must stand out in relief from the main body of the work. For this work "dapping tools" are employed; they resemble punches except for the various shaped round ends. These rounded ends of various sizes, depending on the size of the formation desired, are placed against the silver and tapped gently with a light hammer. The metal is rounded out as desired in this manner. The work is placed on a round lead piece for the use of the dapping tools.

The actual tracing and cutting out of the design for a family crest takes either Mrs. Schimpff or Mary Frances the greater part of a morning's work.

The crest at this stage is just pieces of lack lustre silver that will gradually take on symmetry and beauty.

THE NEXT step taken is the soldering on of the small individual pieces that all go to make up the finished product.

"By now we are pretty tired of sitting," Mrs. Schimpff says. "We arranged to do our soldering at the other end of the studio to give us a chance to move around in the different stages of the work."

For the beginner, working in copper, it is best to use the soft solder that comes in wire, ribbon or bar forms. But for working in silver, hard solder is used. The work is cleaned with emery paper or fine steel wool which removes the imperfections and burrs that may have occurred during the sawing operation.

Then, to protect the work against oxidation, a flux is made from common borax and water mixed until it becomes creamy and then spread over the work. The work is then brought to a degree of heat great enough to melt the solder, either with a gas burner which is what the Schimpffs use, or an alcohol lamp. The hard solder used is purchased in sheet form and cut in pieces approximately ¹/16 inch square and handled with small tweezers. After the work is heated, the small pieces of solder are placed at strategic places on the work and the parts to be joined are placed thereon.

AFTER THE soldering, one of the women then brings the jewelers' file into play. Imperfections are toned down with the file and rough cutting sometimes is necessary. They both have a great variety of both single and double cut files and these are carefully separated from each other. Rubbing them together or against other tools will dull them quickly.

In removing the faint file marks on the work, a Scotch stone is used. This is a slate like material available cheaply in stock form 6 inches long and in cross sections from ¹/8 to ½ inch square. It must be moistened while in use.

Next comes what Mrs. Schimpff and Mary Frances call "pickling" the work. This is an acidizing process that will bring the work to a fine white color—very nearly what they want in a crest.

The work is dipped in a sulphuric acid solution that consists of one part acid to ten parts water. The acid is slowly poured into the water to discourage dangerous reaction. The women are very careful, of course, not to get any acid on their hands or clothing. Just a short dip in the solution is all that is necessary. The Schimpffs then wash the work in a strong solution of hot soda with a dash of ammonia. They use rubber gloves for this. To one gallon of water add one ounce of ammonia and one half pint of caustic soda and you have a fine washing solution. The work is now ready for the buffing.

It is suggested that an electric motor of ¼ or ¹/3-horsepower be used as a buffing machine. The speed should be 1,750 RPM. With a generous dab of jewelers' rouge on the work the crest is now ready to be buffed on the wheel.

If there was some rough cutting to perform at this time, the Schimpffs would use a stitched leather wheel but for their purpose the Schimpffs use a muslin buff, which, as its name implies, is made up of fine muslin.

If the buffing wheel were a clock the work would be firmly held against it at 4 to 6 o'clock. The occasional snatching process of the wheel makes it vital to avoid holding the edges of the work or hooking a finger through a part while polishing.

Although it is hard work, hand buffing, if done properly, imparts brilliant beauty to the silver.

TEACHING THEMSELVES this ancient art of silversmithing was no easy task and both Mrs. Schimpff and Mary Frances spent many an hour over trade papers and in visiting other silversmiths in the East. Consulting supply manufacturers was helpful in gaining knowledge of the various possibilities in silver. Great patience and the ability to design were necessary.

A few private lessons were also of great help and plenty of experimenting went on in the little greenhouse before either of them felt confident enough to show even a small, plainly designed clip or pin. Among the books which they found of particular value were:

"Jewelry Making and Design," by Augustus F. Rose and Antonio Cirino; "Jewelry and Enamelling," by Greta Pack, and "Hand Made Jewelry," by Louis Weiner.

It was quite a while before the complicated work of making family crests came within the range of the capabilities and imagination of either woman.

The family crest pins are advertised in the New Yorker magazine as being sold by the Mermod-Jaccard King Company of St. Louis, Missouri, which handles them exclusively on a retail basis. As the work is all custom made, the Schimpffs also handle individual orders direct through their own shop. Jaccard's also handle the fancy silver clips, pins, dancing elephants, and tiny silver engines and freight cars turned out by the Schimpffs.

Lately the Schimpffs have been making quite a few crests as small as a fingernail for use on rings and other companion pieces for the larger pin crests. Both Mary Frances and her mother agree that $2 worth of silver is adequate for the larger crest. The retail price for the finished product is currently $37.50 with the tiny crest rings retailing for a few dollars more.

THE SILVER extensively used by the Schimpffs comes in sheets of 6 by 10 inches, and in three gauges or thicknesses. The 22-gauge is a general weight and is used for the shaping of bracelets and objects that require bending. The 24-gauge is a lighter weight and is used for the tiny objects that must be soldered on the heavier pieces of work to round out a more complicated design such as a family crest.

The heaviest stock used is the 20-gauge and this is heavy enough to support itself without bending or breaking when sawed to form a slender spear or furling feather, both of which are so common in the family crests.

At first neither Mrs. Schimpff nor her daughter made any special effort to save the tiny scraps of silver that floated down from their saws and files. It wasn't long before they realized their error. They now work with rubber aprons cupped to catch the dust and scraps from their work.

Says Mrs. Schimpff: "At the end of the first year of saving scraps we had collected several cigar boxes full and hustled them off to our source of silver supply in New York City."

"And neither of us thought another thing about it," adds Mary Frances.

"That's right," laughs her mother. "Imagine our surprise when we received credit for over $100 on our next year's purchase of sheet stock."

"Saving the scraps is very important business if extensive work is being carried on," repeats Mrs. Schimpff.

Both Mrs. Schimpff and Mary Frances say that a rubber apron is sufficient for this function. It is no longer necessary to cultivate flowing beards, which the old time gold and silversmiths used as a catchall.

Some of the older craftsmen, beardless no doubt, have a large wooly dog lying at their feet to catch the silver and gold dust that sifts from their work.