A single sheet of silver becomes a teapot through hours of hammering, heating, and patience. No casting, no machining. Just metallurgy controlled by hand. The process is called raising, and every step is materials science in action: - Sterling silver is 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. Pure silver is too soft for functional ware, so copper is added as a solid-solution and precipitation strengthener. - Each hammer blow plastically deforms the metal, multiplying dislocations in the crystal lattice. As dislocations tangle, the silver becomes harder and more brittle. This is work hardening. - Before the sheet cracks, the craftsman anneals it at roughly 650 C. The heat lets new, strain-free grains nucleate and grow (recrystallization), restoring ductility so hammering can continue. - This hammer, anneal, repeat cycle can happen dozens of times as a flat disc is drawn up over steel stakes into a hollow body. Then comes planishing: thousands of light, overlapping blows with a polished hammer ...