The Perfect Wire Gauge For Hoop Earrings

I think I've found the perfect wire gauge for hoop earrings - 2mm. This is just my opinion and probably many would disagree! But..................I've made hoop earrings from various gauges from 20g/0.8mm (big no there, way too flimsy) to 1.5mm and 2mm definitely feels just right. It forms sturdy feeling hoops that don't bend out of shape but aren't too heavy so are nice and comfortable to wear.

I've always loved hoop earrings and I am wearing a pair right now. I've often seen the handmade hoops made from 20g/0.8mm wire with the hammered bottom section and thought they looked cool. These are the one's where you form a loop on one end and the hook on the other end of the wire. I did make a pair a long time ago but soon realised that they were much too flimsy and would easily bend out of shape as you tried to fasten them. I tried the same in 18g/1mm which were a bit sturdier but the 1mm wire was too big for the holes in my ears and actually hurt to wear so that idea was shelved. Reluctantly.

I've made various hoops since with complete hoops and separate ear wires and have always felt vaguely dissatisfied with them. They were fine but still not quite robust enough for what I wanted so when I made some hoops from some 2mm sterling wire I bought recently I was really pleased that they turned out how I wanted.

I made three different designs - one with a copper and silver etched disc dangling from the bottom ~

The second pair has a small silver heart that I cut out from sheet and soldered to a backing of copper before soldering to the bottom of the hoop. Making the heart was fiddly, I seem to have this perverse desire to make very small things and make life hard for myself! The ring clamp I sometimes use to hold things for filing wouldn't grip the tiny hearts so I did a lot of fumbling and managed to file part of my finger while I was finishing them :D

The wooden box is one of two I picked up from a local discount store. They were plain pine so I decided to stamp and stain them. They were sitting on the table when I was photographing the earrings earlier today and I thought they might be ok for the "dangle" shot so I tried them and I think they look alright and a change from the usual bright green vase/leather pen holder I normally use. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with the boxes, what I'm going to put in them or even where I'm going to put them but I like them!

 The third pair of hoops have a leaf shape in etched silver soldered to the bottom. The etched silver sheet was only 24g/0.6mm which would have been a bit thin on it's own so I soldered it to a base of 20g/0.8mm and trimmed the edges. Soldering the jump rings to the top was a bit stressful as I still struggle with the small fiddly bits but it got better after the first one. There was only a little bit of swearing this time.........

Summer Colour - Enamel Flower Earrings and Pendants

After a few weeks of concentrating on metalwork making hollow form pendants and earrings I needed a burst of colour so out came the enamel powders and some pretty pre-cut copper flower blanks. Yes I could saw out the flowers myself but I didn't :D
I felt like mixing up the colours a bit by sifting a mixture of opaque enamels together and firing at the same time. Previously I would only do one colour and fire it then add another colour, fire, then another colour but mixing the second layer of enamel colours saves time and doesn't do any harm. Mixing two different enamel powders won't result in a new colour as such, eg. mixing red and yellow won't produce orange but a speckled blend of red and yellow. Mixing similar shades is good as the different coloured speckles aren't as obvious so the end colour looks more solid. It gives you more options.

The earrings above are a base layer of seafoam then another layer of seafoam mixed with lichen and pea which produced a lovely sea green shade with sprinkles of brown and cream added on top.

I made a pendant with the same colours but this time I mixed the seafoam, lichen amd pea enamels and put them in a pot. The resulting colour was slightly different to the earrings but that's the fun of mixing your own blends - you don't know how they will turn out until you fire them the first time. You can then add another colour in the second layer to change the overall look if you want to. As I'm writing this I've had a sudden urge to try to achieve an ombre effect with similar shades of enamel. I think applying the enamels wet with a brush will be the way to go. This idea obviously need some thought.........

These bright young things, currently on their way to Oregon, are a mixture of sunset orange with sprinklings of scarlet, pink and brown. The pink completely disappeared in the orange and the brown is very subtle too (in other words you can hardly see it!)

I was asked to make the pendant for a custom order which means I'm now out of the cute flower blanks. I did create a few templates just in case I had a sudden rush of blood to the head and felt like sawing out my own flowers which I may do as I now do enjoy sawing which is something I never thought I would say, or I might just buy a few more which would be much easier if a bit more expensive!

I wanted to use up some sterling beads and spacers I've had for ever so combined them with some more mixed colour enamel discs and "lily pads". It's nice to do a bit of wirework every now and then!

Making A Hollow Form Pendant With Turquoise Cabochon

I recently finished my first hollow form pendant with a bezel set cabochon and actually remembered to take photos this time (!) so I thought I would share how I did it.

I decided to make a fairly small round shaped pendant and set an 8mm turquoise cabochon onto the front.

I started by forming the frame or wall of the pendant and made the bezel at the same time. After soldering I shaped the frame on a ring mandrel to round it up. I then cut a small piece of sterling sheet for the back piece so it was about 3mm bigger than the frame all round. I flattened and sanded the sheet so there was good contact between the frame and sheet.

Using steel t pins pushed into a fibreboard soldering block I secured the frame to the base so there was good contact all round. You could use binding wire instead of t pins or as it was a small sized piece just pushing down with a soldering pick probably would have worked ok. I just like to have a hand free when I'm soldering if possible just in case! I think I overdid the amount of solder to be honest but I'd rather do that and know the join will be good all the way round than have to redo it. Any excess solder will either be inside the pendant or removed when the base is trimmed anyway so there won't be any cleaning up to do.

I've recently changed the flux I use from Auflux to Easy Flo as I prefer the paste consistency of the Easy Flo. The Auflux works fine but being a liquid it runs off pieces and I was having to reapply it several times before starting to solder so decided to try a paste version which is what I got used to using at night classes at college.

After pickling the base and trimming it slightly I prepared a piece of etched silver for the top. I decided where I wanted to put the bezel and allowing for the overhang I drilled a ventilation hole in what would be the middle of where the bezel would sit which would be hidden later by the cab. The hole is necessary to allow hot air to escape during any further soldering or there could be a risk of the pendant exploding.

I used the t pins to make sure the join was tight and probably too much solder again! I find the residue left by the Easy Flo flux makes it hard to see if the solder join was complete. It looked like there was a gap but once it was out of the pickle I could see it was ok.

Making a hollow form with a hole in it means any liquid will get into the middle and must be removed! After taking it out of the pickle I ran it under the tap so the flow of the water hit the hole and helped to force the pickle out. I then left it to soak in water and bicarb for about 15 mins while I got the bezel ready for soldering to the front.

You need to remove as much of the liquid in the centre as possible before soldering again. Shaking the pendant and blotting the hole with kitchen roll helps but if you are in hurry then you can dry it in the oven set at it's lowest temp for about 10- 15 mins. Or you could do what I did and leave it to dry while you have your lunch and watch Bargain Hunt and the News. I really do live life on the edge.

Once it was dry I applied flux to the whole of the front of the pendant when I soldered the bezel to help protect from firestain. I couldn't see any firestain on the front but I did get some on the edge and back of the pendant. More about this later! I pickled the pendant and after rinsing and drying I trimmed the edges and filed and sanded them. I then made a bail for hanging and soldered this onto the top of the pendant.

In hindsite the way I set this up probably wasn't the best way to do it! What happened was......... the solder flowed at the front of the bail (you can see the piece of solder in the photo) and I turned it over to flow the solder on the back. I supported the front of the bail with my pliers to stop it dropping when the solder flowed on the back but I must have pushed the pliers too hard under the bail as it tipped upwards when the solder flowed on the back so I had to reflow the solder and reposition the bail. I got there in the end but I think soldering the bail on the back first then turning it over to solder the front would have worked better.

If you were wondering what the white stuff around the bezel was in the photo it's Tippex which stops solder from flowing. I put it around the bezel solder seam as I was using easy solder again for the bail just in case the easy solder around the bezel decided to reflow. Make sure you let the Tippex dry before soldering as it gives off fumes and can ignite sometimes.

Now I'm enjoying making more pendants I will need to turn my thoughts to bail design and how to make them more interesting. Being an earring person I've never had to think much about bails before!

Firestain!
I mentioned firestain earlier as I noticed it on the sides and back of the pendant. It shows as a grey/purple mark when you start to sand/clean up the silver. It's formed by the oxidation of the copper within the sterling silver not just on the surface and can't be removed by pickling unlike firescale. Too much heat in the same spot can cause it. Anyway it happens. There are ways to prevent it such as coating the sterling silver with a protective layer such as Firescoff or using Argentium silver which doesn't form firestain. Thoroughly covering the sterling silver with flux before you start soldering can help too.
I managed to remove it by using a sanding disc with my Dremel but this does create a lot of extra work. I decided that using a scotchbrite bristle brush with my Dremel to give the silver a satin finish then oxidizing it worked fine in disguising the slightly darker areas so I didn't stress too much over it!

These are great for a satin finish but make sure you wear glasses/goggles as they love to fire their bristles everywhere if you catch the edge of a piece!

The finished pendant