Do WHAT with smelly eggs!? PART III.

I tried the copper! AND! Well, I made quite the discovery last night. Here is the Zebra Copper Wire I used.

1. I made the earrings out of copper, but I added sterling ear wires to make sure my ears did not tint green at all.

2. I put the earrings in the bag with the boiled egg.

3. The sterling turned a dark brown, and NOTHING happened to the copper!! Yeah, the earrings look pretty goofy.

Turns out, like it says on the website, that Zebra Wire is:

"Solid copper wire... coated with natural-colored enamel and finished with a glossy lacquer."

The lacquer is added to prevent tarnish! It would ALSO prevent the copper from tinting your ears GREEN! Now I have NO fear of using copper ear wires, and... I need to find myself some UNCOATED copper wire to test for antiquing. My mother gave me some copper wire for electrical work... I'll play with that next!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

How do I harden sterling?

As I created ear wires and longer sterling designs like below, I found that the dead-soft sterling silver wire I was using was too darn soft to maintain its shape well over time. That bothered me terribly since quality is of utmost importance to me!

So what can I do to make it “harder”? Well… I researched a few options that I alluded to previously in my “How To Make Ear Wires” posting:

1. Hardening the Metal: If you are at all familiar with the world of manufacturing, you might have heard about “heat treating” metal to change its hardness. “Age Hardening” is what you can do to increase the hardness. This website has good information in the section, “How can I put age hardening to use in my shop?” BUT! Cook my metal for an hour and a half? Not possible for me! I suppose if I had a kiln that would be reasonable, but, as fate would have it, no such luck. Notice, too, the note about not being able to solder after the metal is hardened – this will return your sterling back to its original, soft state. Sounds… too complicated for me.

2. Bending the Metal: Yeah, yeah. Bending the sterling wire makes it harder too – called “work hardening.” In order to do this, though, you have to ruin your shape! I don’t like this idea very much… I’ll just keep it in the back of my mind as a “good-to-know” item…

3. Hammering the Metal: As you hammer metal with your designated jewelry hammer, you are actually stiffening the metal! Try hammering a piece of wire, then bending it. More difficult, eh? That’s what we want in this scenario. I, therefore, hammer my ear wires (when it matches the design) in order to maintain the original shape of the wire.

4. Buying Harder Metal: Okay – not ALL designs look good with a hammered ear wire or with hammered wire dangles. There are different levels of hardness for sterling silver; for the earrings shown above, I used “half-hard” wire. This works really well! I also use half-hard for any ear wires that should not be hammered. Why not use half-hard all the time then? Well, it’s just not as easy for my little fingers to maneuver! I’d say have BOTH types on hand for the best results.

Summary:
- Don’t bother hardening the metal with heat.
- Bend to harden if you want to… I don’t want to.
- Hammer dead-soft wire when possible to solidify the design.
- Buy half-hard wire for designs that should not be hammered.

If you disagree with anything in this posting, please feel free to comment! I love to learn. :)

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

How To Make Ear Wires

Tired of buying all your ear wires?  Here is a relatively simple recipe for making your own!

Tools you will need or want:
- 20 gauge wire*
- Wire cutter
- Round nose pliers
- Mandrel (or a pen with a ridge on it)
- Metal file (relatively fine)
- Nylon jaw pliers (nice to have)
- Polishing cloth (or cotton t-shirt)

*Wire comes in different "stiffnesses."  If you want to hammer your ear wires a bit to keep them in place, "dead soft" wire is fine it seems.  If you don't want to do this, I'd suggest buying "half-hard" wire.  This will help to maintain the shape of your ear wire over time.

Recipe:

1.  Cut two pieces of wire.  I like mine to be 1-3/4" long.

2.  Gently file both ends of the wires to clean them up.

3.  Use your round-nose pliers to wrap a loop at one end of each wire.  I like to go AGAINST the natural curve of the wire for this part.  If you're going to hang a soldered ring, etc. from the loop, it's a good idea to leave the loop a bit open, insert the ring when the ear wire is complete, and then close the loop with the nylon jaw pliers.

4.  Use your mandrel (or pen) to create a nice curve in the center of one wire.  I like to use the 1/4" or 6mm segment of the mandrel.

5.  Bend the second wire about half way on the mandrel.  Why not all the way?  You want to make sure your ear wires are the same length!  Match up the short side of your ear wires (sides with the loops) to see if they are the same. 

If not, bend the longer of the two ear wires slightly to shorten up that side - check again.  When both "short sides" are the same, then finish bending the second ear wire by wrapping only the side without the loop around the mandrel.

6.  Bend the tip of the ear wire with your round nose pliers to finish off the shape.

7.  Round off the tip of each ear wire with your file.  Check to make sure there are no sharp edges.

8.  Polish with your cloth or t-shirt and VOILA!  YOU ARE DONE!  :)

reade more... Résuméabuiyad