Jewellery Making Supplies Blog

In 1992 I left school and took a foundation in Art & Design.

At the point of completing the course, I should have followed my heart, and gone on to study fine art.

I went on to take a degree in Film & Video at (what was then) West Surrey College of Art & Design. In spite of all my best efforts to the contrary, I graduated with a shiny new BA(Hons) in 1996.

Work in television production followed. Highlights included electrocuting myself while testing products for a review show, audibly vomiting during a live cookery programme and being pecked on the head by an eagle owl.

Despite these giddy showbiz heights, I missed my artistic endeavours, so took a City & Guilds in Jewellery Design specialising in Silver at night school. It was here, (thanks to my fantastic tutor Nicholas Keogh) that I discovered a real passion for working with silver.

When I had my daughter in 2005, I became a full-time mum, and my husband and I moved back to Cardiff. My son followed in 2008. A couple of brushes with death for two of the four Niziblians led to us having a discussion about what exactly we wanted to do with our lives.

I dusted off my tools and made a few pieces of jewellery. I showed them to people, and they all sold. With the support of my fantastic family, that same week in April 2009, I became officially self-employed as a jewellery maker.

When I was little I wanted to be an archaeologist, and I think the idea of discovering something hidden in the earth stuck with me.  I love working with gemstones, minerals and crystals in their uncut and unpolished state.  Lots of my work is designed to look ‘found’.  I really enjoy playing with finishes, especially oxidising and the range of colour-play it can give.  There’s definitely a perverse pleasure in making something clean and perfect, then working it back to look distressed, aged and worn. Although I like trying out new materials, silver is my real love, it’s fantastically easy to transform and the variety of ways you can work it are vast.  It’s a little bit magic.

I currently work from a studio in TactileBOSCH in Cardiff, where I am on a constant learning curve. I’m always trying my hand at new techniques, and find inspiration in many places, from nature to science-fiction.  I recently had a go at working with brass, silver and copper for some large-scale autumnal jewellery for an alternative fashion magazine.  The oak-leaf cuff I made won me a new workbench in Cookson’s design of the week competition. I was delighted, and it’s going to see a lot of use!

As for the future, I’m looking into expanding the range of ready-to-buy jewellery I offer.  I plan to keep experimenting, learning and creating for as long as I possibly can.  I consider myself incredibly lucky to be doing something I love so very much.

Take a look at Lydia’s gorgeous work:  www.niziblian.com

Annealing is the process of heating a metal before being worked on, through which this is softened and made pliable. This process will allow you to shape the metal into the jewellery piece you want. You might need to repeat the process in case your metal work-hardens.

When annealing your metal will turn into an obviously darkener colour follow by blackening, a chemical process known as oxidizing. The heating process has to be continued throughout oxidizing until it reaches a red colour. This is known as “quenching” the metal (cooling it) and the colour will last for a few moments until the metal relaxes.

It is not possible to predict the exact moment a metal needs annealing and you will only learn the difference between a soft and hard state through practice. There are however a few basic tips that can help you:

• Remove protective plastic before annealing. This can sometimes be kept when performing various piercing applications;
• Sheet: When buying sheet, always assume that it will need annealing;
• Wire: it will be easier to decide whether 1-mm round wire is soft, however less easy when working with a 5-mm wire therefore always anneal thicker wire;
• Note pure 999.9 silver and 24-carat gold do not oxidise as they are intrinsically soft. They will only need annealing if extensive work has been performed;
• Perform your annealing with a soft flame by gently pushing it up the length of the metal rather than waving it from side to side;
• Ensure your metal is completely dry after quenching. This is essential as you do not want to rust the tools you work with. Check that your tools have no marks as they can be passed on to your metal.

Annealing thin wire: wrap it into a coil and tuck both ends back into the coil. This will prevent it from springing apart when heated. Place your coil on a soldering block and heat it will a soft flame. Keep moving the torch up the metal to avoid melting the wire. Turn the metal with a pair of insulated tweezers and anneal the coil on the other side.

Annealing thick wire: unlike with thin wire, you will have to support your metal when heating it. Place the metal on the soldering block. Use a soft flame until it turns red then move along the wire to complete the process. Let the metal cool for a few seconds then quench in water. You can bend your wire to fit the pickle. Leave it until it has turned white. After removing it from the pickle, rinse and dry and you are ready to work!

Annealing  silver sheet

• Cover your silver with a protective non-oxidizing powder. Keep the powder away from your soldered joints to avoid making the solder run;
• Remove the plastic coating from your silver wire and rub dry paper over both sides of your silver to remove the silver shine;
• In a saucer, form a thick paste by mixing powder and methylated spirit or water. Add a little more spirit or water to make it easy to paint over both sides of your metal;
• Place silver on a soldering block and heat it with a large soft flame. Like with wire, use the torch on your sheet until it has turned red and then move along the surface to complete.
• After cooling the metal place it in warm pickle for 5-10 minutes. This will remove the protective powder.

This is a guest project designed by Linda Jones. Linda Jones specialises in wirework and has written a number of books on the subject.

“These beautiful lustre beads look gorgeous when linked into pairs, while the wire units create a pleasing overall shape.”

This beautiful necklace, bracelet and earrings set looks so glamorous and intricate, made up from individual beaded wire units that provide their unique shape. Yet this project only takes a little practise to master and you won’t need much in the way of materials, just wire and a pack of glistening oval beads! Before long, you’ll have a set to treasure.

You will need:

Beads

• Lamp beads, mixed, lustre, oval, 1mm x 9mm

Findings

• Wire, silver, round, 0.8mm x 6ft
• Caribiner,heavy, 11mm, silver
• Ring and bar, 14.5mm, silver
• Earwires, fish hook, silver

Tools

• Pliers: round-nosed, chain-nosed, flatnosed
• Wire cutters

STEP 1

There are 7 beaded units in this necklace, however, if you wish to create a longer piece, just make more! To make each unit, you will need 8 beads and 10” (25.5cms) of 0.8mm silver wire. Once you have cut a 10” (25.5cms) of wire, place your round nosed pliers at the centre of the length and bring the wire around to form a loop. Wrap one wire around the other where they cross over and straighten out the projecting wires in a ‘V’ shape.

STEP 2

Thread each projecting wire with a bead and bring the wires together, crossing them over at the centre. Straighten the wires out on either side.

STEP 3

Thread two more beads onto the projecting wires and once again, bring the wires together, crossing them over at the centre as in step. Repeat with 2 more sets of beads until you have formed a unit with 4 pairs.

STEP 4

To complete the unit, secure one wire around the other and using your round nosed pliers, create a circular link at the end of the projecting wire. Cut off any excess wire and neaten the ends. Use your flat nosed pliers to twist this link so that it sits at right angles to the beaded unit.

Attach the trigger clasp at the end. To connect the beaded units together, open the end link of one unit and attach to the wrapped the loop of another, forming a continuous beaded chain.

You have completed the project. This is the finished Crossed Wires Necklace. You can get everything you need to design it by clicking here. Have fun making your own!

You could also try…

Earrings

STEP 1: Cut 20cm of 0.8mm round silver wire and form a unit with two pairs of beads in the same way as the bracelet. Before finishing, thread one more bead onto one of the projecting wires. Take the other wire and wrap it around the perimeter of the bead, framing the oval shape.

STEP 2: Secure at the top end and if you have any leftover wire, spiral the end and flatten at the reverse of the bead. Create a spiral with the other wire projecting from the bead and flatten this against the front as added detail and decoration. Suspend from an earwire, then repeat to make a pair.

Designer Tip

Try a few practise runs with the beaded units before starting the project, until you’re comfortable with shaping the wire. And why not add a pendant to the centre of the necklace for extra impact.

To see more of Linda Jones’s work visit www.wirejewellery.co.uk . How did you find  this project? Are you going to try it? If you like it, take a look at our other jewellery making projects here!

This is a guest project designed by Tansy Wilson. Tansy is a professional jeweller and runs her business from beautiful rural Somerset. She also teaches a jewellery evening class at her local college. Tansy has a BA in 3-D Design and has been in the design industry for 20 years.

“In this design I have used Cookson’s coloured glass mix of beads in turquoise to make this fabulous statement necklace. This will be your ultimate must have piece of jewellery for the summer and can be worn with just your swimsuit or dressed up for the evening. I just love the beautiful blues of these glass beads and feel they totally sum up the colours of summer!”

You will need:

STEP 1

Cut six 20cm lengths of turquoise round leather cord. Holding just three of the lengths together, place them inside a 4mm silver end cap and using flat nose pliers, squash the end cap’s walls down tightly to secure all the ends firmly in place. Add a drop of super glue for extra security.

STEP 2

Start plaiting the three leather cords nice and evenly and when you reach 12cm in length, take another 4mm end cap and trap these ends in place, cutting away any excess cord. Again add a drop of glue for extra security. Make sure your end caps have the eye loops facing out at both ends. Repeat step 1 and 2 for the other three lengths of cord.

STEP 3

Attach one 5mm jumpring to the loop of the end cap at the top of one of the sections and close. Then add another jumpring to the loop of the end cap on the other plaited section. Before closing this jumpring, add a bolt ring clasp and then close.

STEP 4

Take 20cm of silver chain, I have used Cookson’s flat round and polished oval link (10mm.) This means I have eleven large flat round links in the length. Attach one end of the chain to the loop at the bottom of the other end cap on the plaited cords by using a 5mm jumpring. Finally attach the other end of the chain to the other section with another 5mm jumpring so you now have a completed necklace shape.

STEP 5

You now need to attach the glass beads to the chain and to do that you need to make headpins. The size of the holes in your beads, determines the thickness of wire used to make your head pins. These beads have quite large holes so I have used 0.8mm round Sterling silver wire. Hold a length of the sterling silver wire vertical under a steady flame from a gas torch so that just the tip of the wire is being heated. As it glows to cherry red it will suddenly melt onto itself creating a small ball of molten silver. As soon as this happens remove from the heat, cut to approx. 8cm and leave to cool.

STEP 6

Repeat step 5 until you have made enough head pins to match the number of beads you are using. You may need to polish the end of your head pins to remove any fire-stain or discolouration. Place a headpin through a glass bead and make an eye loop as close to the top of the bead as possible. Spiral the remaining length of wire round the eye loop at the top of the bead to secure the loop and make a decorative feature.

STEP 7

Repeat step 6 making a spiralled eye loop at the top of all your beads except for one smaller bead. This smaller bead will attach to your central feature bead. To do this you need to make an eye pin. Make an eye loop at the very end of 6cm of 0.8mm wire. Thread the smaller bead onto this length and then make another spiral eye loop at the top of this bead. Link this small bead onto your feature bead by the bottom eye loop and close.

STEP 8

Attach your two feature beads onto the very central flat round link of your chain by using a 5mm jumpring.

STEP 9

Move on to the next flat round link and add another 5mm jumpring linking this to the spiralled eye loop at the top of another glass bead. Repeat this process until all the glass beads are secured to the round links. Finally taking the small silver stamped flower shapes, add these to the polished oval links in between all the glass beads by also linking them to the chain using 5mm jumprings.

STEP 10

You have completed the project. This is the finished Beautiful Blues necklace. You can get everything you need to design it by clicking here. Have fun making your own!You could also try…

Bracelet

When you buy a mix of beads and have chosen ones for the necklace you may have several left over. These can be used to make a matching bracelet. Plait another three lengths of leather cord together adding end caps at either end. A good size guide for a wrist length is between 7” and 8”. Then make more head pins as in step 5. Thread a head pin through a glass bead and onto one of the leather cords then spiral the wire round on itself, securing the bead into place. Continue adding beads and if you have any flower shapes left over add these as well using 5mm jumprings.

Designer Tip

Glass beads can be heavy when a lot are being used in one design. Sort out your beads so you can match similar sized ones to each other. Then when you are adding them to your chain they will balance evenly when being worn.

This project has also been featured in Making Jewellery Magazine.

You can see Tansy’s other project – Monochrome Magic - here. Have you tried it? What projects have you been doing lately to inspire others?

We’re very happy to be sponsor’s of 2009′s British Silver Week, and just as pleased to bring your our newest Silver Mini Catalogue!. So dive in, and celebrate silver with Cookson!

British Silver Week
British Silver Week makes a welcome return this June with a typically impressive programme of events celebrating silversmithing in all its forms, supported by a glittering array of leading industry names and new, cutting edge work by the UK’s best young silversmiths. Cookson Precious Metals are immensely proud to once more be the Corporate Sponsors for this important series of events.

NEW Sterling Silver Findings
We are constantly adding NEW findings to our range on the basis that you can never have too many. As well as our NEW range of Argentium silver findings, check out our NEW textured silver beads from UNDER £1 each, as well as our NEW silver clasps and ear fittings. Also, receive a FREE sticky bead mat when you spend over £35 on silver findings.

FREE Silver Catalogue