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Vivia
10-10-2009, 09:01 PM
As I'm very new to jewellery making, I was out in the garage the other day practicing my piercing :(|, and wondering what I should try out first. I came to the conclusion that I would try making a simple ring band to bring together a few techniques, but I'd be interested to know what anybody else started with. So...

What was the first ever piece of jewellery you made?

ben b
10-10-2009, 09:20 PM
as a jewellers apprentice, the first thing i did was polish stuff, then i soldered a jump ring, then repaired a chain, then sized a ring down, then put gold into rings, then started making stuff.
The first piece I made was a twist bracelet consisting of twisted square section wire joined by j rings

geti-titanium
10-10-2009, 10:48 PM
You probably wouldn't be very surprised to learn that my first piece of jewellery made was a Titanium ring.

caroleallen
11-10-2009, 08:32 AM
I worked for a whole term on a star shaped pendant with a turquoise cab set into it. Imagine my pride when I wore it to work the next day and everyone ooh'd and aah'd over it. That very same day I lost it on the way home as the clasp came undone. Gutted!

MuranoSilver
11-10-2009, 08:41 AM
My first pieces were in fimo - I used to make little tiny monks
and teeny people on earrings and keyrings (think I was about 15...)
Nic x

Green Monster
11-10-2009, 09:45 AM
very little kit to start so first item was byzantine chain from instructions in a book, girlfriend recieved it, proved so popular that more items from the book were asked for and so it proceeded.

Solunar Silver Studio
11-10-2009, 10:59 AM
My first 'real' jewellery was made back in 1971 with the first ever group of girls allowed into the 'Metalwork Department' at senior school. We were only allowed 6 2 hour lessons but I made a hammered silver ring for myself, my mum and my sister and did some basic enamelling on copper...and that started my love affair! It's just that there was a 30 odd year gap before I actually did any more!!

Charlotte
11-10-2009, 12:22 PM
My first piece of metal work was at school, we all made a Florence Nightingale style candle holder. It was in copper and I really got carried away adding more details than the rest of the class... I had no idea that 5 years later I would be working in silver!

snow_imp
11-10-2009, 12:56 PM
I did an adult education day class on beads and wire and made myself a necklace and earrings in silver plated wire with beads - that was about 3 years ago now.

Vivia
11-10-2009, 05:22 PM
I suppose it depends so much on how and where you learn, what tools are available and so on doesn't it? I think I'm only really starting with a ring because one of the books I'm working from includes a ring 'practice project', and very good instructions, even for a complete novice lke me.
Has anyone got any pictures of their first attempts?

Lindyloo
11-10-2009, 06:49 PM
My first attempts were also in fimo. Flower neclaces made with a friend at high school. My Mum wouldn't let me do art at school, :(| so I only got to do real metalwork as an adult. The first piece was a pierced flower pendant.
Have moved on a bit from then. I have just spent the afternoon piercing out a picture of a Chinaman in brass as a bookmark for my Dad for Christmas.

Coco
11-10-2009, 09:15 PM
You probably wouldn't be very surprised to learn that my first piece of jewellery made was a Titanium ring.



Oooh I wanna go at this. Do I need fancy stuff or can I just use regular scissors and glue?

Ominicci
12-10-2009, 10:45 AM
lol Coco!

My first real silver 'piece' was the two practice pieces that we made in silver jewellery class. We were given a 3x3cm piece of silver and had to cut in half. Then we had to sand and polish one piece to a mirror shine and texture the other using a doming block and hammers. I cut mine diagonally to make triangles (most of the class cut into two rectangles) and when finished put a hole through one corner of each, added jump rings and hung them on a chain.

bustagasket
12-10-2009, 11:35 AM
My first piece was a key ring with my initial that i had to design and then cut out of sheet

The Dragon
12-10-2009, 12:03 PM
Su you're back []

Hope you feel lots better - looking forward to seeing your posts again.

bustagasket
12-10-2009, 01:24 PM
ty hun, i aim to please :D

geti-titanium
12-10-2009, 05:19 PM
Oooh I wanna go at this. Do I need fancy stuff or can I just use regular scissors and glue?

Regular scissors will work but you need special glue made from a paste of mosquito milk and ant sweat bound together with powdered Rhino horn and plankton. :)

Jayne
12-10-2009, 05:25 PM
Regular scissors will work but you need special glue made from a paste of mosquito milk and ant sweat bound together with powdered Rhino horn and plankton. :)

is that vegan jewellery?
J x

Emerald
12-10-2009, 05:26 PM
Regular scissors will work but you need special glue made from a paste of mosquito milk and ant sweat bound together with powdered Rhino horn and plankton. :)


not for the vegetarian or vegan then!?

geti-titanium
12-10-2009, 05:29 PM
is that vegan jewellery?

Technically yes. All the ants, mosquitos, rhinos and plankton we use are all volunteers. :-p

Jayne
12-10-2009, 05:38 PM
Technically yes. All the ants, mosquitos, rhinos and plankton we use are all volunteers. :-p

Yeah, I heard that horn docking for rhinos is very 'on trend' this season.
Nice that they've decided to donate them to impoverished titanium jewellers ;)

geti-titanium
12-10-2009, 07:10 PM
Harvesting the ingredients for titanium glue is easier than you think.

Since Rhino asylum seekers first settled in the jewellery quarter in the early 1700's there has been a steady growth in their population, so much so that they now wander the streets nose to tail and are happily prepared to give up their horns so that they no longer have to walk with clenched buttocks.

As you are probably aware, Rhino horn is actually hair, so it is a very humane procedure to remove it. A simple trip to the barber is all it takes (Saturdays are usually the busiest) where a specially trained professional performs the 'operation'. It does take a professional now since Viagra was introduced into the Jewellery Quarter drinking water, as it can be difficult to the untrained to tell which horn to remove ! :'(

Fishing for plankton is simply a matter of leaning over the sea defence wall in the quarter and scooping it out the water with a bucket. We do however have to ensure that any whales also caught are thrown back to help maintain the eco system

Mosquitos in the quarter are specially trained and we have a sophisticated system for milking. When the female mossie feels that it is time to be milked, she will fly up from the swamplands on the Chamberlain clock island into a special milking pen. Laser guided teats are them attached to her udders and the milk is then transported to containers with sensors that can detect if the milk is contaminated. If it is then milking is automatically stopped and the electronic identification tag of the mosquito is noted and a vet is booked to check her out. All very clever.

Ant sweat is collected by hanging 13 - 15 yr old teenagers from the lamposts and covering them with caramel which the ants love! The energy exerted by climbing the post makes them sweat and then that sweat is collected in little containers under the child. We aren't sure if the children enjoy this procedure because nobody understands their dialect so we just assume its alright.

There you go - it's all very vegan if you ask me. :Y:

geti-titanium
12-10-2009, 07:13 PM
And if you think writing stuff like this is easy, let me assure you it's not. I was thinking about this all the way home from work! :)

Emerald
12-10-2009, 07:21 PM
sometimes Getti sometimes..........:confused: [-o< :-p:'( x

Petal
12-10-2009, 07:39 PM
Oh, but you do make us all lol :-D:-D:-D:rofl:.... its the way you tell 'em Geti, they are SO believable when you first read them and then you realise ......you've been 'done'! Jayne's bound to come back with something to out Geti you though, 'cos she always does ! he he

geti-titanium
12-10-2009, 08:14 PM
I bet she's drafting a script as we speak :) Mind you there is a good programme on BBC1 about life at the moment - you've gotta watch it!

Di Sandland
12-10-2009, 08:17 PM
Our Jayne is typing as we speak - can't wait to see what she says

Jayne
12-10-2009, 08:37 PM
Jayne's bound to come back with something to out Geti you though, 'cos she always does ! he he

Oh gordon bennett........no pressure then!
No, Geti's the man......ooooohhhhhh yeeeeeaaahhhh he da MAN!!!! There's no way that anyone can Geti that. He's obviously worked so hard in Professor Snape's potion class all year that he has earned Hufflepuff an extra 10 points and now stands stretched to his full doggy height grasping the Hogwarts Trophy aloft in his sweaty little paw (he has, after all, only recently been scaling lampposts hanging with illiterate teenagers). The other students carry him on their shoulders cheering and whooping deliriously, Ginny Weasley slips her phone number into the pocket of Geti's cloak amid the confusion and even Dumbledore eyes the young wizard Geti with a mixture of sentimental longing and pure magical lust. Ooooooohhhhh yyeeeeaaaahhhhh Geti da MAN!!!:Y:
J x

Jayne
12-10-2009, 08:39 PM
I bet she's drafting a script as we speak :) Mind you there is a good programme on BBC1 about life at the moment - you've gotta watch it!

actually, I'm in 'gimp hell'.......that is.....GIMP2, not any reference to pulp fiction......;)
J x

geti-titanium
12-10-2009, 10:22 PM
GETi fights back the tears as the realization dawns that he has won a prize for the first time in his life.

419

Jayne
12-10-2009, 10:49 PM
GETi fights back the tears as the realization dawns that he has won a prize for the first time in his life.


ahhhh, bless your little sweet doggy breath :)
J x