Dennis
17-01-2011, 09:49 AM
A few months back I was asked to make some pearl ear studs,’ but not the traditional plain sort’. I came up with design A, Starting with an outer ring of triangular wire and adding a bow made of flat strip. Although not entirely sure of the design, I thought that the bows with their tails sticking up looked quite cheeky.
After some time it became obvious that they were not being worn. The reason was that this sort of bow made of coloured ribbon was a symbol of various medical conditions with unhappy associations. ’Could I just somehow alter them?’
So I came up with design B: two rings of triangular wire and a soldered clasp of double D shaped wire to hold them together. There were extensions with short posts, also used previously, to hold the pearls. Surprisingly I was able to re-use the pearls, which had been glued with two part epoxy, by gently heating the outer ring of metal with my mini-torch. The pearls became too hot to hold, but could be pulled off by grasping them with a cloth. They came away cleanly and do not appear to have suffered any ill effects. Dennis.
After some time it became obvious that they were not being worn. The reason was that this sort of bow made of coloured ribbon was a symbol of various medical conditions with unhappy associations. ’Could I just somehow alter them?’
So I came up with design B: two rings of triangular wire and a soldered clasp of double D shaped wire to hold them together. There were extensions with short posts, also used previously, to hold the pearls. Surprisingly I was able to re-use the pearls, which had been glued with two part epoxy, by gently heating the outer ring of metal with my mini-torch. The pearls became too hot to hold, but could be pulled off by grasping them with a cloth. They came away cleanly and do not appear to have suffered any ill effects. Dennis.