Shaping stars

[Artisan silver]

Hi, Does anyone have any tips on how to use a mini star shaped mandrel . I'm struggling to bend the wire round it. I've tried making a small jump ting and also using loose wire both are equally tricky.


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[Dennis]

If I were doing it, I would find a metal corrugator (even a toothpastre tube corrugator would do) and cut small sections and join the ends. A star will form.
Faiing that make corrugated wire using narrow pliers as a gauge to keep it even and then use it in the same way. Dennis

[Paul Kay]

To my mind, those star sectioned mandrels were designed to be sold on only one day of the year, at the very beginning of April.

[Pembroke]

I'm not by any means an expert but rather than wire how about using sheet that you could then score across to match the peaks and troughs in the mandrel. So anneal a strip say 1" (2.5cm) wide and however long to go round the mandrel score at the peaks and troughs, then using a burnisher push the material into the mandrel. It should then be possible to open up the tube slightly to slide off the mandrel before either soldering the tube shut or processing it further.

The tube could then be cut into slices to make jump rings and with a bit of polishing could then be re- profiled to look round. You could also then use the slices for other things by soldering them together, either on a flat surface for earings, pendant etc or use them to make 3D objects.

[Dennis]

Ah well, have a go Pembroke and post some pix.
I will personally propose you for Hero of Cookson's Forum, first class. Dennis.

[ps_bond]

I might be tempted to file up a punch to the same internal angles and shape the wire that way. Maybe do the initial forming with a cross-pein nylon mallet and sharpen things up with the punch.

[josef1]

To my mind I would make up a ring in metal, push it over the mandrel then use a rounded off punch thats ground to a similar angle as the star (72 degrees included angle for a 5 prong star) to push the sides into the star. but would imagine it will only work with thinner wire ? would be interesting to see though.

[Pembroke]

Ah well, have a go Pembroke and post some pix.
I will personally propose you for Hero of Cookson's Forum, first class. Dennis.

Hi Dennis, I love a challenge and will have a go, but as jewellery making is only a hobby and as we're in the run up to Christmas where my other activities take priority it won't be fast.

Another though would be to use silver clay in some way. Right I'm off to find / make a mandrel.