My friend has asked me to make her a bangle similar to the one pictured (I hope the picture attachment works!). I'm only a beginner at silversmithing but have made a couple of bangles from round wire which I hammered into shape on my mandrel, and these came out pretty well. This one however is made from rectangular wire and has a single twist in the wire, like a mobius strip. I'm wondering how tricky this will be to do, as when the wire is twisted it won't sit flat on my mandrel when I go to shape it round, will it?
So if anyone has any tips on creating a twisted bangle I'd very much appreciate it, before I go and ruin a perfectly good piece of silver!
Hi Claire
If I was making it I would get the size and add a small amount which may get damaged.
Secure 1 end in the soft jaws of your vice, hold the other end with a pair of locking pliers and twist it.
Remove silver and clean up the ends if damaged.
Fold around a mandrel to shape it and solder the ends together.
The soldering will have annealed it so you should be able to re-shape it by hand over your mandrel, with perhaps only a few gentle taps with a rawhide mallet.
If you want to see someone demonstrating try: Soham Harrison on YouTube - lots of helpful tips.
I have made bangles with more twists without problem, you just need to be relatively gentle with the old hammer!
Good luck
Theresa
Hi Theresa,
Thanks for replying. What you say makes sense, I think I just needed a bit of reassurance before getting started! I had a look at the videos by Soham Harrison on Yotube - thank you so much for pointing me in that direction, I think I'll be referring back there again quite a lot, there are so many helpful videos and he explains everything really well.
Have also just had a look in your folksy shop and think your designs are beautiful
Claire
Making a twisted bangle
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks