This master class would help you to learn how to make jewelry from metal.
All starts with a sketch.
Now materials and tools.
You need:
- Copper sheet (0.2 mm).
- Copper wire of different thickness.
- Copper earring fixtures.
- Red beads / coral.
- Gas burner.
- Borax.
- Zapon varnish.
- Brush, marker.
- Needle files / sandpaper / nail file.
- Nail, hammer.
- Scissors for metal.
- Round nose pliers.
- Citric acid.
- Ammonia.
Start.
Burn slightly the copper sheet and copper wire on the gas burner, just to properly warm them up. Watch your hands! Use pliers to hold the edges of the wire. This procedure helps to make the copper softer for further processing.
After the warming, I make small balls from the tips of the wire.
How to make a copper ball: put the tip in borax, then in flame, give a good warm, the wire starts melting after a few seconds and a drop of hot metal forms a ball. The wire is places in the flame by two methods:
Next, flatten a part of the wire.
Go to the copper sheet. Draw the pattern of the earrings on paper, plan holes, cut out, transfer the pattern to the copper, mark the holes.
Cut out (I use old scissors, they suit this purpose). Rub the surface with the needle file, creating many grooves that will keep patina.
Make holes, smooth them.
Assemble.
Make a wave, I usied an ordinary ballpoint pen for that.
Take a wire of middle thickness with one ball on the end, and pass it through the hole with one bead on it. Tighten.
Form a loop just above the edge of the plate, sqeeze it on the anvil, use the remaining wire to wrap the appeared pin, tightly fix the lower part of the item.
Do the same with the second earring, compare the height.
Give them a neat look with the pliers. Do not tear the edges.
Begin wrapping.
Attach wire at the back side and make a decorative wrapping.
When all is done, hide the end of the wires with the pliers.
And admire!
Attach the fixtures.
Now whiten the earrings in warm citric acid solution for 20 minutes.
1 tsp of citric acid + half a glass of warm water.
ATTENTION! If you have natural corals, pre-treat them with a protective varnish, otherwise they will not survive.
Rinse them in clean water and put into a jar with ammonia for 5 hours to get patina. Ammonia is pour a little on the bottom, the product is suspended so that it doesn't touch the liquid.
5 hours later! Rinse the product, let it dry.
Sand patina on some convex areas. Rinse the product again and dry.
I prefer to protect my product as best as possible, so cover the earrings with zapon varnish. It dries quickly, the sharp smell disappears after a day.
Dry.
Tadam!
Here we come to the end of the tutorial, thank you for your attention!