zondag 15 maart 2015

Making a twisted wire ring

Having entertained myself with jump rings, I decided it was time to learn something new from the book "Tips and Shortcuts for Jewellery Making" written by Stephen O'Keeffe:


I Choose the twisted wire ring design, because I have a lot of copper wire on hand!


The twisted wire ring begins with... twisting the wire using a pair of pliers.

Next comes the fun part; hammering the twisted wire flat and forming it into a ring. I Solder the ring with silver and the new paste "flux h". The ring is not completely round, for I still need to buy a ring mandrel to do that. But I manage to get a wearable result. 


The copper ring has a major disadvantage in that my hand turns a dark green color underneath it, especially after riding in my Strada which always makes me sweat. Meanwhile, the mailman brings me some silver wire and a mandrel I ordered at a local shop. So it is time for the next step: Making the same ring in Sterling silver!


I use 200mm of 1.5mm round 925 silver wire for this ring. The silver is more rigid than the copper wire and does not twist as easily. So the twisted silver wire ends up with fewer twists than the copper one.

I Am now quite happy with the result. My wife and I make a third ring of similar design for her to wear, but now we solder the twisted wires to each other before hammering it flat. I Also anneal the wire to make it easier to twist.

I Use a hanging motor to clean up the metal and polish it to a shine. Jay, success!



1 opmerking:

  1. Ziet er weer allemaal heel mooi uit!
    Ben trots op mijn creatieve zoon en de mijn fotograferende schoondochter.

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