A Metalsmith's Christmas

What's on my Christmas list...?  A billion tools...  Oh how very sexy!!!  Ok, maybe it's not sexy, but think of all the sexy things I can make with those tools!!!!

Actually the only thing on my Christmas list is a good hydraulic press.  Maybe a Bonny Doon press or one made by Kevin Potter.  If you are in the market for a press you should check out 

http://www.potterusa.com before you buy one.  Kevin Potter makes some great presses and they are cheaper than Bonny Doon's...  sorry Bonny...  your presses are good too.  There are lots of how-to videos on line for the different ways to use your press.

Moving on...  I have been obsessed with diamonds lately...actually for about 2 years now.  Not the actual diamonds (although I like those too), I am drooling over the diamond shape!  So when I ran across these on line I just had to post them!!!  Aren't these adorable?????!!!!!?????  I will be running to our local (brand new, just built👍) IKEA store for these...  Oh how pretty these will be on a Christmas tree!!!😋

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60304169/

A while back I made some diamonds out of paper...just to see if I could I suppose...

Then I started making some out of sterling (baby steps, right?!)!  I think they are in my Etsy store!  I will link them if I can.

Pink Diamond Necklace

                                                                              AND

Blue Diamond Ring

I had better run!  More jewelry to make and more Christmas shopping to do!!!

Have a very Merry and Sparkly Christmas!!!

Aimee 

THE tip on soldering earring posts!

                                             

  THE tip on soldering earring posts!

 

There are a lot of excellent posts on how to solder earring posts.  I won’t be going into the basics because you can already find that on-line. Below is a link to an excellent article (with pictures) by Doug Napier.

http://jewelrymonk.com/2014/10/30/how-to-solder-a-post-onto-an-earring/

So once you have soldered the earring post onto your earring back …you are left with an annealed (soft) piece of wire sticking out of your earring.  If the wire does not bend out of place the first time you shove the nut on to the wire, you are quit lucky. 

You could tumble it or oven harden your silver…BUT the BEST way to harden that wire is to take your pliers and give it a quarter turn.  It is now work hardened!

Now clean it and polish it up!!!  It should wear without bending now!