Skip to main content

New Hoops, New Bangles And A Small Soldering Obstacle Overcome


After a frenzy of bangle making recently I had a couple of slow days so I grabbed the chance the make some new stuff. I have a long list of "things to make" but decided to go for a few pairs of hoop earrings with post fitting. I've sold a few pairs recently so they needed replacing.

I started with a couple of pairs in silver - a simple hammered pair and a flattened design with embossed pattern...



I oxidized both pairs but I think the embossed pair might have looked nicer left shiny... {will do that next time}. They do look lighter in real life than they appear in this photo.

I also made a pair of hammered texture hoops in bronze and copper. I'm liking bronze more and more these days. Grappling with the thicker gauges can be a challenge as it's a harder metal than copper but the lovely golden brown tones you get when you oxidize it then clean it up with wire wool are lovely.



The more golden brown tones of bronze.



The slightly more red tones of copper.

I made some "new" bangle designs too. I say new but it's not really new it's just a hammered texture that I haven't done before on a bangle. And I got to use my lovely Fretz goldsmiths hammer for the first time. I now know why they cost a lot more than some other hammers and why they are totally worth it.
And A Small Soldering Obstacle Overcome.....
Anyone who solders knows it can be tricky and especially tricky when you want to solder a tiny thing to a much bigger thing. Things melt. Up to now I have used stud post fittings that are attached to a pad. They make it easier to solder to the earring and can add more stability. You can still melt them though but I haven't done that in a long time. The last hoop earrings with post fittings I made had the post and pad fittings that I then trimmed as they were bigger than the end of the hoop wire. This time I decided I needed to just get over it and learn to solder the tiny posts to my hoops instead.



The tiny piece of wire that makes a stud post compared to the post and pad version.

Learning to solder the posts onto my hoops would be quicker, I'd have less finishing, if any, to do and it would also be cheaper. So I melted some solder onto the end of the post, positioned the hoop so nothing would move {very important} and held the post in my tweezers while I heated the hoop. Once the hoop was at the right temperature I touched the post to it and the solder flowed. It worked and the post soldered securely to the hoop. I just have to remember to move the flame away once the solder has flowed! I didn't melt anything so it was a success and another little soldering hurdle overcome. Yay!



Copyright © 2015 Cinnamon Jewellery. All rights reserved.
Labels:

Comments

  1. pallaviFriday, August 07, 2015

    Beautiful and such a nice design.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kalaya SteedeFriday, August 07, 2015

    Nice! I got a fretz hammer as a gift and have never used it. Maybe it is time. Hmmmm...but I think it's for raising. Now you have peaked my interest. Post without the pad is the way to go. I forgot...do you have a propane/oxy torch?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cinnamon JewellerySaturday, August 08, 2015

      My Fretz has a narrow side that can be used for texturing and for raising too. It's lovely and very silky to hold :D I use butane torches or a propane/butane mix.

      Delete
  3. Divya NFriday, August 07, 2015

    Love the new texture, looks like wood bark. I always wonder how you solder tiny posts without any support pads. It was informative learning about the process

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cinnamon JewellerySaturday, August 08, 2015

      Thanks Divya. I'm so glad I got over my fear of the stud post :D

      Delete
  4. Miss Val's CreationsFriday, August 07, 2015

    The earrings and bangles are gorgeous. The textures and tones of the metals are perfect! Congratulations on the post success! I can see how that would be tricky.

    ReplyDelete
  5. KasiaSaturday, August 08, 2015

    Gorgeous pieces :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. littleRamstudioMonday, August 10, 2015

    Do like the bark like markings on the new bangles.
    Heather :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. MasjMonday, August 10, 2015

    I love the hammered and textured earrings and love the lovely natural arthy tones in the bronze. Along with the bark details on the bracelets these pieces of jewellery have a very organic feel to trhem. Beautiful

    ReplyDelete
  8. Silver Moss JewelleryWednesday, August 12, 2015

    The hammered bangles look amazing - the quality of the new hammer really shows. I remember the first time I managed to solder an ear post on; I suspect it was luck over judgement, but I still feel a sense of achievement when I do it even now! And you're so right about remembering to move the flame away to make the magic really happen ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cinnamon JewelleryThursday, August 13, 2015

      Thanks! I don't think you ever stop learning when it comes to making jewellery :D

      Delete
  9. swisssidejewelleryetcFriday, August 14, 2015

    What a fab and interesting post and congrats on learning that new skill!

    ReplyDelete
  10. ÉricaThursday, August 20, 2015

    Nince design... nince techni... thanks

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Your comments and questions are very welcome!
If you would prefer to contact me directly please use the contact form on my "get in touch" page.

Popular posts from this blog

Combining Soldering And Enamel

The need to make cute, brightly coloured enamel studs propelled me into the world of combining soldering with enamel a couple of years ago. I knew from reading up on it that it was possible to enamel and solder on the same piece but wasn't too confident I was able to do it back then. It was a slightly embarrassing occurance that made me just get on with - I'd made some enamel studs with glued on stud posts. I'd used 2 part epoxy resin which was a job in itself as it set hard after 5 minutes so I had to keep mixing more up. The finished studs looked ok but that little voice in my head kept asking "are you sure you want to use glue?" I wasn't but didn't think I had any other way to do it so I used glue. I sold my first pair and merrily sent them on their way to Canada. A couple of week later the buyer got in touch to say the stud post had come off one of the earrings and the other was hanging off. I was mortified, apologized profusely and refunded her m...
32 comments
Read more

Torch Enamelling - What I've been Up To Recently!

I've admired enamelled jewellery for a while now and not too long ago did a blog post about Etsy seller tekaandzoe  and her wonderful kiln enamelled creations. I didn't think at the time that it was something I would ever be able to do as the cost of kilns plus lack of space would be a problem for me. That wasn't until I saw an advert for a torch enamelling tutorial from US jewellery supplies website Beaducation  by Steven James . It's a great tutorial showing the basics on how to torch enamel on copper. Of course I bought it! I then spent hours scouring the internet for more information on torch enamelling, where to buy the tools I'd need and of course the enamel powders. There are quite a few UK sites selling enamelling supplies and tools but as usual I found the US sites had more choice (why do we always lag behind?) I bought some enamel powders from a couple of UK sites to begin with - Cookson Gold have a good selection but bear in mind th...
37 comments
Read more

Etching Silver Using Nail Art Stamps

So my love/hate relationship with etching sterling silver continues. I've tried a few times now and always end up with different results most of them not that great to be honest. I've tried connecting the silver and a piece of copper to a 9v battery and also heating the ferric nitrate. Sometimes the results are good sometimes not so good. I currently have an etched piece of silver sheet waiting to be reticulated and rid it of the mess that is the etched "pattern".  I now know that using stamps and Stayz On ink just doesn't work with silver - the time needed to etch using ferric nitrate is much longer than etching copper and the ink starts to wear away after about an hour. This results in the pattern being patchy as the resist is eaten away and the silver ends up quite lumpy and course looking. I have yet to try using pnp paper. I don't know why but it all seems a bit of a faff to do. I don't have a laser printer so would need to find somewhere or...
34 comments
Read more