Jewelry Lovers

Soldering

Silver soldering is a technique used on small items such as jewelry and provides a strong joint. Place a very small piece of solder along the join and heat with a blowtorch until it is a dull red. Remove the flame immediately the solder begins to flow and join the two ends. Place the bracelet in an alum pickle, then wash in soap and water and dry.

To get the bracelet to a perfect circle, you must push it onto a suitable shape. In this case the wire was pushed down firmly over the neck of a bottle of a suitable size until it was even and circular. Try the bracelet for size. If you were careful with the initial fitting, it should be perfect. However, if it should happen to be too large, you can cut a piece out and re-solder the ends together. If this is not necessary, you can go ahead with the polishing.

As there has been very little filing, there should not be any scratches on the wire. It will therefore only need to be rubbed firmly with jeweler’s rouge on a soft cloth, washed in detergent and polished again with a clean, dry cloth. It is now ready to wear.

Rings

A ring can be made from the remainder of the twisted wire used for the bracelet. You will need the same tools and materials as for the bracelet but, in addition, you will need a leather or wooden mallet and a ring stick.

Hammer the piece of twisted wire on the ring stick to form a circle. Start from either end and work towards the middle of the wire.

When you have fashioned the wire into a circle, try it for size on the finger on which you intend wearing it. Cut to the required size and solder the same way as the bracelet.

Make the ring into a perfect circle by hammering it on the ring stick. Be careful not to hammer too hard as this may flatten the twists and spoil the shape.

Clean and polish as for the bracelet.

Flattened wire ring

Another interesting use of this twist method is to use wires of different thicknesses and then hammer the twisted strands flat before making the ring. The ring can then be as small and thin as you choose.

This ring is made from three wires, two thin and one slightly thicker.

Wrap the 40cm (16in) of 0.7mm (gauge 21-22) silver wire around and around your hand and fold in the ends so that the wire will not uncoil.

Place the wire on the asbestos mat and anneal.

When it is cool, fasten one end in the clamp or vice and pull straight.

Fold the wire carefully in half, putting the two ends in the drill jaws and the folded end in the clamp. Twist as for the bracelet. You should be left with a 12.5cm (5in) length of twisted wire.

Take the length of 1 mm (gauge 18-19) silver wire and put one end of this and one end of the twisted wire into the vice or clamp and the other ends in the drill jaw.

Make sure that the two sections of wire are pulled as straight as possible and then twist them together.

Note : be sure that the twists are evenly distributed along the whole length of the wire.

Remove the twisted wire from the vice and drill, place on the asbestos mat and anneal to soften.

When the twisted wire has cooled, lay it flat on the steel block. With the planishing hammer, flatten the wire along the whole length. Do not hit too hard at any point but make sure the wire is an even thickness. Repeat the annealing as hammering hardens the metal.

Bend the flattened twisted wire around to fit the finger on which it is to be worn and mark with a pencil. With the piercing saw, cut off the excess wire and file the ends flat.

Use a mallet and ring stick to shape the ring. Join with medium solder, making sure that the pattern of the twists meet up so the join will not be obvious.

This ring will need more polishing than the other one as it has been hammered. Start with fine emery paper, then use tripoli on a soft cloth and finish with jeweler’s rouge. The result should be a beautifully polished, textured ring.

Fine wire rings

Wire of almost any shape can be twisted together to produce an unusual effect. A small silver ring can be made from fine wire which is loosely twisted, so that when it is hammered, the twists will part slightly to give the ring a lacy appearance.

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Twisted silver wire jewelry part 2