Jewelry Making (Making my first bracelet)

By: David I. Day

Look for an new and exciting Christmas present (December 2004 or later). 

Within the last year or so I made an astounding discovery. I found out that making silver jewelry is not all that difficult. All you need is few things.

1. The materials to make your piece.
2. Tools to fabricate the piece.
3. Tools to assemble the piece.

I began by going to a person that had been teaching jewelry making for years. She sold me my initial supply of silver wire and a book on fine metal working. I then found a source of precut and polished stones (30mm x 22mm) and the bezels to hold them. I now had the materials to make the first piece but did not know hot to cut and form the pieces.

A friend pointed me towards a local shop that had all of the tools I needed to make what I wanted. I started out with a frame saw, a wire bender and a round mandrel.

This bracelet was for a friend's (center) for her birthday. I had given her some store bought pieces. But I wanted to make something myself so I decided that this year I would begin with the piece featured in this section.

The silver that was purchased was in two sizes 6mm and 1.5mm. I began by sketching out what I wanted do make. It was decided that this bracelet would be made from to 7" piece of the 6mm wire to form the side rails of the bracelet. The  two 6mm wires were pre-bent the around the round mandrel both to the same diameter. The finished diameter was about 8" forming a ring with a 1" slot. The two rings were stacked on top of each other and separated the two piece by about an inch at the half way point where the bezel is mounted. Where the ends touch they are soldered together forming a V on each end. Using two alligator clips to hold the pieces together they were soldered together. Then the bezel was centered at the middle of the circumference of the 6mm wire. The bezel was mounted with its' major axis of the oval opposite to the direction of the bracelet. At this point is was beginning to look like the finished piece should look like.

It was decided that some decorative detail needed. Experiments with making hearts with the 1.5mm wire were made. From the experiments two identical hearts were made. Each heart was bent around the mandrel to give them a semi-circular shape. Each was then positioned and soldered to the bracelet.

Assembled bracelet (Not polished)

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Bracelet #1 after Polishing

 

At this time the bracelet was nearly finished. It was then placed into a crock-pot filled with a mild acid solution that is used to remove the bulk of the flux from soldering. The bracelet was  polished using a flexible shaft grinder a felt polishing wheel and some polishing compound.

What I had learned so far.

For my first piece I used a refillable butane torch. The maximum temperature for this torch is less than 2300° F. I was not able to melt my medium or hard solder so I used a soft solder that looks and acts like radio solder. This solder is called Stay-Bright and is intended to be used in jewelry making. This solder comes in a kit that includes a liquid soldering flux. Bending of the finished bracelet is not a good idea since it may come apart. I was lucky that it fit the person I had made it for without adjustments. Another thing learned is that for this type of bracelet 6mm wire (nearly 1/4") id far too thick. I had to pre-bend the two side wires that formed the side rails. These pieces had to be clamped on the mandrel and formed with a soft nosed hammer. After the bracelet was assembled it is very difficult to shape.

What next?

I have evaluated the various processes and have determined several things can be done to make improvements. First I have decided to drop down to 3mm (1/8") wire from 6mm (1/4") wire. I will continue to use the 1.5mm wire for the detail as before. Because this wire is thinner I have designed a jig and I am in the process of building it. The jig is essentially two wheels with a grove cut in the middle to accept the wire. The wire is bent around the wheel and this will form a flat loop. the overlapping pieces are clamped and cut. The edges are joined by brazing the two ends together. I have decided this go around to make the bracelets using foreign coins of the girls nationality. I went to a local coin vendor who sold me all the coins that I needed for the next three bracelets.

Three coin bracelet. (Fabrication and soldering)

My next piece is a three coin bracelet. I personalize the piece by asking the nationality of the recipient. I found three coins that ranged in size from 24mm to 30mm. I made a loop out of sterling silver that has an inside width of 30mm and a length of 6.75". I used 3mm wire.

The loop was bent using a jig made of two 30mm disk bolted to a plate. At the overlap I cut the both overlapping pieces of wire. The ends were cleaned up and hard soldered together. The joint was then ground, sanded and polished to eliminate the seam. Once this step is done I was ready to install the first coin. I selected the 30mm coin which was the largest.

To make the surface of the bracelet flush the coin is inserted in the proper center location and aligned face down. flux is applied at the two joints at the top and bottom of the coin and on the loop. Only a 1/32" piece of easy solder is applied in the crack of the joint. I used an oxygen / acetylene torch. Some care should be taken when soldering certain metals. Firs it is important to know the various temperatures that the torch can produce.

You should use this type torch at about 1/2 way down the flame. Also be sure to properly adjust the flame and flame cone. When I soldered in the first coin I did it properly. However on the next step is use too much heat and melted a 1/4" hole in the second coin and burned away one of the supporting S hooks. At this point I continued with a butane torch that only gets up to 1500 degrees. The connections with this type torch and lower temperature have less strength than the easy, medium or hard solder but you are less likely to melt the part this way.

The correct way is to heat the entire area with the middle of the flame. On a piece like this a lot of heat is needed, but no a high temperature. The idea is to get the metal in the area hot enough to melt the solder but not hot enough to melt the metal.

If the torch flame is too small then you will have to keep the flame in motion around the area. Remember that if you stay in one place too long you may over heat that spot. Also if to do not evenly heat he area the solder will not flow properly.

The next step is to design filler details to place between the three coins. I decided on S hooks. They are easy to make and look good. I used 1.5mm sterling wire. The thickness is close to that of the coins. I tacked the pieces in place using 700º F stay bright solder. It is a bit soft but will hold.

Note that each S hook is soldered in six places. At this point there are fourteen solder joints holding the coins and S hooks to the loop. The final detail that I added were hearts at each end. The heart is an easy detail to design. I used 1.5mm sterling round wire. Start by bending a loop like this.

This is the basic shape of 1/2 the heart. By making two halves and soldering them together this will form a heart. I used flush cutting cutters to make a finished cut then soldered the top connection together. I needed to adjust the width and height of the heart do that the two lobes douched the coin and the sides of the heard contacted the sides of the large loop and the tip of the heart touched the end of the loop.

Now the measured and sized hearts need to be inserted and soldered in place. I soldered the hearts in six places each.

At this point all the solder connections have been made. This is where any corrections in the soldering should be made. As an example of an S hook did not make a proper connection you can reheat the joint and move it. You should also inspect all solder joints for proper flow. There should not be any pin holes or gaps. Also make sure that you did not use too much solder. When all looks good you are ready for the next step bending.

Bending.

At this point you have completed all cutting and soldering. The bracelet is a flat loop with all parts properly soldered in place. You will need a bracelet bending mandrel. This a chunk of metal that has been formed into a flat tapered oval. It is oval shaped because that is the shape of a wrist. It has been tapered to accommodate many sizes of bracelets.

Tools

Many of the tools needed for jewelry making are similar to my electronic tools. For cutting the 3mm wire I use a frame saw. This is similar to a copping saw except it uses a round wire type blade called a jewelers saw. The bending of the small wire is done using a hand held wire bending jig. I also have a flush cutting diagonal cutter. This type cutter makes a nearly flush (flat) cut. I also use conical nose (round nose) and flat nose pliers. Do not use chain nose pliers. Chain node players are the type that have a pattern molded in the jaws. They will mark up your work and require you to polish and fill the marks left in the metal. Anything that you can do to avoid scratches will reduce the time in the finishing stages. If you do get marks remember you can fill them with solder then file, sand and polish. In fact, you can fill in holes or add extra metal at any time. When soldering remember to remove any stones or other parts that may melt or crack due to heat.

 

Tips

As I just mentioned it is a good idea to protect your piece from scratched as much as you can. One thing that is like is the low temperature solder called, "Stay Bright." This solder is intended to make jump ring chains. It flows at temperatures much lower than the easy, medium and hard solder used in construction of jewelry. I find that even the easy takes a great deal of heat to get flow. What I have found useful is to heat the joint with a small chip of the appropriate solder in the joint and the joint properly fluxed. Once there is flow remove the heat source and drop the piece into the pickle. Pickle is a acid solution used to clean off the flux after soldering. Joints soldered with the three solders tend to be quite strong. However these solders tends to leave sharp edges and may not flow too smoothly. If you use very little solder there is room to fill the joint. After I rinse off the pickle I re-flux using a liquid flux for low temperature soldering. I like to cut my solder into short chips. I will take one of these chips with a pair of tweezers and set it on the joint. Using a butane torch I heat the area until I get flow. Remember that solder, high or low temperature will only flow on fluxed metal and on the hotter area. If you want the solder to flow from top to bottom heat from the bottom.

When applying heat keep the torch moving to heat the entire area. Also work from the middle of the flame. Stay away from the flame cone. The flame cone is the hottest part of the flame and heat is unpredictable here. While heating the joint watch the solder carefully. The instant that the solder enters the joint between the pieces you are soldering remove the torch. If done properly there will now be a fillet of solder between the joint. If you did not use enough solder you may repeat the process with another chip of solder. It is important to remember that excess heat can damage your work. As a suggestion practice your soldering on coins and other metal pieces that are of lesser value.

 

Tips for soldering coins.

Coins tend to be made out of low temperature metals. Knowing this several precautions should be followed. First practice with lesser value common coins. Use as little temperature as is necessary to flow the solder. Do not get close to the flame tip. An oxygen / acetylene torch can get up to 6800º F at the flame cone. The most silver solders melt at around 1200º. What you want is to totally heat the area to the melting temperature of the solder. This may mean overcoming the thermal mass of the pieces. The torch is kept in motion (circular motion) in the area in an attempt to raise the temperature. Solder all coins using medium or easy solder. Make sure to only flux the area you want solder to flow. If you flux the entire area solder will flow in that area. Make sure of alignment. Prior to soldering recheck alignment and placement. The higher the temperature solder the harder it is to reposition later.

Another option is to use TIX solder. TIX solder melts between 500 to 700 degrees F. It can be melted using a standard soldering iron, is very strong and is shaded to match silver.

Further thoughts

Three things are needed to solder sterling:

•  

  Solder (just enough, but not too much)

•  

  Flux    (just enough, but not too much)

•  

  Heat    (just enough, but not too much)

If too much heat is applied the silver will melt. If however too little heat is applied the solder will not flow. Remember that as the metal is heated oxidation forms on the metal. Solder will not flow on oxidized metal. Fluxed metal will solder. If you do not want to solder in an area do not flux it. If flux gets where you do not want it then remove the excess before applying solder.

In the case of the coin bracelet the solution was to flux where I wanted the solder to flow. Then I heated the area to partially dry out the flux. At this level the flux looks like snow flakes or frost. A solder pick can be used to gently remove the excess flux. I then reheated the area until the flux became flux-glass. Next I added solder chips in the joint.

Torch use must be done carefully. I now use a circular motion, circling the area. I do not let the flame stay in a single place for very long. This evenly heats the connection. When the solder wicks in I remove the heat and drop the piece into the pickle to remove the oxidation and flux-glass.

One note. Before you begin you should assume nothing. Measure the person's wrist and sketch out the look of the final bracelet. This bracelet had two flaws. First it was too large for Nichol's wrist. She is very small and I believed that all bracelet's are created equal (bad mistake). The other grave mistake that I made was using too thick wire for the frame. In later work I use 12 AWG wire which is not only easier to work with but makes a nicer bracelet. Sorry Nichol, wherever you are. Another bad mistake is attach the bezel while the bracelet is flat. The best thing to do is to first polish the bracelet while it is flat. The bend it into the final shape. Remove any tool marks made while bending by polishing. Then solder in the bezel. Set your stone and polish again if necessary. Each successive polishing should be less and less. 

Note the graphics created here were done using Corel Draw 8. The photographs were take using a Nikon N70. The film is Kodak Gold Max 800.

What's new....a Navaho bracelet. and A Birthday present .

 

Drop me a line at:   dday100@yahoo.com