nicilaskin — jewelry tutorials

draw your arrow on the metal sheet or draw it on a piece of paper and stick the paper to the metal sheet . I just like to draw the easy shapes on to my metal directly cut out with your jewelry saw and 1/0 saw blades clean the arrow with steel wool for easier soldering cut a 4 inch long piece from sterling silver I used 18 gauge ( thicker then that and it gets hard to bend into shape ) flux your arrow and add your solder I use extra easy wire solder ( silver ) fire up...

fun with metal easy texture for metal this is basic metal smithing 101 take a patterned steel sheet tape a strip of metal that is softer then the steel to the plate use clear tape so you can see the back . Start hammering with a ball peen hammer on the whole back ,basically covering the back with dimples .You will need some elbow grease with this as this takes some serious hammer time WATCH YOUR FINGERS !!! while you hammer the back the metal expands and gets pushed into the pattern in the steel plate thus creating a negative...

wings on sterling draw some narrow wings on a piece of paper stick/glue the wings to your metal sheet I am using 20 gauge brass ( 0.8mm thick ) I usually do a mock up in metal that is cheaper before doing a sterling/gold version draw your ring shank onto sterling silver this is 18 gauge ( 1 mm thick ) cut out your wings and your ringshank via jewelry saw and 1/0 saw blades make sure the ring shank and the wings fit ( I am good with eyeballing things - I tend not to measure ) solder your...

fun with metal - how to make a flower ring You can always look into your community college ( USA) and most of them have beginners and medium metal/silversmithing courses that are not too expensive I start out with 18 gauge sterling silver 18 gauge is 1 mm thick . I prefer that thickness as the flowers do not bend but are not too heavy either draw a circle ( use a template - its easier ) inside the circle I drew a flower using a jewelers saw and 1/0 blades for cutting out the flower cut out flower I...

  Today I made something that i never did before . I made a so called Focal Bead . A Focal bead is a bead that is either worn alone or in the middle of a necklace to draw the attention or focus of the one viewing .   Take 2 circles of equal size ( I use 18 gauge sterling silver ) . You can either buy the circles or you can cut them from your sheet metal by hand or use a disc cutter ( which I have and it is one of my regularly used tools )...