Here’s a little ‘how to fix it’ for when something decides to fall off your almost completely finished piece of jewelry so that you don’t need to pull your hair out.
The subject of this video series.
NOTE
You can watch these videos on YouTube, but will have to come back to this page to find the next in the series. I do this as often I forget to mention things in the videos and will write notes to accompany them. Because of this they are not stand alone videos.
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Links
Stone from @godsownpaintings on Instagram
Burnisher – riogrande #113017
Optivisor – riogrande.com – #113214 – This one comes with four lenses. You can chose to buy the optivisor and buy just one sense.
Sticky wax – riogrande.com – #700187 – NOTE: There’s lots of sticky wax out there, this is just the one I have. Fair warning – there’s loads of it in the box and it will probably last you a life time…
You can find a selection of flat headed diamond burs – HERE
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NOTE: Some stones are more delicate than others and you may be more likely to scratch the surface of them if you’re not careful. I’ve found that, for whatever reason, the dendritic agates are fantastically forgiving…
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If the stone you’re trying to remove is exceptionally thin (as the one I’m using is), or is delicate any way, you have to be really careful when you press on it with the wax stick so not to crack it.
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Here’s hoping that none of your bits fall off…
😉
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Hi Deborah! I’ve been involved in a move for the past few months and am just now able to start focusing on getting back in to making stuff! I want to ease back in (hoping I haven’t forgotten all I’ve learned) and make a pair of earrings for my mom. I love your earring designs…delicate and classy! Have you done any tutorials on them? I’ve never seen any and I think I’ve watched every one of your videos 😉 but thought I’d check…not sure I want to tackle it without a lil help. If you can think of one you’ve done, or something similar, please let me know. I think I can handle the casing itself (have even forgotten the name of the parts)…i think it’s the actual hooks and small details that scare me. Yours look so stable and your curves are so perfectly shaped. Would you have any videos or tips on making the attachments? I’ve got a small pair of teardrop shaped imperial jasper stones in mind. I’d love any help you can send my way!! Someone commented how they love seeing Cold Feet Studio emails in their inbox – I know the feeling!! It’s so exciting to see updates – can’t ever wait to see more, more, more!! No pressure 😉
Jill
Hi Jill. I can’t remember if I have anything on earrings, but I’d be happy to make something for you. I’m pretty bored right now so it will give me something to do. What was you thinking? Long, short? Is there anything I’ve made that you’d like me to go over for you? Perhaps you can send a link to a few that you have in mind?
Deborah,
Bored? With all of your talents?? My head swims every time I look at all of the beautiful things you create and I always wonder how one person could have been given so much talent. And then I wonder how on earth anyone could find the time and motivation…when I look at your pottery, your quilts, your paintings, etc…I feel like a slug (and even I am in a constant struggle to get through life’s daily necessities just so I can get to my craft time)!! When I see your stuff, I get inspired to DO more and spend less time THINKING of all the things I can’t wait to do!
I was so happy to see your reply..
You really are so awesome and generous to even be willing to help me?. The earrings I have in mind are these beauties:
https://pin.it/xmm65yecc6uacg
They’re so dainty and perfect…I just worry about how to make a hook that will be strong enough to “hold”…I’m probably making it seem harder than it actually is, but for some reason, when I watch your videos I get an extreme amount of confidence. I rewind and rewind and watch every single movement over and over and try to copy it exactly as you do it WHILE I’M DOING IT haha…so any kind of little tutorial on how to make the earring hook attachments would be so awesome. I’ve got the bezel and backing down pretty well. My fear is making the wire part look decent and not looking like a flimsy preschool project.
If you end up doing a little video on that, you’d be contributing to the sucesss of a beautiful pair of earrings!!?
Thanks for everything you do,
Jill
I made this after watching tons of your videos!! Not perfect or symmetrical (this was the good angle) but so proud of myself!! Thanks? for inspiring me!!
https://pin.it/6komeaq4frzkrv
Jill
That’s so cool! Thank you for showing me 🙂 I haven’t been able to get to the earrings yet, but hopefully soon.
Hi Deborah! I’m finally going to purchase a bezel pusher (have decided it’s time to stop substituting other tools, which have only ended in breaking my stones and warping my bezel wire). Is this a tool I can get by with the cheaper route or should I invest in a more expensive one? Most I see online are really cheap…Rio has a 3 piece set for around $8 – should I just get that? Do you use the various shaped bezel pushers or just the square one? Thanks for any advice!!
P.S. After many, many failed attempts, I’ve sadly decided prongs are not my forte!! I was super excited to try them, using the style you use with your box necklaces…I was trying to wish them to work but no luck! I’ve decided my next step will be to follow your advice and purchase the honeycomb block with pins, and some tweezers like you did in your video. In the meantime, I need a break from the prong frustration, so I ripped off the box part and am just going to re-purpose it using bezel wire instead. I know one day I’ll get there, as long as I watch your tutorial 20 MORE times haha!! Such a delicate balancing act!! Getting the solder to melt while the prong is propped up in EXACTLY the right position and NOT melt the silver!! Lots of swearing going on in my garage haha!! So I’m abandoning any hope of tackling that until I take a breather and buy the EXACT items you used!! But thanks to the drive you’ve inspired in me, I will keep going – despite asking myself daily why anyone would choose such a frustrating hobby!!!
Thanks again!
Jill
Jill, I’m so sorry I didn’t reply up until now. Yes the 3 piece from Rio is a good start. When I first started I used the square one all of the time because I had trouble with the roller slipping over the cabochon. You just have to be careful to push it square on otherwise it can leave lines on the bezel where you have dug the edge in. After a while I became better at using the roller and now prefer that. I’ll use the square one when I have a particularly stubborn area. I also use a burnisher and use the tip for getting into really tight areas. To be honest I use the hammer hand piece on my Foredom a lot also, but that is a very expensive piece of equipment that is more of a luxury than a necessity.
As for the prongs. I think it’s a little bit like potty training. You keep wanting those kids to use the potty and it seems a futile exercise and so you eventually abandon all hope. Then one day you have one last ditch attempt and it’s like they’ve been using the potty all the time and look at you as though nothing out of the ordinary has happened! I use this analogy because they both always seemed a miracle to me. Potty training and prong setting lol
Haha perfect analogy?. I ended up buying the honeycomb block with pins and cross lock tweezers like you used in the video – when I get them I will take a deeeeeep breath and try, try, try again! I remember back a year ago when I was having trouble getting my solder to flow and about to throw it all out the window from frustration, you encouraged me to just keep at it and it WOULD happen…the feeling I got when I “got” it was so satisfying – like a second wind!! It’s the little victories that make you feel like you’ve conquered something impossible that keep you trying for more!
Ps I talked about you to my 70+ year old neighbor tonight – she happened to come over while I was torturing a mass of silver trying to turn it in to a ring – in telling her of my hobby, I told her all about you and your blog and your amazing talents for so many creative things…her one question was “how does she have time for all of that”???? I wasn’t sure what to answer, but told her you’re one of those special cases – more talent than there is time in the day!!
Thanks for your comedic take on my prong situation – I WILL prevail??
Jill
Ha! I do find myself locked in my dream world in the studio and forget to come out and do the regular day to day stuff sometimes. Luckily I have a very tolerant husband…