Well - since I have not done very much jewellery making for quite a while, I thought I would break myself in gently! And as my most recent purchase has been these simply stunning Czech AB crystal glass hearts in beautiful 'Art Nouveau' sort of colours, I thought I would make myself some earrings with them. I do make all of my own findings out of fine (.999 pure) silver wire, and Argentium silver wire for the ear wires, so, in fact, making up a pair of earrings is not alwaysthat quick and easy. First I have to choose some jump rings suitable for the design I want to make out of the stock of various sizes I have already made and then I need to fuse them together with my torch to make good, strong rings. Then I have to join the fused rings together into the chain lengths required for the design using open rings which I then fuse closed. This makes good strong chains. I make my own ear wires out of Argentium silver because this metal is stronger than fine silver, so makes a good springy ear wire, but is tarnish resistant in the same way fine silver is.
Having made the chains I then have to make some ball pins on which to thread the heart beads. This is simply done by holding lengths of fine silver wire in the flame of the torch until the end starts to melt and creates a neat little ball on the end of the wire.
So - all the ingredients together in one place I can then make up my earrings!
The photographs do not do justice to these lovely heart beads, which flash fantastic hues of blue, purple, green and gold depending on how the light catches them.
So that is my Day One contribution...hopefully I can move up a gear for tomorrow and do something a bit more exciting!!
