Jewelry Polishing Tumbler

Wire Jewelry Tips Of The Week January 18Th-24Th

Question:

Wire wrapping is completely new to me.  I think what I need to know about would be considered wire wrapping.  I am using eye pins.  I have seen that some people take and wrap the wire around itself just below the eye.  Is there an easy way to do this?

Answer:

The best way I can instruct you in making your own eye pins is to direct you to this instructional video. Here Sherrie Lingerfelt shows how to easily make a rosary link using two pair of pliers at the same time. (A rosary link is a combination of two wrapped links, which are the same as wrapped loops or wrapped eyes.) Hope this helps! http://wire-sculpture.com/jewelry-making-blog/201/creating-a-rosary-link/

Question:

In July I sold a piece of silver.  Three weeks later the customer returned the piece and to my amazement it was black.  I re-tumbled the piece and it was restored to its original condition.  What are your thoughts on what chemical or perfume substance could have cause this to occur?  The piece is still bright and shinny with no signs of tarnish.

Answer:

OK, the only culprit I know of that can cause serious tarnish so quickly is chlorine. If the customer wore her sterling silver in a pool or vacationed and took a shower where a large amount of chlorine is added to the water, this would turn sterling black about immediately. Using a tumbler to clean the piece again is great, but is it also being polished at the same time? Polish would coat the piece and add a certain amount of limited protection.

Question:

I have 5 and 7 mm round gemstones but can’t find that size in the snapset castings.  Will they fit in another size casting?

Answer:

We are actually in the process of adding a larger variety of snapset finding sizes to our inventory.  While we ask for your patience, in some cases you can go up or down one size for round shapes, depending on the depth of the stone’s pavillion.

Question:

Do you have any videos showing how to make a bracelet using pattern wire?

Answer:

At this time, we do have a stepped out pattern (#150), to make a bracelet using pattern wire. You may find it here:
http://wire-sculpture.com/pages/jewelrypattern150.html

Question:

I have many cut stones which I would like to wire wrap but all you designs incorporate snapset which I cannot get in South Africa.  How else can I wrap them so they are shown off effectively?

Answer:

Creating wire settings for faceted stones can be rather tricky. In my new book, Wirework, I share several such projects and give the complete formulas so you can set any size or shaped faceted stone!

Question:

I have a customer that gave me a stone and said she wanted a ring made. Well the stone is not a normal stone that you would put in a ring, well what I put in rings anyway, so do you have any patterns I could use. The stone is triangle and flat.

Answer:

Almost any stone can be made into a ring using the Classic Cabochon or Pharaoh’s Ring pattern.

Question:

I do know of some easy ways to clean copper safely. But my question is – Will the papers we use for silver also keep copper shiney when we are not wearing it?

Answer:

Anti-tarnish paper works because it contains materials that neutralize common gases in our atmosphere that cause corrosion on metals like silver, nickel, gold, copper, bronze, tin and brass. Most of these special, paper products will work for a minimum of 6 months before they need to be replaced

About the Author

http://wire-sculpture.com

Tumbler Canister and media Ideas and Tips. Jewelry finishing and polishing

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