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Our New Blog- A 'newbies' journey into the jewellery world
Kernowcraft team member Katie has recently enrolled on a college course in jewellery making. Why not read our regular update to see how she gets on with the trials and tribulations of being a newbie!
Starting at Kernowcraft in April I’d been itching to start making my own jewellery, so it seemed the only possible solution was to start an evening course and let my creativity run free!
So the day finally arrived and first day college nerves soon kicked in, I began to feel like a child on my first day but all was soon ok as I walked into a friendly class.
We began learning how to cut out basic shapes on copper sheet with the piercing saw, it was quite relieving to know that we were using copper sheet as it’s much less expensive than silver, so is great for beginners like me! I eventually managed to cut out a slightly odd fish shape, hopefully practice makes perfect!
After getting severe arm ache from the sawing motion (I’m hoping my muscles will improve!) we were then shown the huge variety of textures that can be applied to metal. I was amazed at how many different textures there are and how easy they are to apply and give the metal an interesting and professional finish. I particularly loved the hammered finish you can add using a Ball Pein hammer which looks so pretty when it catches the light and the ‘bark’ like texture that you can create with the jewellers hammer.
Surprisingly enough we were let loose on our attempts at a sterling silver ring using our experiments with textures as inspiration. We used sterling silver sheet in a 1mm thickness making it easy to work with which we then cut to size. I then chose to use the Ball Pein hammer to add a texture to the ring. I decided to treat myself and make the ring to my size (why not?!) so using a ring size gauge I chose my size and then shaped binding wire around the ring sizing stick. After cutting the wire and measuring the length of it I cut the silver to the right size adding 2mm to compensate for the thickness of the metal. Using ring bending pliers I bent the silver, to admittedly a slightly odd round shape ensuring that the two sides met neatly ready for soldering………and then my first night was already over! Next week I’ll be attempting at soldering the ring together which slightly scares me…wish me luck!
29th September 2010.
