Silver Birch Earrings

1. Silver Birch Earrings: Hello. My name's Stanton. I'm a jewelry designer and chief stuff from South Coast. Okay, welcome to the silver Birch Areas House class. It's going to take the same basic technique I show you how to 22 different pounds Sterling silver area. I'm gonna show you how to use short legs of square wife to create a beautifully textured her stud earrings. And then how to scale up. This is only a little. And make a pair of drop. Hearings will be hovering. Will be doing a story on the project will definitely help you to practice your soldering skills to this close has passed the 52 airings challenges. I set myself 2017 design and film to child for 52 passive hearings. If you like to see some behind the scenes photos on, find out a bit more about change, they look out for 52 slash tiger if you already. But I started by having a look at the equipment and materials that you're going to need to make the 2. Silver Birch Earrings - materials: the's materials that you need to make both of the study and drop earrings, the main section of the earrings going to be made out off a piece off two millimetre square wire. I've actually formed this where, why, myself? By sending a much shorter, a much thicker piece off scrap square wire, the three millimetre square wire through the wire sections of my rolling mill. It was leftover from making a bangle. It was too short to be used for anything else. But by sending it through the rolling mill, I've created enough off a sinner gauge wire that could be used to make two pairs of earrings. I've got to to study fittings for the Paris stud earrings on silver butterflies to finish those off. The drop hearings are going to be finished with ear wise, made from North 0.8 millimeter sterling silver around wire. This is my favorite. Why to use for making air wise as it's thick enough to hold its shape nicely, but not so thick that it would be uncomfortable going through the holes in your ears 3. Silver Birch Earrings - equipment: I think this is the equipment that you're going to need to make the hearings first video class. The earrings are made out of square wire, and I'm going to catch the wire with the jurors saw on. I'm going to support the work on the jeweler's bench Paige with the leather underneath to catch the dust that's going to be created, However, I'm not going to have the silver directly on the bench. Paige. I'm going to have it inside a joint level, which is this piece of equipment with the red handle. I show you some more features of the joint level of shortly, but the Y rests inside it, with a thumb guard coming across to hold it steady and firm. As I saw the sections of wire off, I'm going to use the ruler to help me measure the sections of wire before I cut them. I'm going to use the emery paper to make sure that the ends are finished nicely on our nice and smooth. I'm going to text each other while with my favorite cross paying hammer. Andi, I'm going to rest the wire on the bench block with a leather cushion underneath it to keep the noise down. The other tools that you can see here or to help me create the ear wires for the drop hearings. I'm going to use the wire cutters to cut the wire and nine on your applies to make sure it is nice and smooth. I'm going to wrap the wire around the step Mandel to create the U shape in the ear wire, but you could just as easily use anything that's suitably shaped and size, such as a pen bowel. Instead, I'm going to use the needle file to smooth the end of the wire. Sertic go to comfortably through the holes in your ears. I'm going to strengthen the ear wide by hammering them with the flashing hammer. I'm going to use a Sharpie to mark exactly where I want the wire for the job earrings to go on. The last piece of equipment I showed you in the table is a no 0.9 millimeter Drillbit. I'm going to use that to very carefully put a tiny hole at the pain market, are drawn to the drop hearings to create a seat for the ear wires. A soldering to this is a soldering project, So let's go and have a look at the soldering equipment that you'll need to complete the earrings. 4. Silver Birch Earrings - soldering equipment: I think this is the soldier equipment that I use for all of my smaller projects, such as earrings and pendants, everything sitting on a couple of slate tiles, a heatproof surface to help protect my desk on my work sits on a couple of soldering bricks , soldering blocks, while some heating it up. One of these soldering bricks is made of a softer material than the others. Because it's softer, it's picked up some dips and some cracks in it. It's being used over the years, and these could be very useful for supporting work that isn't completely flat. The charcoal block is there because I melt small piece of scrap on top of that on. Do they form nice of my balls as I am used to decorate my projects when I need to pick up my work or to support it whilst I'm soldering? I used reverse action tweezers that you can see here and have also got a pair on a stand through 1/3 hand, and it's there when I need 12 on extra hands to help me out. The blue handled stick is a soldier pick on and that I used to push soldier move it about to make sure it it's exactly what I wanted to be. Soldier usually comes in strips or sticks. Andi, I've got three different melting temperatures here that I using combination for different projects. The soldier gets cut into small pieces or Palin's you ting. The red handles snips as I keep those little pieces in the labeled boxes that you can see do. Make sure that you label your boxes because once a soldier is cut up, you won't be hard to tell which is which. Melting temperature. My curl over the ends off the sticks of solder so that I can tell which melting temperature they are, the more cold over they are, they're higher. The mountain temperature, bright yellow liquid is a flux. Solder won't actually flow out through the joining unless you use a flux with it. Andi, the paintbrushes. What I used to apply the flux to the joints in my work. Small projects like hearings only need a small blowtorch, and I've got two different makes of those here. Both of them are easy to refill with the gas that comes in aerosol cans. Since the same type of gas, butane gas that you use to reform cigarette lighter At the back of the picture, you can see a so cooker that Scots a very mild acid solution. Good safety pickle in it. When you heat silver up, the surface becomes not darker and dirtier looking that some of the capo in the study silver reacting with the heat and auction flame to forward cause copper oxides on the safety pickle cleans it a couple oxides up before you put your work in the safety pickle, it needs to be cooled down or quenched in a pot of water. Andi, you need to put your work in and out of the safety pickle with brass or plastic tweezers. Not the stainless steel ones that I showed you before and thus, but definitely not least our have safety glasses. You've only got one pair of eyes. Look after them carefully. 5. Silver Birch Earrings - sawing: I think I said in the equipment section of the class. I'm going to use the joint feather to help me cut the square wire. I could actually just as easily cuts the square wire by holding it on the bench peg and using a jeweler's saw to trim off the sections. Tie need. But the beauty of the joint clever is that it's got a stopper just here. So if I show you the features off it, no, a bit more detail. It's got a slot here that the jeweler's saw. The blade runs up and down, so what I usually do is have the holder on the bench paper, like so on. And once you put the wire in and say is this thumb guard comes across and then you hold it firmly in their Andi. The jeweler's saw blade goes in that slot and allows you to cut slices off. But the beauty of this thing is not so. If it holds everything firmly, is it secret? Adjust this section here. So by turning the thumbscrews here, this section moves in and out so you can set it to sigh setting. Move your wire or two, which is what this is most commonly used for cutting. Move it up so that it comes up against the stopper. Put it on the bench, Paige, and cut off a section. And then what's? That section is cut off. Move your material further up. So again, the end is at the stop her and you can cut the same section. Same links of your material off again, again and again. No, but I said you could just mark with a Sharpie and cuts often hold it on here. But this doesn't make the job a little bit quicker, especially when you want sections that they're going to match for something like a pair of earrings. What I am going to do first, though, before I cut off the sections that I want for the earrings is that both ends of this wire are a little bit rough. Always when you recycle y by, send it through the rolling mill. The ends are never completely smooth on needs and square. So what I'm going to do it is sit they got here, tighten it back up again. So this is a tight as it can be to I'm going to put the Y in there. I'm going to cut off the vice smallest amount, and that will really nicely trim off the end there and make it so every nice, flush, clean and really for the rest of hearings. So a said that your sore the blade goes slots there. Some people like to hold it, so I prefer to hold it suited for that on the flash on the bench pick. - Okay , settle section cuts off on to the end of my wife is now nice and square and straight. Neat already for the But if the earrings now more expensive versions off this tool, have a gauge running along this section so that as you slide it in and out, you can take the reading from the Gage wrote, starts to disappear into the main housing of tool on that allows you to set up the same distance. Again. Again, However, those versions that next next level up of this tool are a lot more expensive. So I find that arugula does the job Nice, Justus. Well, so I'm going to measure just needy leader extra pair of hands, especially when you're trying to hold it in view of the camera, but what I'm going to do the trick is to not have this to loose so that he doesn't need a little bit of effort to move. I'm going to measure the distance between the slot here. Andi, this edge of the stopper on DFO Earthy stud earrings. You know it, Lisa. I want a distance off 13 millimeters. The sight of this I got a 13 millimeter is so now that I can hope that thing, put the holder across and hold it down with my son and cut that section off now double check that distance. Yep, 13 millimeters just, um, by the way, this is probably the only tool that I've got that is designed for a right handed person because the ways it's designed with the guide, the thumb holder on that site on this section here that fits nicely on the bench, Paige is a bit more difficult to hold it with your right hand and then cut through Maybe something like that. It is possible, but not quite as easy. On The other thing to tell you is where it gets its name from. This is called a joint leveller because it's the most commonly used to cut sections of cube off on one of the jobs that tube is used for. The jewelry studio is making hinges or joints, and you want the sections of the tube to be just the right lengths. This helps you to cut them is just the right length, and you also want the ends to be nice on a level or nice and flush. Cut two sections this off. One. Just move that up so it it's flush up against the end of the stock. My no more measuring the quiet. And that's the 2nd 1 So show you close up in a moment, off the two pairs of wires cut. He can see that they have been cut the same length, but those are the pieces that I'm going to need for the stud earrings. I've made the drop hearings a little bit longer, so going to be quite a dainty, delicate pair of earrings just a little bit longer. So I'm going to set thes to 18 18 minutes is just stop checking that we're checking the distance again. Push the wire upsy into the stopper one . - That's what the apron underneath is four. Not just catch the dust, but to catch the little bits of your work. They fall down, don't have to go scrabbling around on the floor for them so you can see so much a little bit off that square while left over. That's a sexual being used yet, Andi, That's little bits I cut off. Might find a use of that. Um, if I don't both of those bits will go back in the scrap pot to be recycled into something new. They can see the two pairs of wires. They are really nice match, certainly more accurate. And I'll be able to cut if I was marking each one out with a ruler and a Sharpie, so they mattering nicely. Next thing I need to do is make sure that the ends first nicely before I have them. 6. Silver Birch Earrings - sanding: Theo ends off. The sections of wire that I've cut are the name of the tourist I used which suggest nice and level nice and square. There's no filing needed to make sure that they're nice and square. They already are. However, what I am going to do is just remove the Marxist being left from the jewels sore blade and also make sure that the ends so what? They very edges of the ends, the corners. Make sure that they're nice and smooth, because at the moment that being quite rough, I'm just going to use some leaking great emery paper to do that, arresting it on the metal bench block that comes that forms that the clamp that holds my my bench Pake onto my desk. However, if your bench Paige isn't like this there suggests that she puts the emery paper on top off . You're still bench blocks that you usually eat for hammering. The reason I'm doing this is that so that was a really hard, smooth surface underneath. It's going to make the sending a lot more efficient. So we're going to do is just go around little circle on the edge of each same on the other end. - I'm just looking to see whether the Marxists have bean left by the jurors. Saw have disappeared. They've been sanded off shorter ones, the stud earrings left to do. Now I can actually hear the difference when I'm standing. The difference in the sound. It sounds quite harsh to start with, and then it's the end. Get smoother and smoother. It sounds a lot smoother once it's up against the emery paper. Okay, so that's the end. Smooth, but the edges here. I still feel a little bit rough. So what I'm going to do, I show you on one of the bigger pieces. It's going to be easier to see because my home is going to be out of the way. I'm going to hold the wire about 45 degree angle on the emery paper. Well, I'm just going to pull it backwards. Just so six strokes. I feel it have done enough. So turn it around to the next site. Okay, so you see that no four sites Andi on the other end as well. 1st 1 done. - Just a starts to do now, - on one last piece of why may seem a bit of a, well, cheese, a bit fiddly job, but it's definitely worth doing. You see, it doesn't take that off right? It's pieces of why I'm ready, so I'm going to do next is hammered thumb, but some just have a quick look at the Emery paper this and dust on there, tipping to the apron that's below my bench play, because that's her silver in it. But also see these lighter areas here. You might see it shining a little better as I move it in in the light. That's actually a tiny part of silver caught up in the Emery paper as well. So my use pieces of Emery paper once they've no longer got enough regret to actually be able to do it a decent job anymore. They end up in my scrap pot as well. So it was a scrap pot off silver that I recycle myself but also a scrap pot that's got bits and pieces like this, the masking tape. But I used to wrap around my jump rings when I cut through those. Have you seen those hearings, glasses and also the dust that's in the apron below the bench? Paige All of those bits and pieces going to another scrap pot on that scrap pot. Eventually, one of us enough get sent back up to my 1,000,000,000 supplier. They pushed on a furnace. They burn off the things that aren't silver, refine the silver on, pay me for it, so it's definitely worth doing. 7. Silver Birch Earrings - texturing: Theo, four pieces of While that will soon be turned into two lovely pairs of earrings are now prepared for hammering. I'm going to be hammering them with my favorite Swiss style cross being hammer. It certainly is a lovely straight pattern on. What I'm going to do is just hammer up and down each piece, giving lines that are going across Now. If you've seen my other video classes, it uses Hammer. Before you know, I talked about the fact that metal moves at right angles to the head of the hammer, so if it's around, it end right, angles it in every direction on there isn't that much movement in the metal. But for a straight at hammer across peen hammer right angles is that way. So if I'm hammering like so, the metal is fun to stretch out a little bit that each way. That's not really going to matter, as long as I make sure that I hammer each of the pairs the same amount on that. I double check after I've homage that they are still the same length there, any way small anyway, so they can't actually grow very big. The larger the piece of metal, the more material it's got in it to move on, so the longer it could be hammered. But these are very short, so they're not actually have got that much potential for growth anyway. I'm going to hammer thes two pairs in so likely different ways. So if I deal with the studs first, I'm only going to hammer three sides of studs. I'm not going to worry about hammering the back because it's not really going to be seen on also to make life a little bit easier. Where it comes to solving a stud fitting on the back, however, the drop's the rates of why are going to be seen on all four sides Saigon, Hammer or four sides of those Stop the Stutts. As always, In a project like this, the trickiest thing is keeping your fingers and some out of the way over. I do. The last side is gonna become the front. - We can't one more says to Stutts. I showed a close up of all of them when they're finished, but the moment there's still a matching length, some happy with that. So I'm going to hammer all four sides of each of those and speed up the film a little bit now because I think you I'm going to speed up the film a little bit now because I think you probably got the idea of hammering by now. - That piece of recycled square, while has now turned into the starts off two earrings, both hammered with a lovely texture. 8. Silver Birch Earrings - preparing for the earwires: I've got to longer pieces of square. Why here, too, is going to be turned into the drop earrings on. I've got sharply on 0 00.9 millimeter by millimeter job. It's that just definitely doesn't want to stay still. I'm going to use those to help me prepare these pieces square while the ear wives I could just hold the wire up against the end of the square wire a soldier it in place. But I want to make sure that soldier join is a strong as it possibly could be. And to do that, I'm going to create a little seat for the North 0.8 millimeter wire to resold it into That's going to create a much stronger, firmer, so to join. So it's okay to do. First of all, is just put a until docked. Get a pen toe work. There we go there dot and see that in the middle. Have one end of the piece of wire and in the other one as well. Excuse me Something to aim for. So I'm going to do now. Try and do this in a way so you can still see what I'm doing is hold the drill bit on the end of the wire. On that dot I'm just going to hold it firmly but slowly twist my hand. Let's see, I compare the two dot on this one has sussed, we warn away, and there's a bit of a brighter area where the job it was started to for metal Dick World would give it. So let's do this was a bit more. I've now got a section where I put the drill with back in. It is the one that will move around. It is good in court. Andi, that pen mark that I've really put on that has gone completely. There's now a little little dip, a little dip it. I'm going to do the same. If I can start off quite slowly, you don't want to go too fast. If you do the job, it is just going to skid across the surface. Top here, make a bit of a mess, but soon cuts a little seat. You'll soon feel it doesn't want to move about as much even now, so I'm happy with that, and so it doesn't need very much tool, but those pen marks would that be war away now there are some little difference in the end . Is there on Duthie wire for the ear wise are going to sit inside. 9. Silver Birch Earrings - soldering the stud fittings: way put to shorter pieces of square wiles textured on the soldering brick. And these are the two that were going to be turned into stud earrings. So I've really got some fitting ready in the first section. Tweezers. You see that? I've put a Sharpie mark on the back. One end of each hearing. These areas haven't got any up or down. I don't need to put a mark for that, but this will help to give me a guide to show me how far down the piece of wire to put the stud fittings. So that's the sudden fittings. Are is a level even as possible. I've also got two pieces off soda. Got one there. Someone there, as usual, might just take my word for that is they're very, very small. I'm just using easy, soldier because I've only got one soldier joint on each piece of wire. So I'm just going to use the lowest amount in temperature Soldier. I dipped the start fitting into the flux. Hold it up against a piece of solder. Andi melted piece sold on to the end. What's the fuck's excess flux? It was on the tweeters, still sidling away there. But now that piece of solder is exactly where I want it to be, So I can hold it all the end of the hearing here, just holding everything still until the soldier loses its bright liquid appearance and it's gone side again. Not one piece there, by the way, don't worry that the sharply mark is going to make the silver too dirty for soldering. As you may have read, as I said before, one of things that soldering needs to be able to work is clean silver. You might think the sharp you mark is actually making the silver dirty. But the shopping markets burnt off before you get up to soldering temperate. So So So it's not going to inhibit the flow of the soldier. So it was Get the second start fitting. Ready? Thank you. Dip that into the flux. Hold it against peace Soda, most in place. Now let me go post that earrings, ready to go quench pot and then the pickle pot. Before I pushed him 10. Silver Birch Earrings - soldering the earwires: I think it's time to sort of the ear wise onto the drop earrings. I've cut to 4.5 centimeter links of no 0.8 millimeter wire. They haven't needed any special preparation. They haven't need to be hammered on the end, as I do with some other earrings, because remember, they're going to sit inside the little deputy divot or the seats that I partly drilled into this end of each wire. I've made sure I put that prepared end on here so that I can hold the wire inverse section tweets is and hold it in place like so when I'm heating everything up. So I've also got two pieces of easy soldier one here, someone just certify. Move this on air wires the way that I want that to melt century. So I'm going to dip that in the flux are very much like stud earrings going to melt the piece sold on the end. Okay, so if I show you compared to the other airing, this one has got slightly rounded out ended. Also do it here because it's got a little bit of copper oxide there, So I'm going to do now. Let's hold it up against here on soldiers in place? No, a little bit more information about soldering. What I try to do is put a little bit more heat into this section, then the ear wire itself. This is a bigger basis silver. So it's going to need more heat from the flame to get up to soldering temperate shop. The other reason is a soda was already on this ear wire. I wanted it to flow onto this party hearing as well. Remember that soldier will float the hottest part of your design, so I need to make this but a little bit hot out. I put some heat into everything. Each make this place a little bit hotter, so soldier flow from the ear wire to remain part of the hearing for a story joint as we've got there. But don't worry that the air wire is not line nice and straight in relation to the rest of the hearing are sort that out with the nylon. Your applies later so but pop that in the quench pot, I'm going to repeat that hoax ing with second ey so different in flux. Find where I put the pieces soldier or there it is. Melt soldier in place battery wants to move along the the bric a little bit We've made life interesting. So got there in the end this liter Hold your nerve again that sold it nicely. So that needs to join its pair in the quench pot. Then all four earrings need to be cleaned up in the pic or to get rid of the dirty copper oxides that you can see. See here on the excess flux and I will show you how to finish off. These were wise to make a pact or hearings. 11. Silver Birch Earrings - finishing the earwires: The last things I need to do on the drop hearings is to turn the motive the straight pieces of north 0.8 millimeter wire here into the ear waas on. The first thing I'm going to do is make sure that they are completely straight. Are going to use the nylon, your pliers for that? I do like these plies because they help to smooth and straight and shape the wire without leaving any marks. So it's gonna make sure that they are nice and smooth and also straight in relation to the the hearing. So don change. This is also very good test of my soldering, because if the soldier join was a to a week, it wouldn't be staying together when I did this. So that's so that job done. Next thing I need to do is double check that both the ear wires are the same length. I know a couple into the same length, but it's always nice to get confirmation. That's fine, Andi, something going to do is use the middle section on the set. Mandel just to put bend the ear. Why? Don't worry if you bend, it's going so lightly toe one side from the straight of the hearing because you can't bend that background. I just I'm just looking at It's the amount of drop. I don't think I want that much of a drop. So were pushed back on the Mandel and push this front section down around the Mandel's Wetmore to use up a little bit more of this this foot but the wire too short in the hearing . Happy with that? So I'm going to leave this front section where it is now and pull the back section round to continue. Continue to drop the set out. Why that? It's a bit of a funny angle at the moment. I thought I sat shortly, but on and again, same with this one. They pushed on the middle section of the Mandrell. Bend it round. I've deliberately bent it around a little bit too high. Yeah, she says, I would check. So again, I'm gonna pull the front section to push that down. A little bit more short in this section. Here again, this one still little bit too tall. This front section wine he's using up a bit more, so put back on the mandolin, push it back round again. Just do it a little bit. The time and check that's actually a little bit two shorts is pull it back out again a bit , especially. I'm happy with that. They might shut Nisus. I can get him into focus for you, but I so gonna continue bending round the back section, push up background. So there's a certain stretch without more like here wives I'm going to do now. It's hammer the front section of each to strengthen them on. Then I'm going to finish off the ends. Now, see, if you've watched any of my other earrings videos, you might have seen me do the different steps in making the air wise in different orders. In, for example, Sometimes I will pull the wires straight, check their ranks and then file them. It doesn't matter what all do you do some of the jobs in, but if I have bent the ear y round, I then always hammer it before I flick the end out and file. The reason for that is that at the moment, this shape here can still be pulled out of shape quite a bit. Andi, While some filing or fiddling about with the end of the wire here, I could do that. I could pull this out of shape. So we're hammer first, strengthen that you and then I can finish off the end of the wire without worrying about causing any problems. So I got the planting hammer here on and the bench block. So I'm going to hold the wire. The ear y. So the hearing itself is off the end of the bench block on. Just hammer this front section here. Okay? Again, with the 2nd 1 So not spring here now. Not so easy to pull a shape a lot stronger. I'm not going to use the flat nose pliers, so I'm going to put the wire so that it's the end of the wise flush at the end here and use the wits of the plier as the gauge. So let's pull that back a little bit. So I always use the same pliers for doing this job back a little bit again. So it's I always know the time pulling out the same amount of wife each time. And then the last job I'm going to file the nation off the end of wire. You don't want to score, she sharp piece of why going through the whole new is you can feel the end of that feels fine again for actually a little bit with sharp Harry, They're on your side. That's good. So those now need to join the stud earrings in the tumble polisher. Andi, I will show them to you when they are all nice and shiny and polished up. 12. Silver Birch Earrings - final thoughts: Congratulations on finishing the video class. I hope you're not ready to make your own lovely pair of earrings or maybe even to pass the simple square. Why Read does create beautiful, easy to wear earrings, but the design would also work just as well, with over why, with heavier gauge around while or even rectangular. While it's a really good way of using up scrap, why that's left over from other projects. A great wave recycling. Please remember to don't know the equipment lists from the class, and you will hopefully recognize a lot of tools on the equipment lists. Asai using other classes as well. I do like to use my tools as much as possible for different projects. I like to get my money's worth out of my investments in my tools, wait to see photos of earrings that you've made using class instructions. I would also be lovely if you could leave a review to help other students. Thank you for watching