Use 14kt gold solder ornaments on sterling silver jewelry blanks to create unique mixed metal jewelry pieces. Erica Stice is breaking down the sweat soldering process so you can add this great technique to your jewelry making skills.
Many jewelers remember falling in love with metalsmithing at their first torch soldering experience. That mercurial silver flash when solder starts to flow is magical. But, what is actually happening at that moment? What is the science behind soldering? Learning more about solder can improve your workmanship and help you to choose that right materials for each job.
Rolling mills and jewelry studios go hand in hand. Some jewelers use their rolling mills to imprint patterns on an annealed metal sheet. Others use a rolling mill as the raw material workhorse of their studios. I personally have always seen it as a luxury. As a texture and patterning tool to run brass pattern sheets through or fun found objects. It sort of just sat in studios that I visited, used but not too often. That all changed. Read on to see how the rolling mill can become indispensable in your studio practice.
A quick FAQ guide on how to buy metal sheet for your jewelry business. Learn the lingo and how to navigate the typical units of measure used for sheet sales.
Sizing a ring up, in my opinion, is much easier than sizing a ring down. You have ring stretchers that allow you to get the job done quickly, but there are not that many tools available when reducing the size of a ring.
Having the skills to size rings can be very handy for your jewelry studio business, especially if you don’t have the right size for a customer in stock. Learn sizing to capture more sales and offer superior service to your clients.
If you make custom cabochon settings on a regular basis, it makes sense to buy basic bezel strip by the troy ounce coil so you always have material on hand. But, if you need just a little fancy gallery bezel for a special project or you rarely set custom cab sizes, it makes more sense to just buy what you need for a specific piece. This guide will walk you through the basics of buying bezel wire so you can get exactly what you need.
Michael David Sturlin talks about the necessity of repetition for optimal results in your jewelry studio practice as you build metalsmithing skills at the bench.
Kristen Baird Jewelry of Savannah, Georgia wins the 2017 Halstead Grant. Her beautiful designs and the strength of her business plan impressed the judges.
Erica Stice’s bangle bracelet making project was recently featured in Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist.