Tips & Techniques
A Discussion of Jewelry Making Tips & Techniques
A little over a year ago I started exploring a new realm of jewelry
making techniques to increase my skill base and was very, very excited at the
thought of finally being able to use the new the mini-torch I added to my tool
collection – I’d finally be able to anneal, solder and apply color to my
designs. You see I’ve been creating wire
jewelry for several years and have gotten very comfortable with my abilities in
cold join jewelry making creating well over a hundred one of a kind earring
designs, bracelets, pendants and necklaces, and I felt it was time to fulfill a
burning desire (no pun intended) to increase my design knowledge and skills I
desperately wanted to freshen-up my range of jewelry offerings and add a new
level of quality in craftsmanship, and design.
I’m not a person that starts out slow deliberately practicing a new
technique until they get it right to their own brand of standards, I’m not hasty
either, I just learn better in a hands on environment and I like to jump right
in and get my hands dirty from the start, learning what does and doesn’t work
with every step of the process as I create each new piece. This I think is
where expertise comes to the forefront of a passionate art such as jewelry
making, painting, and sculpting to name a few, but our focus will remain on wire jewelry making
techniques for this article series so I invite you to get comfortable at your
work bench and let’s get right down to business because I want to tell you more
about a new technique I learned recently called....
Annealing
With the new skill of annealing and heating the copper and
silver wire I typically use in my sculpted wire jewelry designs I easily can sculpt the wire into different
shapes and give each piece a different finish. One of my favorite pieces to
create is earrings another favorite is rings which I am still working
diligently to seamlessly create. I love these two pieces which are staples of
my everyday ensemble creating simple designs because simple elegance is
timeless. Annealing helps to simplify the creation of my sculpted wire designs
because by definition annealing is applying heat to soften the wire
rendering it malleable which enables you to easily bend it into coils, circles,
any geometric shape or arch your sculpted wire design calls for. What’s
important to note here is that all metals have different temperature points at
which they will begin to melt and each needs to be quenched in water to cool
properly and for you to be able to comfortably handle and manipulate it into
your chosen design.
You can use this chart that I have re-created for you to
determine the best annealing temperature of the metal you may be annealing.
Annealing Temperature Chart
METAL |
ANNEALING TEMP |
MELTING TEMP |
QUENCH |
Copper |
1110-12900 |
19750 |
Immediately |
Silver |
1110-12000 |
16350 |
Below 9300 |
Carat gold |
1200-13800 |
1535-18300 |
Refer to technical data |
White gold |
1200-13800 |
1670-24000 |
Refer to technical data |
Platinum |
1110-18300 |
31900 |
Air cool then quench in water |
Chart by Jinks McGrath excerpt from the book The Encyclopedia of Jewelry Making Techniques; 1995 (Running Press: Philadelphia; London)
Annealing with a Torch
A good way to anneal your wire, flat, or plate metal is to use a
torch where you can regulate the heat produced. I have found it easier to use a
propane torch rather than my mini-torch which uses butane. In my experienced
opinion the butane mini-torch is a larger version of a cigarette lighter in
regards to the heat it produces, I found it took longer for my wire to reach
the proper temperature of annealing even when my flame was turned on high, so I
think I’ll just keep mine in the kitchen to brown the tops of my Meringue peaks
and crisp the caramel on those delicious Crème Brule’ cups.
 |
| Annealing Torch |
Tips: the Annealing Flame
The most effective flame to use when
you anneal is a large “reducing”
flame where the tip of the orange core meets the blue outer shell of the flame
(about an inch from the torch tip). Run the flame over the surface of your
metal until it reaches the appropriate temperature and turns color, with copper
it will turn pinkish and with silver it will be grayish just before they turn
red. You will notice that when you move the heat source copper wire will show the
colors of a peacock, silver will be black this discolored coating is called
fire scale and can be removed when placing your soldered or finished piece in a
pickle solution. I suggest you watch carefully not to overheat your material and
risk reaching its melting temp or having it turn brittle when placing it in
your quenching bath.
Don’t let the thought of applying heat to your material intimidate
you, it’s so much fun and really not as difficult as it sounds. But you decide
how to proceed may want to start slow and practice on left over scrap wire until
you’re comfortable annealing because
believe me, I’ve melted my fair share of scrap wire learning just the right
temp, the right position, and duration to hold the flame over my work. You know
what works best for you in learning a new skill so use your best judgment in
the use of your new technique and jewelry making skill when creating your fresh
new design.
Oh, I almost forgot, another important
detail you’ll need to consider when choosing wire materials is the hardness or
tensile strength of your wire. Wire created specifically for jewelry making is
sold in several different strengths; soft, dead soft, hard and half hard, keep
this in mind when you’re purchasing your design materials because your
materials strength will define the process you’ll need to use in the creation
of your wire jewelry or wire sculpture design. I do not recommend using a soft
or dead soft fine silver wire for making rings because in my experience even
work hardening (hammering) in the sizing process will not strengthen the ring
to render it non-malleable leaving it vulnerable to becoming misshaped. You
don’t want leave your customers disappointed with their purchase so choose to
use a stronger material when creating your gorgeous ring designs and I’ll talk
more about soldering and pickle solutions at a later time so until then, get
your gloves, your safety glasses and your torch and start annealing, I can’t
wait to see your new wire jewelry designs.
Do you create hot join, fused metal or
wire jewelry and have any advice for someone just starting out? Please leave a
comment and tell us about your experience.
