My stories of jewelry making, spinning, knitting, and all things fibery.



Thursday, August 8, 2013

Oxidized Earrings in the Works

Today I am in the process of creating some sterling silver earrings basically from scratch.  I will oxidize them to give the metal a darkened look that is on trend for fall.

Starting with some sterling silver wire in 20 gauge, I form the ear wires from a template I have worked out using scrap wire.  I drew a few sketches of the shape I was going for and then played around with the prototype wire.  Something simple and interesting and modern.  The wire is pre-cut to the right lengths and then formed with pliars to the correct shape.  A bit of hammering to give the front some width and the metal hardness.

All the rough surfaces are polished by hand with my Dremel Tool and the earwires, along with the headpins I will need are dipped into a chemical called liver of sulphur.  This will darken the silver in just a few minutes.
 
 
 
Next I will wire and wrap the individual stones pairs for each set of earrings.  Below you see a sampling of the finished earrings soon to be available in the Shop.
 
 

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