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12 Tips of Christmas – Stopping The Flow
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12 Tips of Christmas – Tip SixWhen you are soldering – cleanliness is paramount and vitally important to ensure the solder flows. But what if you dont want the solder to flow? Andrew shows you how to prevent solder flowing where you dont want it to flow. |
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12 Tips of Christmas – Holding Small Pieces
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12 Tips of Christmas – Tip FiveJewellery making is like no other craft because the components are very small indeed.If you are making jewellery then there are a lot of times when you are fabricating a piece that involdes filing, sawing or shaping of an item that is too small to be held in your fingers. You can use pliers to hold it but these invariably leave marks.Andrew has come up with an inginious idea. |
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12 Tips of Christmas – Protecting Metal Surfaces
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12 Tips of Christmas – Tip FourAs soon as your torch flame touches the surface of your metal your problems just start.If you are using sterling silver you run the risk of firestain on your piece. Also if you a jewellery repairer then protecting rhodium plating is a must. Andrew shows you that by using this special mixture, your problem will not be a problem any more. |
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12 Tips of Christmas – Lubrication
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12 Tips of Christmas – Tip ThreeAnything that can help us produce better results in our jewellery making can only be a good thing.Using our piercing saw is one of the fundamental techniques that we learn right from the start of our jewellery making career so if there is a way to improve our cutting cheaply then lets do it! This is where lubrication comes into play. Andrew shows us what he means. |
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12 Tips of Christmas – Drilling Board
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12 Tips of Christmas – Tip TwoIn jewellery making the pieces that you have to drill are always small and holding them can be really awkward. You could hold them in a mini vice or parrallel pliers but you run the risk of marking the metal.Andrew shows you, with a little ingenuity, how to secure small pieces of metal to enable you to safely drill them whilst still protecting your bench and more importantly your fingers. |
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12 Tips of Christmas – Finger Protection
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12 Tips of Christmas – Tip OneFingers take one hell of a bashing when you make jewellery. Not only do they have to hold metal, small awkward pieces at that, but they also are used as a guide to align files, buff stick etc. If you slip with a file or saw then they can be cut and the skin can also split in cold weather or if the skin becomes dry.Before you get any problems, protect the most vunerable ones. Andrew uses Rhino Skin, a commercially available tape that saves his thumb at this time of year. |
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Removing Tarnish from Silver – FreeView
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Guess whats coming back into fashion? |
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Tips N Tricks – Tip Top Tools
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Everyday we sit down at our bench and pick up the tools in front of us without a though as to the condition of them.Why not, at the end of each day, just spend ten minutes looking at the condition of your most used hand tools and check to see if they are in tip top condition. Do the points of your tweezers meet perfectly? Have you had a propblem with the jaws of your pliers marking the surface of a piece you were working on? |
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Video Request – Polishing Hard to Reach Areas
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We have filmed this video in response to an At The Bench member’s request via the Suggest a Video Topic button on the bottom left of the page.
When designing and constructing a piece of jewellery it is important to always think ahead to the next stage of construction. If what you are doing next will effect the way you polish the item then stop and do something about it now. Also, having the correct tools and equipment to hand to help you polish those hard to reach areas will also help speed up your work and make your life easier. |
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Tips and Tricks – Liver of Sulphur
Over a period of time, silver will develop a lovely patina due to the reaction with sulphur that is in the air all around us.
If you can not wait that long and you want some control over the colour and amount of patina then you need some Liver of Sulphur solution. The powder can be purchased from any jewellery tools suppliers but be warned. IT SMELLS OF GONE OFF EGGS. So be warned! Use plenty of ventilation. There are other solutions available to colour the silver but Liver of Sulphur is the most well known.
