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Tammy Jones is the
editor of Jewelry Making Daily. |
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If the word silversmithing intimidates you, get ready to get excited! We've just published our newest free eBook,
Silversmithing Techniques from Jewelry Making Daily: 3 Free Silver Jewelry Making Projects. It provides step-by-step instructions with close-up photos to guide you through three free silversmithing projects, plus a detailed list of the silversmith's supplies and silver jewelry-making tools you'll need to complete each one.
Create Custom Silver Jewelry Designs
Imagine being able to create your own silver jewelry from scratch, not having to rely on premade silver jewelry-making components and findings. Our silversmithing eBook is a valuable reference and source of inspiration that will help you make a piece of custom silver jewelry—a pendant, a ring, or a brooch—that is truly and completely handmade by you! It's easier than you might think, and silversmithing is so rewarding. I'll never forget the creative joy I felt when I was making my first handmade silver jewelry piece—and how accomplished and rewarded I felt when it was done.
Hone your silversmithing skills as you create these silver jewelry projects, or modify any of them to develop your own unique custom silver jewelry designs.
Kentucky Agate Pendant by John Leeds
In this contemporary silver-jewelry project, you'll hone your silversmithing skills while framing a cabochon in hammered sterling silver. Because of the way the bail is attached to the silver pendant, the bezel-set cabochon floats inside the textured silver frame.
You can start this jewelry-making project with a finished cabochon and just do the silversmithing part yourself, or if you want to practice your lapidary skills, you can make this pendant all the way from rough stone to finished silver jewelry. Either way, the result is striking custom silver jewelry.
You'll also learn how to cleverly use jump rings on the back of the pendant to create structural support for it—a bonus silversmithing trick you'll surely use again and again in your silver jewelry-making designs.
Bamboo Silver Ring by Elizabeth Ann Tokoly
My favorite silversmithing projects to make are rings. With this bamboo silver ring project, you'll learn how basic techniques like metal forming, soldering, and filing come together to mimic bamboo. Precise filing and scoring techniques allow you to create this silver jewelry design's oh-so-stylish bamboo motif and will challenge even an experienced silver jewelry maker to perfect his/her silversmithing techniques.
There's a bonus in this project, too: Once you've mastered creating the bamboo effect, you'll be able to repeat the process in other silver jewelry-making and silversmithing projects such as bracelets, stack rings, and earrings—even in advanced silversmithing pieces like sterling silver flatware handles.
Pottery Shard Brooch by Julie Jerman-Melka
I adore china, and I can never bring myself to part with the pieces after something gets broken. This silversmithing project will show you how to use broken bits of china, a piece of sea glass, or just about any flat free-form found object you like in a silver jewelry-making project.
If you're one of those jewelry makers (like me) who likes to recycle found objects into wearable silver jewelry art, you'll love this Pottery Shard Brooch project. While making it (or your version of it), you'll learn how to turn an irregular object into a meaningful silver jewelry design and then enhance its nostalgic feel by giving it an antique patina with liver of sulfur. Once you've seen how to manipulate the silver into a bezel to hold your treasure, you can follow the rest of the project instructions to make it into a pin/brooch—or branch out on your own and turn it into a ring, pendant, or cuff.
If you choose to make the brooch, you'll enjoy these bonus instructions for making your own pin backing like Julie did:
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1. Bend wire in half and solder ends to back of brooch with medium solder. Pickle and sand off any excess solder.
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2. Snip wire for catch at 3/16" from the back and bend over. The remaining wire will be the pin stem.
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3. Curl wire for pin stem with round-nose pliers twice to create tension for the mechanism. The end of the pin should extend slightly beyond the catch. Snip off excess and file.
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3 Free Silversmithing Projects
Ready to learn the rest of the details and make custom silver jewelry of your own? Download Silversmithing Techniques from Jewelry Making Daily: 3 Free Silver Jewelry-Making Projects for more detailed instructions. Even if you already know the basics of silversmithing, there's always more to learn or a skill that can be improved upon, so get started today!
Have silver jewelry-making questions or comments? Be sure to share your silversmithing tips and stories in the comments below.