Borax

Chain Making: Take Wire from Functional to Fabulous, Plus 7 Tips on Caring for Chain

Since I've been working at Jewelry Making Daily (good times!), I've gained a whole new appreciation for wire . I used to have a pretty specific view of wirework, but slowly, thankfully, I've realized that wire is everywhere in jewelry making
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Micro Torches 101, Part 2: Torch in Action and Simple Soldering Setup

Are you ready to jump even further into the world of micro torches? In part one , I shared the basics of how micro torches work. This time we are going to move beyond the basics and get those torches fired up. First, let's discuss the setup that you
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Gemstone Adventures: Mine for Moonstone and Learn to Set it in Jewelry

The recent full moon was so large and bright (earning itself "supermoon" status), so pretty in the spring sky, I found myself gazing at it as I traveled around Louisiana over the past weekend. Perhaps it's the gemstone training (or gem geekiness
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Beyond Metalsmithing Basics: Turn Plain Band Rings into Bamboo Stack Rings

Photo by Jim Lawson. Once you've mastered the basic metalsmithing skills required to make simple band/stack rings, you'll probably want to start jazzing things up a bit with textures and other designs. As a follow-up to my Metalsmithing Basics
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Wire Fusing, Coiling, Wrapping, Chain Making, Findings, and More: Our Best Wirework Tips from Denise Peck

I've been digging through the Jewelry Making Daily wire articles and found that Denise Peck's blog on how to finish your wire jewelry professionally is our most visited blog *ever*! Here are her tips from that blog along with a few of her other
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Creative Cold Connections: Setting a Stone with No Soldering

by Tim McCreight In the jewelry world, the term cold connections usually describes mechanical joining techniques that are used to fasten together parts that cannot be soldered (which is a "hot" connection). The leaders of the pack are probably
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Micro Torches 101, Part 1: The Which, What, and Why of Butane Torches

by Jewelry Making Daily's newest contributor, Kate Richbourg ! Welcome to the world of butane torches (also known as micro torches or even crème brûlée torches)! Micro torches make creating simple soldered jewelry a breeze. I am
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Alternative Metals: Tips for Soldering Copper and Brass

You learn something new every day--if you're lucky, and if you follow the Jewelry Making Daily forums! Likely due to the rising cost of silver, there's been a lot of buzz of the forums recently about soldering copper as well as soldering copper
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Stone Setting: Basic Bezel-Making Tips and Techniques from Michael Boyd

by Michael Boyd In our shop, we make hundreds if not thousands of bezels each year--sometimes twenty, thirty, and even up to fifty bezels for one piece of jewelry! Bezels offer the jewelry maker a nicely integrated gemstone setting that is secure as well
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Metalsmithing Basics: Learn to Make One-of-a-Kind Rings in an Hour

Thanks to Lexi Erickson, who taught me to make these rings and allowed me to share the project with you! Rings are my favorite piece of jewelry to collect, wear, and make. Fortunately, the ring design possibilities are endless when you combine sterling
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Learn How to Make Wire Jewelry: Designs for Making Wire Jewelry with 6 Wire Jewelry Making Techniques

I've gained a new passion and respect for wire jewelry in the past two years, and it's largely due to discovering how versatile wire and wire jewelry making is. In fact, I'd go so far as to say there's almost no jewelry to be made without
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Metalsmithing Techniques: Learn the Zen of the Process for Hand-Finishing Metal Jewelry

Nightfall on the Mesa Shaman pendant in sterling silver and copper by Lexi Erickson By Lexi Erickson Everyone knows my favorite jewelry-making technique is soldering . I should have a bumper sticker that says, "A Day Without Soldering Is a Day Without
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Jewelry Making with Alternative Metals: Upcycled Cookie-Tin Earrings, Part One

Having been a tree hugger since college and a crafter since long, long before that, I get real joy from seeing some of the clever ways artists reuse materials to make beautiful things. I can't go into an antiques store or junk shop without finding
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Metalsmithing Details: Designing Interesting Pendants (and Speaking French) with Lexi Erickson

These highly polished bails are a stark contrast to the heavily patinated foreground, and they accent the high polished metal of the background. ( Canyon of Remembering from Lexi's Conversations with Harold Series) By Lexi Erickson I love teaching
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National Craft Month: Pass on Your Passion with Jewelry Making Daily and Other Interweave Craft Communities

March is National Craft Month! All of us at Jewelry Making Daily , Beading Daily , and other Interweave craft communities Cloth Paper Scissors Today , Knitting Daily , and Crochet Me are committed to "passing on our passion" for crafts by teaching
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Part Three: Make a Custom Reticulated Silver Cabochon Bezel

Continued from part two of Make a Custom Reticulated Silver Cabochon Bezel. 24. Clamp the spread end in a vise and bend to a right angle. 25. Using your hands, bend the square wire 180° around a 3/8" diameter steel rod clamped in a vise. 26.
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Part Two: Make a Custom Reticulated Silver Cabochon Bezel

Continued from Part One: Make a Custom Reticulated Silver Cabochon Bezel ... 14. To fabricate the heavy outer border, anneal a length of 14-gauge sterling silver square wire. Using your fingers and a section of 1" wood dowel, bend the square wire
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Part One: Make a Custom Reticulated Silver Cabochon Bezel

As part two of the introductory cabochon-cutting tutorial from last week, Tom and Kay Benham also created a custom bezel to fit that freeform turquoise cabochon that features reticulated silver. Reticulation uses a torch flame to add interesting, natural
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Soldering 101: Glossary of Terms and Tools

It's hard to feel like you've mastered any technique if you aren't familiar with the terms associated with it. Soldering is no different--even as you get comfortable with moving your flame around while keeping an eye on the state of your flux
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Jewelry Soldering Basics: Using Solders, Flux, Tools & Creating a Safe Soldering Space

If you've been a Jewelry Making Daily reader for awhile, you've undoubtedly seen me write about Lexi Erickson, my beloved friend and metalsmithing teacher. Lexi is so generous with JMD readers, sharing her knowledge about all things jewelry related
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Gemstones for Jewelry Making: Pantone's Spring 2012 Color Palette

I'm passionate about color and all of its little nuances. I'm fascinated by the different appearances a single color can have based upon the light it's viewed under, and I get satisfaction from identifying multiple hues in an object that appears
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Creative and Alternative Metals: Mokume Gane

Or, Mokume Gane: What It Is, How to Really Mess It Up, and How to Do It Right By Lexi Erickson I was recently interviewed for an article on jewelry-making techniques and was asked, "What was your biggest jewelry-making mistake as you were learning
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Making Three-Dimensional Metal Jewelry: What can your hammer do for you?

I'm always amazed at the malleability of some metals . . . the most typical metals that artisan jewelry makers work with at least--I can't speak much about metals like platinum and titanium and the like. Maybe someday! But for now, whenever I
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Creating the Perfect Jewelry-Making Studio: Jewelry Tools and Supplies

In writing last Friday's blog about the most talked-about posts on Jewelry Making Daily in 2011, I came across a great one that I saved for today: a look at jewelry-making tools and supplies from master jeweler and soldering queen Lexi Erickson. Lexi
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People Are Talking About...The Best of 2011 on Jewelry Making Daily

Gosh we had fun last year, didn't we? We did lots of wirework and metalsmithing, a little chain maille (ahem), metal clay of all kinds, and lots and lots of mixed-media jewelry, using fun jewelry-making materials such as enamel, resin, fibers, found
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Quick and Easy Cold Connections: Make Riveted Flower Dangle Earrings

I wanted to make some fun and unique earrings for a friend for Christmas, ones that incorporated mixed metals and flowers--and these pretty earrings by Karen Dougherty immediately came to mind. Karen designed these earrings especially for Jewelry Making
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist, January/February 2012

Everyone loves opals! And we have three amazing kinds to tell you about including new precious blue opal and picture opals from Arizona! Learn to cut a free-form opal and make a jazzy ring for it. Plus, learn tab setting as you make a copper and fossil coral pendant; learn bezel setting as you make a
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My Favorite Jewelry-Making Tips for Wire, Metal, Polymer Clay, and More

I love a great time- and money-saving tip. I mentally collect them like Heloise must, and when I learn a new one, it's like a new word--I use it and share it as often as possible. If only there was some way to truly measure the value of a great jewelry
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Helen's Top Tips for Aspiring Metalworkers: A Jewelry Expert's Metalsmithing Dos and Don'ts

I meet people on a regular basis who want to learn metalsmithing and other jewelry fabrication techniques, and I'm fortunate to always have a wealth of resources to share with them. One such resource is Helen Driggs, senior editor of Lapidary Journal
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Ask the Experts: Soldering Silver to Gold

Did you see jewelry artists and experts Tom and Kay Benham's response to a community member on the Jewelry Making Daily Ask the Expert Forum , about soldering gold to silver? A. We recommend you use hard silver solder to solder a gold accent piece
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Specialized Silversmithing Skills: How to Make a Brooch Pin Catch

I've said it before--I absolutely LOVE this time of year. I find myself singing Christmas carols all the time, and I don't mind making up the words when I don't know the right ones. I made up my own little version of the Rudolph song this
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10 Metal Clay Secrets for Metalsmiths: The Best of Both Worlds

I get a kick out of hearing jewelry-making friends debate over the difference between metal clay work and metalsmithing or metal fabrication. Each camp thinks theirs is best (of course), and it's fun to hear them explain why. The more they debate
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist, December 2011

Learn how to set gems in new fascinating ways and practice your skills by creating stunning designs with the December issue of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist. Prepare for the holidays with 5 projects that are perfect for gift giving! Learn how to make easy yet sophisticated holiday-tree earrings, create
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Mixed Metals: Tips for Soldering Copper to Silver and More

by Lexi Erickson Lexi's fun mixed-metal hearts in copper, brass, and silver. It's like Oreos and milk or, for me, green chile and tortillas. Some things just go together. And so it is with silver and copper. Copper and its alloys really warm up
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Guide to Jewelry-Making Techniques: How to Make Jewelry with 5 Free Jewelry Projects

I love being able to share my passion for jewelry making with new makers, especially ones who are learning new jewelry techniques such as wirework and even metalsmithing, including fun techniques like texturing, doming, and soldering metal, bezel making
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5 Tips for Colored Wire Jewelry Making

I've been unpacking my craft room/studio/office since I moved (yes, that was six months ago . . . shh!) and working on getting each part of the room set up and organized--one side for jewelry making, one for paper crafts, one for my work desk, and
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Jewelry-Making Firsts: Wire Earrings, Gem Cutting, and More

Everyone remembers the big "firsts" in their lives--first car, first home, first kiss. For jewelry makers, their first jewelry designs always stick in their minds. Whether it's the first piece they ever made or the first time they tried
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Easy Metal Clay, 2011

Discover jewelry making like never before! You can create marvelous metal jewelry in moments with metal clay. Design earrings, bracelets, pendants, and rings in the versatile medium that gives you the accessibility of clay and the durability, luster, and genuine artisan feel of metal. With this remarkable
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Solder 101: Its Forms and Melting Temperatures for Successfully Soldering Jewelry

by Sara M. Sanford Soldering is one of the most basic techniques in metalworking , but also one of the hardest to master. For a very good reason, we are taught in early childhood to fear fire, and the possibility of melting a piece that has a lot of work
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Make Successful Bezels, Every Time: Bezel Wire Tips from the Jewelry Making Daily Forums

When it comes to making bezels, the hardest part for me (and, so I've heard, for many of you) is the piecework of cutting bezel wire to fit together just right. While soldering a bezel, the solder will flow up into the seam of the bezel wire--but
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Silversmithing for Jewelry Makers: A Million (okay, 17) Silver Jewelry-Making Tips

I've been like a kid awaiting Santa Claus since I learned about our new silversmithing book, Silversmithing for Jewelry Makers: A Handbook of Techniques and Surface Treatments. (Is it here yet? Is it here yet?) I couldn't even get my hands on
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6 More Silver Jewelry-Making Tips from Silversmithing for Jewelry Makers

Enjoy these six bonus silversmithing tips from Elizabeth Bone's book Silversmithing for Jewelry Makers: A Handbook of Techniques and Surface Treatments , a must-have comprehensive silversmithing resource! Create unique surface treatments in the texturing
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It's Sparkle (Jewelry) Season: Make Earrings for the Holiday Party Season

I looove this time of year. Leaves falling, warm bright blue-sky days, crisp chilly nights . . . and when all that natural beauty gives way to dreary cold, dark days, there's still something else to love about autumn: the beginning of the holiday
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6 Tips for Hammering and Forming Metal from Master Metalsmith Bill Fretz

When I saw master metalsmith and toolmaker Bill Fretz 's first DVD about hammering and forming metal jewelry, I was amazed at how effortless and easy he made it look to create bangles using only brass tubing, hammers, and stakes. The bangles Bill
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6 Reasons Not to Miss the Newest Series of Beads, Baubles, and Jewels

I get excited every time a new series of Beads, Baubles and Jewels comes out. Each one gets better than the ones before, and there's so much to talk about, I never know where to begin. The newest series is packed full of dozens of handcrafted jewelry
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist, November 2011

Create your perfect workspace and with easy ways to keep your favorite tools at hand in the November issue of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . Go inside the studio of noted goldsmith Michael David Sturlin for expert tips and tricks to arrange your tools, storage areas, and work surfaces. Learn the 12
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist, September/October 2011

Score! The September/October issue is the Special Jewelry Design Issue. With this issue you'll have the opportunity to discover 5 artists and their signature styles. Plus, you'll be able to add some more experience to your jewelry making resume with their special tools and remarkable techniques
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Making Great Wire Rivets: Cold Connections with Helen Driggs

by Helen Driggs The Ultimate Rivet-Creating Pliers I love cold connections. Don't get me wrong--soldering totally rocks--but I often choose rivets even when I could solder because they can make punctuation-like emphasis on a piece (the other editors
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist, August 2011

The August issue of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist will help you start designing outside your box with tips for a successful partnership. Create resin jewelry with demos for earrings and pendants. Take a look at Topaz with expert dos and don'ts. PLUS . . . Learn one of the most important tricks
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The Great Eight: the Best of Jewelry Making Daily

Jewelry Making Daily turned one earlier this summer, and at the end of this month, I'll celebrate my one-year anniversary as the Jewelry Making Daily editor. I can't believe it has been a year already! Our community has grown so fast (thanks to
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Fave Five: Top Jewelry-Making DVDs to Teach and Inspire You

Even though I wasn't an early adapter, I can't imagine not knowing all the jewelry techniques that I've learned by watching a DVD: etching, chain maille, riveting and cold connections, resin, even some wirework. Classes are a luxury that not
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist, July 2011

The July issue of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist is just like the weather, hot, hot, hot! Covering so many topics including mandrels, alabaster, mokumé snakes, and copper, you'll be hooked by the first page. Learn all about ring and bracelet mandrels for an easy way to form your metal. From
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist, May/June 2011

Discover the 5 essential secrets to successful soldering and practice on 3 easy silver rings. Learn to set pearls with pegs in silver wire and sheet design for a pendant plus earrings - and find out why South Sea pearls enjoy such a great reputation. Find out how to make a corrugated copper pendant with
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist, April 2011

Learn the differences among jewelry torches and fuels and the flames they produce. Share what you know about jewelry making with others in online tutorials as a way of driving traffic to your online jewelry store. Make a dynamic, hinged silver pendant and learn to set faceted stones in your own cabochon
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist, March 2011

At last! A portable, hand-held jeweler's torch that burns hot enough to solder sizable pieces of silver: see the results of a test-drive we put this new torch through. Learn what you need to set up your own jewelry soldering station. Discover wavellite as a gem and make a mixed metal pendant with
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist January/February 2011

Discover the world of designer gems, fabulous one-of-a-kind cuts and unusual materials that can make your custom jewelry stand out: find gem designers, learn what to look for when you buy, and what setting skills you’ll need to set these outstanding stones. Learn basic gem carving and stone polishing
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Jewelry Tool Tips From the Archives: Choosing and Using a Flex Shaft

As my jewelry-making interests have changed in recent years, I've found myself digging through back issues of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist and their old newsletters with a new perspective, looking at the things that apply to my craft now that might
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Cool Off with Hot Jewelry-Making Picks: Mixed-Media and Metalwork Inspiration (and a Coupon!)

I'm pretty easily distracted. If I have work or chores--even things I enjoy, like reading or making jewelry--that I should be doing, a blue sky and a country road with the top down or an invitation from a friend can easily lure me away from the task
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Soldering Next Steps: Make My Silver Flower Ring and a 10-Part Soldering Series

Last week on Jewelry Making Daily, I shared how to make the beginner soldering stack rings project that master metalsmith Lexi Erickson taught me to make in her studio last year (also found in the May/June 2011 issue of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist
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Soldering Made Simple: Create Easy Textured Silver Stack Rings

Rings are my favorite piece of jewelry to collect, wear, and make. Fortunately, the ring design possibilities are endless when you combine sterling silver wire with texturing tools such as hammers and files. (I prefer standard 8-gauge half-round, but
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10 Fusing and Soldering Micro-Torch Tips: Make Wire Findings and Bezels for Found Objects

No matter how often I use a full torch setup, I admit that I still choose my micro torch over the larger torch whenever it will do the job just as well. I like to work with fine silver, too, which is ideal for micro torch use. Perhaps I like fine silver
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Free Video Tutorial: How to Fuse Fine Silver Wire Links with a Handheld Butane Micro Torch

If you've hesitated to move away from cold connections and begin soldering and fusing metals with a torch (even a small handheld torch like a micro torch or a butane torch, also sometimes called a crème brûlée torch), we have a
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Handmade Wire Findings: Make Your Own Balled Head Pins

Scott's tornado wire-wrapped earrings Growing up on a cattle ranch and building barbed-wire fences, Scott David Plumlee developed a love of wire. What an unusual beginning to a career in wire jewelry making! Now Scott has just finished his latest
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Make Art Jewelry Out of Anything: Techniques for Using Plastic, Concrete, and More in Your Jewelry Designs

Based on the cover and the title, I felt like I had a pretty good idea of what The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Jewelry-Making Techniques was about. I felt like I knew what the jewelry inside probably looked like, what the how-tos and instructional pieces
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Arm Candy: Learn to Make 10 Bracelet Designs

Layering Bracelets in Fashion When I think of jewelry trends over the past few years, stacking and layering seems to be The Big Thing. It seems the fashion world has decided that instead of some specific style, anything goes--and more is more. So people
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Get (Real) One-on-One Jewelry Soldering Lessons with Lexi Erickson

I was torch-accessory shopping at the hardware store last night, and before I went, I consulted my notes from my soldering weekend with Lexi Erickson last year. Just pulling out those papers reminded me what a great time I had learning soldering from
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Helen's Perfect Rivets: Cold Connections for Metalsmithing and Mixed-Media Jewelry Making

These two photos show a well-fitted tube rivet, one with thick-walled stock and one with thin-walled stock. You should have to coax the tubing into the hole with a little bit of muscle--if the hole is too big, eventually the rivet will fail. A few times
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Learn New Jewelry-Making Techniques: From Wirework to Metalsmithing

I always said wireworking wasn't my thing, until I realized just how much wireworking I was doing without even realizing it. When I read "Exploring the World of Metals" in a recent issue of Step by Step Wire Jewelry , I was struck by this
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The Life of a Jeweler's Apprentice

In the past six months or so, I think I've been one of the luckiest girls in the world. I've gotten to learn many new jewelry-making techniques through face-to-face interaction with masters at their arts. I learned to enamel on copper, and I spent
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5 Tips (and A Great Deal!) for Making Colorful Wire and Beaded Jewelry

Wrapping colored wire can enhance the color of dramatic pieces like Sara's Ocean Garden necklace. Photo: Michael Richardson. Colorful wire jewelry is a great antidote for dreary, rainy days, and as the price of precious metals continue to rise past
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5 Jewelry Techniques + 5 Must-Have How-Tos = 1 Great Jewelry-Making Library

Crafters in general (jewelry makers too) are notorious for our supply stashes, but working in a "making" industry of one sort or another for over ten years now makes mine different, because I have to have all this stuff for work. Riiiight. I
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Behind the Scenes with Lexi Erickson: Filming Her Soldering DVD

Lexi preparing her soldering samples for the camera. It doesn't matter how many times you've done something, each circumstance is different. I've taught jewelry making for . . . er . . . a number of years. (OK, twenty-five.) Students have
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Learn to Make Brooches, Fashion's Most Versatile Piece of Jewelry

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. Brooches are probably the most versatile piece of jewelry. Sure, you can pin one on your blouse, sweater, jacket, dress, scarf, hat, or just about anywhere else for a little dash of pretty (or bling,
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Jewelry Artist Roger Halas Talks About Design and Inspiration

Karla Rosenbusch is the managing editor of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist. Through my work on Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist , I've been very privileged in getting to know several top jewelry artists and jewelry makers. One of those artists is Roger
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Experts Share How To Turn Your Jewelry-Making Mistakes Into Masterpieces, No Foolin'!

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. Today is all about trickery and pranks, but messing up a piece of jewelry is no joke. The costs--in materials, time, sanity, and heartache--are too much to trifle with, so I try to never let a jewelry
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Cold-Connection Jewelry Making: Create Riveted Flower Dangle Earrings

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. In Karen Dougherty's new book Metal Style: 20 Jewelry Designs with Cold Join Techniques , she defines cold connections as the joining of materials without the use of solder or flame, but cold connections
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Jewelry Making Tips: Create Your Own Bezels

The difference in gauge between the bezel and the backplate is an important factor when soldering. Don't fry your bezel! Keep the torch on the thicker backplate until you are teetering on the brink of solder flow. Only then play the flame over those
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Silver Jewelry-Making for Everyone: Intro to the 5 Silversmithing Techniques

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. If the word silversmithing intimidates you, get ready to get excited! I recently had a discussion with Jewelry Making Daily 's Facebook friends about what we wish someone had told us when we first
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Your First Metalsmithing Project: Create Textured Copper Earrings

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. My first metalsmithing experience resulted in these handmade textured copper earrings. My friend and teacher, metalsmith Lexi Erickson, taught me how to saw and then set me loose, helping me quickly turn
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Spring in my Step: Tammy's Favorite Jewelry-Making E-Projects

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. It's nearly 70 degrees and sunny here today, and even though it's still February, I've just been hit with a ferocious bout of spring fever! My to-do list is a mile long, but it's all going
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New Silversmithing eBook: Three Free Silver Jewelry-Making Projects

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. 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
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Jewelry-Making Essentials, Part Two: 23 Everyday Items For Your Jewelry Workshop

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. Ah, January. Resolutions have everyone on their best behavior, eating better, learning new skills, saving money, being earth friendly. . . . My friend Chocolate and I can't help you with the "eating
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Jewelry-Making Essentials, Part One: Confessions of a Jewelry-Tool Junkie

Lexi Erickson is a contributing author to Jewelry Making Daily . Lexi's beloved jewelry-making hammers Okay, I admit it: I love jewelry-making tools . Even if I don't use them all, I love having them in my studio. I'm perfectly happy hanging
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Make A Mokume Gane Heart Pendant

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. Mokume Gane Heart Pendant by Roger Halas Roger Halas is a self-taught lapidary, metalsmith, and jewelry designer in southern California. When not making jewelry, he works as a professional photographer
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Best Jewelry-Making Blogs of 2010, Best Wishes for 2011—and a Great Sale to Get You Started!

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. Hearing all the "year in review" news this time of year always reminds me—time flies when you're having fun, and I've had so much fun being with all of you these past months. Many
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Merle's Top 7 Holiday Gifts for Jewelry Makers

Merle White is editor-in-chief of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . Just out, the December 2010 Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist issue is my favorite of the moment. My favorite is always whatever I've just discovered. I still love the old standbys
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Sawing and Soldering: Make Your Own Sterling Silver Flower Ring

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. Flowers have always been a source of joy for me. When I was growing up, one grandmother had a garden full of hydrangeas, pansies, irises, roses, and lilacs, and my other grandmother was always surrounded
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Enrich Your Jewelry Designs with the Spirit of King Tut

Helen Driggs is the Managing Editor for Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . When I was in art school, I was privileged enough to see the first exhibition of King Tut's treasures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. I marveled at the gold
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Overcome the Challenges of Bezels—Let us Help!

Fold Pendant: This piece has two bezels--a hand-textured one around the fold-formed copper metalwork (made with a cross peen hammer) and one around the stone. Helen Driggs is the Managing Editor for Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . I've never understood
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Mad About Copper

Beautifully patinated copper. Helen Driggs is the Managing Editor for Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . Sure, I love silver and gold. But my one true love is copper. Nothing hammers like copper. Nothing patinates like copper. Nothing is more forgiving
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Karla’s Top Seven Jewelry-Making Picks

Karla Rosenbusch is the managing editor of Jewelry Making Daily and associate editor of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist. Happy Labor Day, everyone! Do you have any big plans for the holiday? Personally, I plan to spend the day in my favorite way-curled
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Helen's Apprentice Log -- Day 10, The Following Friday

Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist managing editor Helen Driggs spent nine days in apprentice mode with master lapidary and jewelry artist Michael Boyd at his Pueblo, Colorado studio. This is her day-by-day log of her experiences. Since I'd missed out
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Helen's Apprentice Log -- Day Four, Monday

Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist managing editor Helen Driggs spent nine days in apprentice mode with master lapidary and jewelry artist Michael Boyd at his Pueblo, Colorado studio. This is her day-by-day log of her experiences. Mastering the "shop
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Helen's Apprentice Log -- Day Three, Sunday

Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist managing editor Helen Driggs spent nine days in apprentice mode with master lapidary and jewelry artist Michael Boyd at his Pueblo, Colorado studio. This is her day-by-day log of her experiences. A spool of annealed bezel
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Apprenticeship: 9 Days that Will Shake Your World

Here's me, soldering away at the apprentice bench in the Pueblo, Colorado studio of master jeweler/lapidary Michael Boyd. Too cool for school! Helen Driggs is the Managing Editor for Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist. I've been so busy travelling
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Take the Leap--5 Things You Need to Know About Working with Colored Wire!

Sara Richardson is the associate editor for Step by Step Wire Jewelry and Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . More often than not, I choose to work with color-coated copper wire or "craft wire." Part of the reason why, I'll admit, is because
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7 Favorite Cold Connections

Helen Driggs is the Managing Editor f or Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . Screw, Rivet, Tab, or Stitch? I love soldering just as much as I love cold connections. Luckily, I've got the equipment and knowledge to go either way when it comes to jewelry
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Discover Timeless Wirework

Sara Richardson is the associate editor for Step by Step Wire Jewelry and Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . Jewelry artists have used classic wire wrap for centuries . . . some work even dates back to 2000 B.C. Pieces of jewelry found in ancient Roman
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Expert Jewelry Artists Share: What Drives You to Make Art?

Helen Driggs is the Managing Editor f or Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . I often wonder where art making comes from. I know I can't not do it, especially when there is an insistent need to. That need wells up from deep inside my chest when I am
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Learn the Expert Secrets of Metal Clay Jewelry Making

Karla Rosenbusch is the managing editor of Jewelry Making Daily and associate editor of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist. Thinking about moving up from beading and wirework to another phase of jewelry making? If you're fascinated by the look of metalwork
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Soldering & Fusing Made Simple

Denise Peck is the editor of Step by Step Wire Jewelry and the senior editor of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . You Don't Need a Whole Studio Fine silver fuses to itself like magic, without solder. Even if you're dying for one, not everyone
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Can You Solder Copper Cleanly?

Helen Driggs is the managing editor f or Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . I've been working on a new series of mixed metal brooches with custom cut freeform stones for about three months now. It's been tough for me to find time after my full
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Recycled Charcoal Blocks

By Tom and Kay Benham, Contributing Editors, Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist It is common knowledge that soldering and fusing on a charcoal block generates a reducing atmosphere that diminishes silver oxidation and produces stronger joints. However, charcoal
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