Project by Cheryl Burnett of Huntington Beach, Calif.
Cheryl is an energetic, cheerful stay-at-home mom who has loved making jewelry since she was a little girl. Inspired to learn some skills of her own after a job as a jewelry buyer, Cheryl now makes cute flower- and butterfly-shaped jewelry out of sterling silver and semiprecious gems.
Materials:
22-gauge sterling silver sheet
saw
saw blade
masking tape
extra fine point sharpie
file
220-grade sandpaper
flux
silver solder (easy, medium and hard)
butane
micro torch
pickle *
copper tongs
jump rings
bezel cups
genuine semiprecious stones
two-part epoxy
an object with a sharp point (an old compass)
burnishing tool
brass brush
wooden-handled tweezers
* The acid compound in a crock pot to clean the silver once it has been fired.
Steps:
1. Start with a piece of 22-gauge sterling silver "dead soft" sheet at least 2-1/2 inches wide and no more than 3-1/2 inches long. Put masking tape across the 2-1/2-inch-wide side (just one strip of tape is fine).
2. Across the tape using the end of the silver as your bottom, draw a freehand circle approximately 6-1/2 mm round and six separate petals. When you are done they should all be in a row and not resemble a flower at all.
3. Cut out the images with the saw. When you are done with all seven pieces, set aside the rest of the silver and the saw. Remove the masking tape from each piece.
4. File all seven pieces, rounding out irregular spots and smoothing them in general. Rub the flat sides of each piece on sandpaper briefly.
5. Put flux on the round piece using a little paintbrush. Put six pieces of hard solder evenly around the piece, on top of the flux. Put the flame of the micro torch on the piece until you begin to see the solder "sweat." Turn off the torch.
6. Place the petals on the round piece, on top of the solder (now it should look like a flower!). Fire it again with the torch, until the solder melts and the petals settle down onto the round piece.
7. Put the new, bigger piece in the pickle. After a few minutes, using only copper tongs, remove the piece and immerse it in clean water to get the pickle solution off.
8. Take a small square of 220-grade sandpaper and begin smoothing out the edges of the flower. When that is done, use the sand paper on the front and back, too.
9. Flatted one side of a small jump ring. Turn the flower over so that you see the back of it but solder on only one petal. Put one piece of medium solder on that petal. Put the torch on the petal with the solder until it sweats. Then use the wooden handled tweezers to place the jump ring on the solder and fire it some more until it melts and affixes the ring to the flower. Then put it back in the pickle.
10. While it is in the pickle, take a small piece of 180-grade sandpaper and sand down the 6mm bezel cup so that the walls of the cup are fairly low.
11. Take the flower out of the pickle, clean it off in water, and put flux on the front of the round piece.
12. Put one piece of easy solder on the round piece and fire until it sweats. Put the 6mm bezel cup on the solder and fire until it settles onto the piece. Put the flower in the pickle. After a minute or two, take it out, clean it in water and dry it.
13. Use the brass brush to shine up the silver. Take a sharp object (like a nail) to crosshatch the inside of the bezel cup.
14. Mix the two-part epoxy with a toothpick. Use the toothpick with just a dab of epoxy on it and put the glue in the bezel cup. Set a 6mm stone in the cup. After 20 minutes, it is dry.
15. Burnish the bezel cup edges to "hug" the stone.
We apologize guest contact information is not available.
| 
)
)
)
