New Jewelry A Day: Make a Valentine's Day Pendant from a Copper Washer & Scrap Silver

Monday, February 7, 2011

Make a Valentine's Day Pendant from a Copper Washer & Scrap Silver

Before: Scrap silver

Valentine's Day is coming soon. My daughter and I decided that we would spend this week making different Valentine's Day themed and inspired jewelry... and it would not be NJAD unless we used found objects. Just to add to the challenge we decided to put a time limit on our projects: they need to be done in 30 minutes or less.

After: Pendant by GeltDesigns.com

Today we took some scrap sterling silver and a copper washer to make a framed heart pendant.

Materials
18-gauge sterling silver sheet metal
copper washer
18-gauge sterling silver wire

Tools
Jewelry saw & blade
Wax candle
Half-round file
Wet/Dry sandpaper or 3M bristle discs and flex shaft
Torch
Charcoal block
Annealing pan
Pickle and pickle pot
Copper tongs
Soldering pick
Hard solder & flux
Round nose pliers
Wire cutter

Mark the silver

Step 1
Draw a heart on the scrap metal. Use a jewelry saw and blade to cut out the sterling silver heart. File the edges smooth.

Prepare metal

Step 2
Sand the sterling silver heart and the copper washer to remove tool marks and dirt. You can use sandpaper or 3M bristle disks and a flex shaft to speed the sanding process. Clean with soap and water. Dry.