New Jewelry A Day

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Make Earrings from Plastic Bottle Caps

Before: Bottle caps

Earlier in the week we made a necklace using plastic bottle caps collected from Vintage Seltzer bottles. Today, we made coordinating plastic bottle cap earrings.

We decided to vary the design a bit by making the earrings opposite images rather than identical.

After: Bottle Cap Earring by GeltDesigns.com

Materials
Bottle caps
18-gauge brass wire

Tools
Drill and bits
Round nose pliers
Wire cutter
Needle files
Chain nose pliers
Steel bench block
Plastic mallet
Tumbler (optional)

Step 1
Select the bottle caps and arrange the design.

Drill hole in bottle cap

Step 2
Drill holes in the bottle caps. Drill two holes in the top bottle cap and one hole in the bottom bottle cap.

Step 3

Feed wire through bottle cap

Create the middle bottle cap that holds the finding and has a second dangling bottle cap below.

Feed the wire through the bottle cap with two holes. Make a loop on one side of the bottle cap. Make a second loop on the other side of the bottle cap. Cut the wire from the spool. File the wire ends until smooth.

Step 4
Create the dangling bottle cap. Feed the wire through the drilled hole. Make a small loop inside the bottle cap. Make a second larger loop on the outside of the bottle cap. The second loop should be the same size as the loops made in step 3. Again, cut the wire from the spool. File the wire ends until smooth.

Step 5
Make the ear wires. Place the ear wires on the steel bench block and hit the ear wires with a plastic or rawhide mallet to harden and burnish the ear wires. You can also use a tumbler to hasten the hardening and burnishing of the ear wires.

Assemble the bottle cap earrings

Step 6
Assemble the earrings.

Related Tutorials
Make a Necklace from Plastic Bottle Caps
Make Chanukah Menorah Earrings from Plastic Bottle Caps
How to Make "Fish Hook" Ear Wires
How to Select a Cup Burr

Further Reading
"Fantastic Recycled Plastic: 30 Clever Creations to Spark Your Imagination"; David Edgar, Robin A. Edgar; 2009.

Day 105. Month 5. Jewelry from Found Objects. $ spent: 0
Found materials: bottle caps
New Jewelry a Day.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Make a Ring from a Silver Liberty Mercury Dime

Piggy bank!

We collect coins. No, we are not serious collectors. Rather, we are the sort of collectors who throw pennies in a piggy bank-- a real piggy bank shaped like a piggy-- and then on a stormy day when the power is out, we all sit around the table sorting through the pennies to see if there is anything special.

We've been sorting coins sporadically for years -- since luckily for us the power does not go out very often. That is how we found this silver liberty mercury dime.

Penny sorting time!

The coin was so dark it looked like a penny... but the small size made it clear this was no penny. As the kids say, "score!" My daughter and I claimed the silver liberty mercury dime and decided the coin would make a really nice ring.

Materials
Silver liberty mercury dime
16-gauge round or half-round sterling silver wire
Hard silver solder

After: Mercury Dime Ring by GeltDesigns.com

Tools
Ring mandrel
Rawhide mallet
Soldering torch & equipment
Annealing pan
Charcoal block
Flux

Soldering pick
Sparex acid pickle
Pickle pot
Copper tongs
Wet/dry sandpaper
Tumbler

Step 1

Form the sterling silver ring

Measure for ring size. Form the ring from the sterling silver wire in the size needed using a ring mandrel and a rawhide mallet. We used half-round sterling silver wire since it is more comfortable for a ring and we had some in our scrap pile, but you can use round wire and wire in a different gauge if you prefer. Check the ring for size before soldering. Solder the ring closed.

Step 2
Anneal the dime. Place the dime on the charcoal block on your annealing pan. Heat the dime until it is annealed using your torch. You can tell the dime reached the annealing temperature because the metal of the dime turns cherry red. Do not overheat. Cool the dime and pickle to remove any oxidation formed when annealing. Rinse off the pickle with water.

Step 3
Form the dime. Place the dime on the ring mandrel. Shape the dime so it is the same arc as the ring. To do so, place the dime on the ring mandrel at the same size as the ring. Position the dime so the line for the ring size is in the center of the dime. Hit the dime with the raw hide mallet. The shape will be sloped. To even out the dime, turn the dime over so it faces the opposite way and hit the dime again with the rawhide

Finished Mercury Liberty Dime Ring by GeltDesigns.com

mallet. Continue to move the dime until the shape is perfected and the dime sits flush against the top of the ring.

Step 4
Solder the ring to the dime. Pickle. Remove the ring from the pickle using copper tongs and rinse off the pickle with water. Sand away any excess solder, if any.

Step 5Tumble the ring to harden and burnish the sterling silver ring and silver mercury dime.

Related Tutorials
Make Hammered Copper Earrings from Washers
Make a Pendant from a Copper Washer
Thoughts on Soldering Torches & Other Equipment
Soldering for Jewelry Makers
Solve Your Soldering Problems

Further Reading: Soldering
"Hot Connections Jewelry: The Complete Sourcebook of Soldering Techniques"; Jennifer Chin; 2011.
"Soldering Made Simple: Easy techniques for the kitchen-table jeweler"; Joe Silvera; 2010.
"Step-by-Step Jewelry Workshop: Simple Techniques for Soldering, Wirework, and Metal Jewelry"; Nicola Hurst; 2008.
"Complete Metalsmith: Professional Edition"; Tim McCreight; 2004.

Further Reading: Coins
"A Guide Book of United States Coins 2011: The Official Red Book"; R. S. Yeoman, 2011.
"Coin Collecting For Dummies"; Neil S. Berman, Ron Guth
"2011 Hand Book of United States Coins: The Official Blue Book (Handbook of United States Coins (Paper))"; R. S. Yeoman; 2010.
"Coin Collecting for Kids"; Steve Otfinoski; 2007.
"The Everything Coin Collecting Book: All You Need to Start Your Collection And Trade for Profit (Everything Series)"; Richard Giedroyc; 2006.

Day 104. Month 5. Jewelry from Found Objects. $ spent: 0
Found materials: Mercury Liberty Dime, scrap silver wire
New Jewelry a Day.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Make a Necklace from Plastic Bottle Caps

Before: Bottle cap

Bottle caps are the recycling cans gift to jewelry makers and upcyclers. Bottle caps are shaped ideally to be used as bezels or to be made into beads.

Today's project began as a collection Vintage Seltzer bottle caps. We kept the necklace plain because we liked the bright colors..... but the design is easily adapted by filling the inside of bottle caps with resin or polymer clay or embellishing the outside of the bottle caps with paint, ink or even stickers (as we did when we made our holiday inspired earrings in December 2010).

After: Bottle Cap Necklace by GeltDesigns.com

Materials
Bottle caps
18-gauge brass wire

Tools
Drill and bits
Round nose pliers
Wire cutter
Needle files
Chain nose pliers
Steel bench block
Plastic mallet

Step 1

Drill bottle caps

Drill two holes in each bottle cap. The holes should be the same size and they should be directly across from each other.

Step 2

Feed wire through bottle cap

Feed a piece of 18-gauge brass wire through the holes drilled on both sides of the bottle cap. Make a loop on the end of the wire outside the bottle cap using round nose pliers. Make a second loop on the other side of the bottle cap. Cut the wire off the spool using a wire cutter. File the ends of the wire with a needle file until smooth.

Step 3
Repeat to create needed number of bottle caps. the number of bottle caps needed depends on the size of the bottle caps and the length of the necklace.

Attach the bottle cap links

Step 4
Attach the links using chain nose pliers.

Step 5

Feed the 18-gauge brass wire through the final drilled bottle cap in the chain. Make a very small loop at the end of the wire. Form the hook portion of the hook and eye clasp. Create a loop on the other side of the bottle cap as you did for the bottle cap links. Attach the hook to the last bottle cap.

Finished plastic bottle cap necklace

The ring on the end bottle cap serves as the eye.

Step 6
Place the hook of the clasp on the steel bench block. Hit the hook with the plastic mallet to harden the wire and allow the wire to retain its shape.

Related Tutorial
Make Chanukah Menorah Earrings from Plastic Bottle Caps

Further Reading
"Fantastic Recycled Plastic: 30 Clever Creations to Spark Your Imagination"; David Edgar, Robin A. Edgar; 2009.

Day 103. Month 5. Jewelry from Found Objects. $ spent: 0
Found materials: bottle caps
New Jewelry a Day.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

NJAD Index by Type of Found Object (Nov. 2010 - Feb. 2011 / Months 1 - 4 )

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

NJAD Index by Type of Jewelry (Nov. 2010 - Feb. 2011/ Months 1 - 4)

Today begins month five (5) of our New Jewelry a Day project. To date, the girls of GeltDesigns.com resisted the temptation to supplement our ample craft supplies and instead used only what we have and what we can find in our recycling can to make the jewelry projects of our year long adventure. We sifted through the toy box, our craft corner and rescued lots of materials from the recycling bin ...but so far we girls met our self imposed goal of spending no money on our NJAD project.

Here is an index of the NJAD projects from November 2010 through February 2011 by type of jewelry or accessory made:

Belts
Make a Belt from Brass Chain
Make a Stone & Elastic Belt (Made from Hair Bands)

Bracelets
Make a Valentine's Day Cuff Bracelet
Make a Bracelet from Scrabble® Tiles
Make a Bracelet from a Handle
Make a Charm Bracelet from Toy Figurines
Make a Bracelet from a Plastic Bottle
Make a Cuff Bracelet from a Plastic Bottle
Make a Stamped Bracelet
Make a Braided Duct Tape Bracelet

Make a Leather & Brass Link Bracelet
Make a Three Strand Bracelet from Copper Washers
Make a Leather & Button Bracelet
Make a Beaded Bracelet with Copper Pipe & Wire
Make a Bracelet from Grommets
Make a Glass & Brass Link Bracelet
Make a Bracelet from a Gift Card
Make a Button Bracelet
Make a Bangle Bracelet from Steel Wire
Make a Bracelet from Steel Wire
Make a Bangle Bracelet from a Copper Pipe
Make a Kiln Formed Bracelet

Earrings
Make Earrings from Copper Washers Using Cold Connections
Make Hammered Copper Earrings from Washers
Make Earrings from Copper Pipe and Wire
Make Heart Earrings from Copper Staples
Make "Kiss Me" Heart Earrings
Make Earrings with Lock Washers
Make Wine Cup Earrings
Make Hex Nut Earrings
Make Wishbone Earrings from Wire
Make Game Piece Earrings
Make Paper and Rubber Earrings
Make Earrings from Scrap Wire
Make Dog Earrings from Toys
Make Glass & Copper Earrings
Make Post Earrings from a Gift Card
Make Leather & Lampwork Glass Bead Earrings
Make LEGO® Christmas Earrings
Make Duct Tape Earrings
Make Earrings from Grommets
Make Post Earrings from Vintage Game Pieces
Make Earrings from an iTunes Gift Card
Make Earrings from Shoe Charms
Make Earrings from Copper Wire
Make Chanukah Menorah Earrings from Plastic Bottle Caps
Make Dreidel Earrings
Make Earrings from Steel Wire
Make Tricolored Riveted Earrings
Make Recycled Glass & Sterling Silver Earrings
Make Lego Earrings
Make Button Earrings

Necklaces
Make a Necklace from Lock Washers & Toys
Make a Necklace from Shoe Lace Charms
Make a Super Bowl Necklace from LEGO®
Make a Necklace from Paper
Make a LEGO® and Chain Necklace
Use LEGO® as Beads to Make a Necklace
Make a Necklace from a Credit Card
Make a Giant LEGO® Necklace
Make a Bib Necklace from Washers
Make a Necklace from Shells
Make a Glass Charm Necklace
Make a Chain and Button Bib Necklace

Neck-Rings
Make an Enamel Necklace from a Copper Pipe
Make a Neck-Ring from Copper Pipe

Pendants
Make a Hammered Pendant from Washers
Make a Paper Bead Pendant
Make a Pendant from a Scrabble® Tile
Make a Valentine's Day Heart Pendant from a Copper Washer
Make a Crab Pendant from Polymer Clay
Cold Enamel a Washer to Make a Pendant
Make a Stamped Pendant from a Washer
Make a Cartoon Pendant
Make a Pendant from a Bottle
Turn a Glass Jar into a Pendant
Turn an Earring into a Pendant
Make a Dreidel Pendant
Make a Tri-colored Riveted Pendant & Chain

Pins
Make a Beer Bottle into a Heart Pin
Make a Spider Pin from a Toy
Make a Lizard Pin from a Toy
Make a Pin from a Glass Pebble

Rings
Make Wire Wrapped Rings
Make a Ring from Gimp

Zipper Pull
Make a Zipper Pull from Scrap Glass

___________________________

Month 5. Jewelry from Found Objects. $ spent to date: 0
New Jewelry a Day.