Making Jewellery - August 2016

makingjewellery.com 93

into a gorgeous fi nished piece of jewellery.

When I fi rst started on my jewellery and

silversmithing degree, the tutor told us to

always buy the best quality tools that we

could aff ord. There are always exceptions,

but usually buying cheap tools is just false

economy. She was so right, as I’d already

quickly found out from buying a very cheap

set of needle fi les when I was doing my art

foundation, which were pretty much useless

after about a month!

As a guide, you generally fi nd that Swiss and

German hand tools are the best, while for big

things like rolling mills and vices, I’d always

recommend buying British if you can aff ord to.

The other important thing that you’ll need is

a soldering torch. I’ve recently ‘upgraded’ to a

Smith’s Little Torch, but before this my trusty

Sievert hand torch had served me well for the

last 20 years! If you’ re just starting out with

soldering then a cooks’ style hand torch won’t

cost you very much and will handle small jobs

pretty well.

So, onto the actual making. I mostly work

on bespoke wedding and engagement rings,

so obviously, every solder joint and stone

setting has to be top quality as the ring has to

last a lifetime! Sometimes, my raw materials

are a selection of a client’s old jewellery or a

passed-down wedding ring and sometimes

it’s a nice clean fl at sheet of gold or silver. The

way I measure and mark onto these though is

usually the same and will either be done using

a sharp scriber or more often, my trusty black

permanent marker pen. I also have a nifty little

jig that allows me to cut wire and tube perfectly

straight – excellent for tiny stone settings.

I have three ways to cut metal; a pair of wire

cutters, some very sharp small tin snips, for

thicker gauge wire and solder and a piercing

saw. My wire cutters and tin snips still have ‘A’

painted on them as I’ve been using them since

I started my jewellery degree, but I now have

a lovely shiny new (and red) Knew Concept

piercing saw. After I’ve cut out my pieces of

wire or sheet, I’ll usually need to give the edges

a quick fi le before forming them into a ring,

either with pliers, or using my ring bender.

Then it’s time to solder the join.

In my experience of teaching, soldering

is usually the main thing that students are

worried about as you’re working pretty close

to something that’s incredibly hot, but as long

as you work safely and concentrate on the task

in hand, then there’s really nothing to fear.

Soldering is however, kind of like learning to

write or draw, and takes a lot of practice to

be successful. You will most likely melt a few

things before you learn how hot you can let that

piece of silver get so that ‘just’ the solder will

fl ow. But once you’ve cracked your technique,

you’re soon able to add multiple components to

your mini wearable masterpieces!

Once all of the parts are soldered together,

its time to fi le and/or wet and dry any rough

edges before polishing. I have a small barrel

polisher that I use for a fi rst ‘rough polish’ with

a separate barrel for either steel shot, which

gives a shiny fi nish or ceramic chips, which

give a matt fi nish. I’ll then set any stones before

giving a piece its fi nal fi nish by hand.

Finally, I hope you’re enjoying reading my

blog as I’m certainly enjoying writing it. See you

all next month!

Find out more about Anna’s jewellery at

annafi nejewellery.co.uk

Cutting out

silver rings

Annealing and

soldering

Ring bender My bench always seems to end up

looking like this by the end of the day

MJ96_P92-93_Blog SHSF.indd 93 23/06/2016 11:33