Monday, May 4, 2009

How to...

I thought I'd post some pics of how I made the bracelet in the previous entry.



This started off as Ø0.9mm Sterling Silver round wire which I wound around a 6mm mandrel (Knitting needles make great mandrels and you can get them very cheaply from charity shops).


The coil of wire is wrapped in tape and using a jeweller's saw then I start to cut through the coil to make rings.


Lots of rings!

As the rings are cut from a long coil, they are helical in shape so they need to be tweaked with pliers to make them flat, then squeezed to ensure they stay closed then twisted open so they can be joined - this is by far the longest part of the process... it's not the most interesting part either!



The weave for this bracelet starts off as a basic Chain Mail weave called 4-in-1. So called because there are 4 outer links joined by one central link. Then the outer 2 links are folded up into a 3 sided box shape and held together by a link on the top, making a folded box chain. This shortens the 4-in-1 chain by a factor of approximately 1/4 so if the 4-in-1 chain starts off at 100mm, the folded box chain will be 75mm long.

Chain was finished off with a lobster clasp attached with smaller double links which I neglected to take a picture of. The approximate size of the box chain with ID6mm links is 8mm square so it needs a sturdy wrist to look good.

3 comments:

Nikki said...

Very cool... what's your next project?

daws said...

Thanks, next project is rings! Lots of rings, I have to improve my soldering skills.

Treacle Beak said...

Interesting bracelet, Daws. Lots of work and patience. Good to see you jewellerying again!