GoldenOpportunity. earrings accented with rubies and pearls. Make gold GOLD AND PEARL EARRINGS. by Nanz Aalund. intermediate/advanced metal

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1 intermediate/advanced metal GoldenOpportunity GOLD AND PEARL EARRINGS Make gold earrings accented with rubies and pearls. by Nanz Aalund The featured in. (38mm) earrings are an ideal project to expand your jewelry-making skills to include basic goldsmithing, prong-setting, and fabricating posts for cultured pearls.

2 G old can be an intimi-dating material; many jewelry makers imagine it wreaking havoc on their nerves and budget. But making your first piece of gold jewelry is often a milestone in a jewelry maker s career. Before starting this project, remember that gold is very similar to brass in malleability but is far easier to solder. Two advantages to using gold are that it does not firescale like silver does and that it can be easily recycled. The 6 grams of gold that is needed to make the featured earrings cost less than $100 at press time. Ear wires FCT-MW If you have a broken gold chain, earrings, or a ring, you can reuse that gold to make the decorative pyramids on the featured ear wires. Make gold balls. Make an ingot mold by holding a 4mm ball bur in your fingers and grinding it into a compressed charcoal block [1]. A compressed charcoal block is denser than a standard charcoal block and holds up through multiple heatings. Cut pieces of 18-gauge (1.0mm) gold wire or pieces from your recycled gold scraps. Fit the gold pieces into the ingot mold [2]. Flux the gold, and heat it until it forms a molten ball. Remove the heat, and allow the ball to cool. Tip over the charcoal block to remove the ball. Pickle and rinse the ball. Repeat to make a second ball. Solder an ear wire to a gold ball. Cut a 2-in. (51mm) piece of 18-gauge (1.0mm) wire. Flux the wire and grasp it in crosslocking tweezers. Ball a pallion of 14k medium gold solder and allow it to flow (sweat solder) onto one end of the wire. Flux a gold ball and heat it. As the flux turns clear, touch the wire end to the ball [3]. When the solder flows, remove the heat. Quench, pickle, and rinse the ear wire. Repeat to solder the second ear wire. Shape the gold balls. Clamp an ear wire in a pin vise so only the ball is visible. Use a hand file to create a pyramid shape with 2007 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. four flat sides. The pictured #1-cut barrette file is my favorite [4], but other flat-sided files work just as well. Sand the pyramid against sanding sticks [5] of increasingly finer grits, beginning with 400 grit and ending with 1500 grit. Repeat to shape the second ball. Shape the ear wires. Working with 18k half-hard gold wire feels more like working with hardened silver or half-hard brass wire. To compensate, use two pairs of roundnose pliers in opposition to shape the ear wire [6]. Use forming pliers to contour the arch of the ear wire [7]. Planish the shaped ear wire with a planishing hammer to workharden it and confirm the shape [8]. Repeat to shape the second ear wire. facetjewelry.com

3 materials Gold wire: 18k, 18-gauge (1.0mm), round, half-hard, 6 in. (15.2cm) 14k, 20-gauge (0.8mm), square, half-hard, 2 in. (51mm) 2 14k heads: low base, four prongs (for 25-point gemstones) 8 14k gold jump rings: 22-gauge (0.6mm), unsoldered, 1.6mm inside diameter Solder: 14k gold medium Rubies: 1 matched pair, mm round = approximately.60ct total weight Pearls: 1 matched pair, 8.5 9mm, top drilled, teardrop shape, pale rose to peach luster tools & supplies Soldering station: torch, solder (medium and easy), fire-resistant surface (soldering pad, firebrick, charcoal block), compressed charcoal block, pickle pot with pickle, flux, antiflux (correction fluid), steel tweezers (cross locking and precision), copper tongs, pick Flush cutters Burs: 4mm ball, cup, 45 setting, 90 hart Pin vise Hand file: #1-cut barrette Sanding sticks: 400 to 1500 grit Pliers: chainnose, forming, 2 pairs of roundnose, vise-grip 7 8 Hammer: planishing (optional) Anvil (optional) Drill bits: various sizes Dowel ( 1 2-in. [13mm] diameter) and sealing wax; or dapping stick Spring gauge Flex shaft Craft knife (optional) Vise Cyanoacrylate glue Fingernail-polish remover (optional) Radial bristle abrasive wheels, various grits Muslin buffs Fabuluster polishing compound Prong-set rubies Solder jump rings to four-prong heads. Manually drill four holes in the charcoal block so that the holes fit the prongs of a four-prong head [9]. These holes will hold the head and jump rings in place during soldering. Place the head, prongs-down, into the holes. I soldered the jump rings to the base of the prongs, but soldering the jump rings between the prongs works just as well. Flux and sweat 14k medium solder to opposing sides of the head. Flux two 1.6mm inside diameter (ID) jump rings and place them against the sweat solder spots on the head. Heat the entire assembly until the solder flows. (I like to have a spare ball of solder on my soldering pick in case the sweat solder doesn t catch the tiny jump ring [10].) Gold melts at a higher temperature and doesn t oxidize as quickly as sterling silver does, giving you a bit more time to solder. Remove the heat, and then quench, pickle, and rinse the head. Repeat to solder jump rings to the second head. Prepare the heads. Melt enough sealing wax to cover one end of a ½-in. (13mm)- diameter dowel. You ll use the dowel as a dapping stick to hold the head while you cut the seat and set the ruby. Grasp the head in tweezers and use the torch to gently heat the head. Place the warm head in the wax, holding it steady until it cools. Measure a ruby with a spring gauge to get an exact measurement of the ruby s girdle [11]. Set the rubies. When you re cutting the seat in the prongs, don t cut through more than 40 percent of each prong. Cutting the seat too deeply leaves the prong weak and susceptible to breaking. To make the first cuts in the prongs, use a flex shaft and a 45 setting bur that corresponds to the ruby s girdle measurement [12 and Figure 1]. To finish cutting the seat, use a 90 hart bur that is slightly smaller than the diameter of the ruby [13 and Figure 2]. To remove the head from the dapping stick, gently heat the head while using tweezers to remove it. Remove any

4 sealing-wax residue either by heating the head or by using a craft knife to chip off fragments of remaining wax. Place a ruby in the seat, and use chainnose pliers to gently squeeze the prongs onto the ruby [14]. Use the flat side of your flush cutters to trim excess prong tips if necessary [15]. Taking care not to chip the ruby s facets, round off the prong tips with a cup bur [16]. Repeat to set the second ruby in the remaining head. 9 Pearl drops 10 Make the screw-eye pegs. The size of the holes in pearls varies, so insert a piece of scrap wire or a drill bit into your pearl to determine the corresponding gauge of wire you need for making the pegs. I used 20-gauge (0.8mm) square gold wire bur recycled gold 40% or less is removed Gold s recyclability is one of its noteworthy features. If you d like to salvage some broken gold jewelry, first check each piece for a karat (k) stamp. If it s not stamped, don t use it. Try to keep the karats separate. Use only 14k or 18k gold to make the balls for this project. Lower karats will produce pits with this technique. To separate the solder from the gold, place the gold on your soldering pad and gently heat it to oxidize the gold solder. Use flush cutters to clip off any parts that are oxidized, and set these pieces aside in a container marked with the karat. The gold that does not have solder on it can be melted down and used in the featured project. 11 Figure 1 90 bur 13 Figure

5 18 gold points Pure gold (24k) is too soft to hold up under daily wear, so for most uses it has been karated or alloyed with other metals to make it harder and, subsequently, more durable. Under the United States marking system, pure gold is 24k. The karat numeral represents the amount of pure gold in the alloy. For example, 10k equals 10 parts of pure gold to 14 parts of other metals, making a total of 24 parts. Under European marking systems, the numerals represent parts of pure gold in the alloy per 1000 total parts. Standard karats of gold used in jewelry are 10k, (not made in Europe), 14k (585), 18k (750), and 22k (920). United States law prohibits any item less than 10k from being called gold During the alloying process, the color, malleability, and melting point of karated gold can be altered. Gold can be alloyed to yellow, rose, peach, pink, green, white, gray, blue, and the rarely occurring purple. Each alloy has its own distinct working properties. Grip one end of a 2-in. (51mm) piece of wire in a vise, and grip the other end with vise-grip pliers [17]. Twist the wire, remove it from the vises, and trim the untwisted wire ends. Place two 1.6mm ID jump rings on the soldering pad and flux them. Sweat 14k medium solder to each end of the twisted wire. Solder each end of the twisted wire to a jump ring [18]. On each end, cut the twisted wire 7mm ( 1 4 in.) from the jump ring. Check the length of the screw-eye peg in the pearl hole [19]. The jump ring should be flush with the top of the pearl. If necessary, trim the peg to fit. Once the fit is exact, add a drop of cyanoacrylate glue to the peg and use your fingers to twist the peg into the pearl. Do not grasp the join with pliers or apply torque to the join, as this may cause the jump ring to break off, leaving the gold post in your pearl. If this happens, see Get the Post Out, below. Repeat to set the remaining screw-eye peg into the hole of the second pearl. Polish and assemble. Use radial bristle abrasive wheels in a flex shaft to remove tool marks. Polish the ear wires and heads separately with small muslin buffs and Fabuluster polishing compound. Slide one of the head s soldered jump rings onto an ear wire. Open a 1.6mm ID jump ring, and attach it to the head s remaining jump ring and a pearl drop. Close the jump ring. Repeat to assemble the second earring. Don t confuse karat with carat, which is a unit used to denote the weight of a gemstone. The abbreviation for carat is ct. get the post out Every jewelry maker has a slightly different way to tackle the too-common problem of removing a glued post from a pearl. The general consensus is to soak the pearl in fingernail-polish remover overnight to dissolve the cyanoacrylate glue. Then, using a drill bit that is smaller than the screw peg, carefully drill into the peg. Use a larger drill bit to remove the remaining peg. This is a very difficult and delicate procedure, so unless the matched pearls are extremely valuable, I recommend replacing the pearl instead.