Make Do Tools

Hello all.

Some of you have been coping with crazy amounts of snowfall, others with devastating twisters, and yet others with fires, record warmth and rains.  Sincere hopes that you've all fared well through it all.

You know how much I enjoy your delightfully witty and kind comments.   I wasn't able to respond individually to each of you this last time, but thank you all for taking the time to share your thoughts!

I'd like to extend a warm welcome to our new commenters.  First, welcome Star of the East.  I've long been a fan. 
And welcome to Laura.  Thanks for inquiring about The Key to My Heart earrings.  They were listed last week and have already sold.  I tried to contact you to let you know they were being listed.  Sorry, but I wasn't able to locate contact info for you.

Lucie- you're too funny!  As long as no one shaves the bears in your area, you're safe!

And Petra...really?  Shaved bears were the original bearded ladies?!  Who knew?  Well, besides you, that is.
The things I learn from you guys....always fascinating.

I was contacted by a lovely lady,  new to jewelry making who had a few questions about tools, etc.   I offered to do a blog post on some of the things newcomers may have on hand and can try.  These are a few of the make do tools that I share with my students when teaching a class.  Not all of these are unique or original to me as many people have discovered effective alternative "cheats" to use instead of the high priced specialty jewelry tools. 

I do recommend buying the best tools you can afford when making the investment into high grade tools IF and here's the point, if you will be using them frequently or they need to have sufficient strength to hold up to the type of use you will be subjecting them to.  Otherwise, make do's work just fine.

Here are some of my fav's;


I have and use often, a rawhide mallet, but if you don't, try a rawhide dog bone.  The large kind with the knot on the end.  Look for one that has a flat portion in the knot that can act as a  hammer.

 

On the left are two pairs of jewelers shears.  My preference are those to the far left. 

For cutting tin, I prefer the Fiskars shears. 

They are readily available at fabric and craft stores. 

Another effective choice are the Joyce Chen kitchen shears.

These will work on thin-medium thickness sheet metals

and are a joy to use.



I love using my Fretz mini stakes,

my sinosoidal stake and other jewelers stakes.

Of course they weren't in my tool box when I first started working with metals.

Most of the above stakes are from Harbor Freight. 

 Their intended use is for automotive repairs.

They lack the mirror polish found on jewelers stakes,

but work just fine for shaping metals.

The meat tenderizer makes a great metal texturizer.

It was a gift from a very dear friend who thought it might just

make interesting textures on metal.  She was right. 

That shows how useful it is to look at all sorts of non traditional items

when collecting tools for yourself.

The brass pieces are intended to be used for scientific experiments,

but I like using them to shape metal, by hammering the metal around their form. 

All of these are an inexpensive way to see if you like metal forming before you invest in more expensive forming tools, such as these.

 

  

 

 





Below are my jewelers grade bracelet, ring and bezel mandrels.

 

 

Baseball bats, rolling pins, pieces of pvc pipe, soup cans, etc

can be used as bracelet mandrels.

 

Lengths of dowels can be used instead of ring or bezel making mandrels.

Below is an example of the sets the second most interesting man in the world

makes for student use during my classes.

I always keep a set handy because he's considerately

marked the sizes on each dowel section.

Makes it easy to quickly match sizes as needed while I'm working.





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the left you see mandrels intended to form wire or soft, thin metals.

On the right are some cheats.

Knitting and crochet needles, etc.



These are traditional steel bench blocks in the lower half of the photo,

and a small jewelers anvil

along with a sad iron in the upper right corner.

Sad irons are perfect for using as bench blocks and easy to find at antique stores. 

There is a rubber block and a jewelers sandbag pictured as well.

These are used under the bench blocks to absorb the bounce

 when hammering on them.

 



A section of railroad tie makes an excellent anvil.

I love the rough texture this imparts to the metal when I use it. 



This is an anvil from Harbor Freight.

Works just fine.

Sitting on a large jewelers sandbag.



I often use a thick piece of leather when hammering on this anvil

 to protect the metal from the rough surface texture.

The piece of aluminum on the left has been run through my rolling mill.

If you don't have access to a rolling mill,

you can place on a bench block or anvil;

the item you want to use for texture,

 then a piece of thin, annealed metal on top of the texture item. 

Use a flat faced hammer and hammer away.

Tape the metal to the item if you need to keep it in place

while hammering.

This is what you'll end up with...



 

This method limits you as to what type of textures you can achieve,

 but it's an effective alternative.





On the left is a diamond tipped scribe.

This is my tool of choice when applying linear designs into metal.

However, anything with a sharp point can be used to scribe or

scratch a design into metal.  The sharper the point,

the thinner the line made.



 

These are also effective for scribing.

A paper piercer and assorted dental tools.

On the left you see jewelers burnishers,  bezel pushers, bone folders and an agate burnisher.

The handle of a disposable plastic razor or

the rounded end of a wooden clothes pin holder can also be used as a bezel pusher.

They are soft enough that they won't usually scratch the stone cabachon as you set it.

A flat polished agate cabachon, as pictured on the right,

 can be used instead of an agate burnisher.



The screen installing roller pictured at the top of this picture can be used

to make leaf veins in thin metal if you don't have a hammer with a thin linear face. 

 

  



 

Empty Bic pen cases are a perfect way to store or transport saw blades.

Easy to access the blades as needed.



Well those are the make do tools that I use frequently.

Hope this info might be helpful to some of you.

 

 

 

I did get a few new things made since my last post.

 

While I'm still on an earring kick, I did get a bracelet and necklace finished up as well....

Names for these new pieces?

Nope, not a one!

 

  



Small Apatite nuggets, small faceted pyrite beads and

large pyrite nuggets combined with turned wooden shapes

that remind me of inverted Russian buildings.

Another view....

Because I love the way they look hanging from Daniel's sculpture.

Thought you might too.

An additional reason for two views?

stay tuned......

 

 

 

A bit of text and aging for mystery all hanging from an arc of wire.

They go nicely with this fold formed necklace.....



Apatite nuggets, both large and small with matte agate and

matte amazonite beads.

A faceted amazonite teardrop bead provides the final bit

of delicate color as it adorns the back of your neck.



I love how this turned out.



This bracelet features a rock that I partially polished on my lap machine.

I cut grooves into the back of it for the purpose of wire wrapping.

A modern day tin type of an adorable baby sporting a mohawk

graces the front of the stone.

Attached to an adjustable soldered wire cuff , for an unusual,

one of a kind bracelet.



A new version of Rose Red.

Black tourmaline nuggets, frosted polka dot lampwork beads by Nadin Art Glass,

black stone teardrops combine with vintage black glass teardrops

in these romantic yet not too sweet earrings.



 

Guess you've figured out that you get two versions of each piece

when there's so few things to share with you, eh?

 



Yup, here we go again.

 



A one an a two.....

These have vintage carved roses. 

Not sure if they are bone or??

Pyrite nuggets and brass stampings in a wire frame.

 



 

Smaller than my normal fare.

These delicate roses seemed to need the understated setting.

Faceted Raspberry glass,  white keishi pearls

and grey freshwater pearls combined

with wood and text in wire hoops.



And that folks is the end of the line for new jewels.

Even with two pictures of each, this is a surprisingly short post for me, eh?

Things that make you go hmmmmmm.

Don't ask me, I assure you I don't know what's up with that.

 

 

a sweet picture for you this week.

Doesn't get more adorable than this



Kwaheri  (Swahili)