[Jewelry making - Article 00631] - Re: [Orchid] Gold or Gold-filled Balled Headpins

[songofthephoenix]

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>             I have made silver balled headpins myself quite easily.
>     The best part of doing so is that you can control the size of the
>     ball at the ends. Does anyone know if I can use the same techniques
>     with Gold wire? I imagine making them out of gold-filled wire is
>     out of the question. 
 

    You're right - those would be brass/gold balls on the tips of
    gold-filled wire. But you can do it with the karat gold wire just
    like the silver.  I have not found any gold-filled headpins with
    balled tips.  The closest is a small cupped head (rather than the
    usual flat head) and they are costly even at the hundreds quantities.
     If you can make them production style, karat gold wire might come
    out about the same cost as ready made gold-filled headpins, depending
    on the wire gauge you need.  My experience was with about 22g wire. I
    do many, many hundreds of these in sterling.  What follows is the
    method I worked out to maximize efficiency.  With a little
    forethought, this goes exceedingly quickly with the time per piece
    mere seconds. It is perhaps tedious reading so continue at your own
    risk. :-) Cut a large (capital letters would be shouting) batch of
    the wires to the length necessary for your job.  I draped the coiled
    wire over something handy near my workbench and clamped the bottom
    handle of a wire cutter in my vise. I have a flush-cutter with
    various-sized holes for wire and a long, threaded length gauge.  You
    could something similar with a diagonal cutter and rig a length gauge
    or mark the vise with tape or some such so you could cut identical
    lengths.  Use one hand to move the wire into the jaws and the other
    to bring the top arm or handle of the cutter down - like operating a
    paper cutter. Spread newspaper or something under a wide area below
    the vise to catch the cut wires so you can easily funnel them into a
    container when you're done and only have about 20 or 30 pieces to
    pick up by hand. Wear your eye protection. Place a strainer in a
    container that has a pour spout (I use a 4 cup pyrex measuring
    pitcher).  Put the cut wires into the strainer and pour some fire
    scale inhibitor (boric acid/alcohol solution) over the wires. Pour
    the solution back into its regular container. Remember to put the lid
    back on the alcohol/boric acid and put it safely away after using
    tweezers to fish out the few wayward pieces that wiggled through the
    strainer. I suggest you do this procedure on something non-flammable
    and away from your work area and any heat source or physical
    obstacles - I use a flat cookie sheet - and if you're a smoker, don't
    smoke while you're at it. Take the now-coated wires and an
    appropriately sized low container of water to your torch area.  I
    clamp my torch securely in a small vise at the bench so the flame
    will be aimed up a bit and away from me to an open area for safety. 
    Use the size tip which will allow you to draw a bead in a few seconds
    or so but not so much heat that you'll be likely to inadvertently
    reduce the wire to a molten puddle.  Place the bowl of water behind
    your torch within easy reach.  Pile the wires on a heat resistant
    surface at one side of the torch.  Light the torch and adjust the
    flame.  You now have 2 free hands; a spot to rest your elbow would be
    helpful to keep the wire steady in the "sweet spot" of the flame. 
    Use your self-locking tweezers in your dominant hand, pick up several
    wires in your free hand and use the tweezers to pluck the wires one
    at a time from your stash and hold it over the flame. Drop the
    balled-up wire into the water and take the next wire.   Dip the
    tweezers in the water occasionally to keep the tips from getting too
    hot. Drain the water off the wires and pickle them.  I have a
    perforated plastic margarine tub in my pickle pot with a copper wire
    bale so I can easily lift a batch of whatever out of the pickle
    allowing the solution to drain back into the pickle pot before I
    place the lot of them in water and baking soda to neutralize. Hope
    this helps. Pam Chott Song of the Phoenix


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