[Jewelry making - Article 00073] - Re: [Orchid] Making my own head pins

[Judy Willingham]

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Hello Tracy,

    I make my own head pins in several gauges. Most pearls will fit on
    22 ga wire, but the smaller ones may be limited to 24 ga wire. 
    Here's my procedure. 

    Using sterling wire: 

    Cut the wire into the length you want. To determine that, you'll
    need to experiment by cutting several lengths, each one longer by 2
    or 3 mm - record your lengths for future reference. Then dip the
    length into boric acid and alcohol, burn off, and holding the wire
    vertically in cross-lock tweezers, melt one end into the ball you
    like. Repeat with each length.  Drop into pickle and let them sit
    for a minute.  Remove from the pickle, rinse, and lay them down in
    order of length - measure each one and match it to the record you
    made earlier.  Now you know how much length you lose when the ball
    is formed.  You can use these sample headpins to determine the best
    length for your purpose, and cut as many as you think you'll need. 
    I cut at least 100 at a time... mindless work ... watch TV. 

    Now melt a ball on each length, following the procedure above. After
    all have been pickled, rinsed, and dried, they can be tumbled. The
    easiest (read laziest) way I've found is to use charged walnut
    shell, DRY, in either a rotary or vibratory unit.  It may take a
    little longer (overnight), but the small pins are easily pulled out
    of the dry media, there's no clean-up, and they don't work-harden
    very much. 

    NOTE: if you want to use the Argentium silver wire, it melts
    differently and the ball formed will drop off if it gets very large.
     Regular sterling will melt and form a much larger ball before
    gravity pulls it off. 

    I store the headpins in clear vials or translucent film canisters,
    labelled by gauge. It's nice to have an assortment of gauges and
    lengths ready to use. 

    Hope this helps, 

    Judy in Kansas where the weather is acting very strangely - it
    SNOWed on April 29 in some areas! Got to harvest asparagus daily
    before it gets frost-nipped at night.

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