[Jewelry making - Article 00146] - Re: [Orchid] Making my own head pins

[Judy Willingham]

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Hello Dawn in Texas,

    You asked "Has anyone been successful in making their own head pins
    from gold fill?" 

    I've tried it. The ball forms, but because the brass core is exposed,
    that end quickly "patinas." The only thing that I found to cover that
    nasty brass ball was to flux and melt extra easy gold solder on it -
    not easy to do. The GF wire above the ball still looks bad, but it
    should be covered by a bead. Of course the cut end of the GF wire
    exposes the inner core, which ages to a green patina. 

    I've also soldered gold balls on the end of silver wire. It looks OK
    if most of the silver is concealed by beads. This, too, means
    several steps in construction, but eliminates the green. 

    A lot of time involved - time is money. I just ball the ends of 10K
    wire for gold headpins. Quick to do and easy to tumble polish, and
    much better quality with no green to show up later. 

    I'm curious to see what others have to say. 

    Judy in Kansas where the strawberries are putting on fruit. Mmmmm.
    Fresh strawberries soon and it looks like there will be several
    batches of jam to make. 


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