misfit
2005-09-02, 12:13pm
Does anyone else make head pins out of fine silver with very very large "balls"? like in the 3-4mm range? if so how do you do yours?
The method I use is a bit of a pain but gives me very reliable results for matching size ect.
I first decide how large I want- and cut my silver to the right length then I coil the amount I want to be the large ball up making sure the same amount on each is coiled... then one by one I put them in a tiny flame with the coil pointing up and the pin horizontal with the flame aimed into the open area and as it melts I slowly turn it vertical untill gravity pulls the blob of silver into a nice ball. a bit longer is needed or there is a very odd spiral around them from the coil- an undesirable since its never even. when doing this its very important to get no more than the coil in the flame or it will melt through the non coiled bit and the whoile mess will just fall. Its also important to use a tiny flame or it turns very molten and falls into a lovely splatter... It takes me about a 1/2 hour from start to finish to makle 20- It's gotten much faster with time. But if there is an easier faster more reliable method of making huge balls on head pins I'd love to know about it.
A.
The method I use is a bit of a pain but gives me very reliable results for matching size ect.
I first decide how large I want- and cut my silver to the right length then I coil the amount I want to be the large ball up making sure the same amount on each is coiled... then one by one I put them in a tiny flame with the coil pointing up and the pin horizontal with the flame aimed into the open area and as it melts I slowly turn it vertical untill gravity pulls the blob of silver into a nice ball. a bit longer is needed or there is a very odd spiral around them from the coil- an undesirable since its never even. when doing this its very important to get no more than the coil in the flame or it will melt through the non coiled bit and the whoile mess will just fall. Its also important to use a tiny flame or it turns very molten and falls into a lovely splatter... It takes me about a 1/2 hour from start to finish to makle 20- It's gotten much faster with time. But if there is an easier faster more reliable method of making huge balls on head pins I'd love to know about it.
A.