Easy Peasy Copper and Headpins BookmarkTutorial

Need a quick gift for that special person?

Want to make it yourself?
You can do this!
It's that easy.
Here are the tools you will need.
You will need round nose and chain nose pliers, wire cutters, a ruler, and a file of some sort.
You will also need: a hammer and a bench block.
You will also need copper wire, a copper jump ring, and 3 head pins.
If you don't have head pins, you can substitute small wire wrapped beads.
Step #1
Cut about 6 inches of wire. (I used 14 gauge copper wire, but you could use 16 gauge.)
File the ends so that they are no longer sharp.
Step #2
Make a loop at each end. Make sure that each loop is closed.
Step #3
Using a hammer (I used a chasing hammer, but you can use another kind.) and a bench block,
(You don't want to ruin your table.), hammer the wire to create texture and work harden the wire.
Parents, if you are doing this with your children, be sure to supervise this step very closely.
Little fingers can really hurt if the hammer misses the mark.
With your file,
smooth the edges of the flattened wire.

Step #4
Take two of the headpins and wire wrap them.
Add a jump ring to the top loop. Before closing the jump ring, add the two headpins that you just wire wrapped.
Close the headpin.
Step #5
Loosely wire wrap the third headpin.
Open the bottom loop enough so that you can slip the third head pin through
the loop, then close the loop.
Your bookmark is finished!!
Remember, teachers love bookmarks!
I used to be a teacher, so I know.
You can find my head pins, here.
Have fun!

A Crush on Copper - Love me Knot

Skype has been busy lately because Deb Batten, Firebird Flamework on Etsy and Sew Much to Do and Meltin' Glass Too, and I have been busy chatting and talking about artistic growth. Out of these conversations has come a series of challenges that we plan to explore to help each of us develop creatively and nurture the artistic nature of our souls.

We will, probably, post these challenges about once a month on our blogs. We expect that, on occasion, life will most likely interfere, but we are going to give this opportunity for growth a real try.

There are several things we plan to do, but one of the most important ones is to work outside of the medium with which we are most comfortable--glass. We will bring glass in at some point, but for the most part, we want to challenge ourselves to develop our skills and creative ideas in other areas. We also hope to do more than make jewelry as we express our creative ideas .

This month, November, we will be working with copper since we both have "A Crush on Copper." We decided that our task will be to make something with copper wire and copper shapes. The main component with our copper wire will be the "Love Knot." We will also include with our non jewelry creation copper shapes. This should be fun! Look for the reveal on November 24th in our blogs! My brain is straining right now, so I'm off to think. See you later.
Oh, be sure to check out Deb's blog for her side of the story. Remember, this is not a competition (;-). It's a reason for artistic growth.

Making Glass Headpins my way

Sometimes, when making jewelry you need a special headpin. What I like to do is to make my own headpins using glass and copper wire. There are other ways to make headpins, and I'll show you my experiments later.

What you need:
My special tool ---------------->
It's handmade and easy to make!

Take an alligator clip and put it on the end of a mandrel. You can pick up the alligator clips at your local hard ware store. You should have a mandrel to fit.


You also need some copper wire. I use 20 gauge copper wire. You can also use silver wire, but at the current price of silver, you might want to experiment with copper.

Oh, and yes, those holes are in my stool because I accidentally put hot mandrels there. Ooops!























Open the alligator clip and insert your wire in the clip. Straighten out the wire as much as you can. You can just use your fingers to do that.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION NOW! Make sure you have good ventilation. Copper and silver can give off fumes that can be hazardous to your health.






















Working high in the flame, and working very quickly, warm up the wire very gently so that you can apply glass to the wire. Do not work the wire too long because you will either end up with a ball at the end of the wire, or the wire will fall down on to your work area.






















Working quickly, apply a small bit of glass to the wire. Take the wire out of the flame. Melt the glass in the flame then add more glass to the wire. You won't need much. Just keep applying the glass in little bits until you get the side the size of a bead that you would like at the end of the wire. Quickly melt the glass, but don't keep the wire in the flame or the glass on the end of the wire will fall off.






















See what I mean?






















After the glass is melted onto the end of the wire point the wire down vertically for a short time so that the glass will stabilize.






















While the glass is still warm and glowing turn the glass up vertically and it will turn into a ball. Using your mashers or a pair of pliers, remove the copper wire from the tool and put the headpin into the kiln to anneal. Be careful so that you don't burn your fingers. That's why you use the mashers.

One important thing to remember when making headpins is that the entire process takes a very short time. Don't over cook the glass and wire.

When you take the headpins out of the oven, you will see how the wire has oxidyzed. When the headpins come out of the kiln, clean the wires with a soft cloth to get rid of the excess oxidation on the wires.

Variations: Roll the molten glass in frit and melt in the frit.
Instead of leaving the glass in a ball, flatten the glass into a paddle.

Most important tip: Work the glass high in the flame and keep it cool!