Lilian Ginebra Jewelry

Drilling and Soldering with Sea Glass

2012-02-02T21:37:00.000-08:00

For this months "Aspiring Metalsmiths" blog roll we've decided to do tutorials to share information and learn from each other. My tutorial is about drilling sea glass and soldering it onto a closed sterling silver ring that can be hung from a necklace or made into earrings. There may be a better way of doing it...but after lots of trial and error, this is the method that works for me. I should add that this tutorial is geared for people with some basic knowledge of soldering. While I go into great detail about working with the glass, I don't go into great detail about the actual soldering.

First, you'll need to find yourself some sea glass.

The best beaches for finding sea glass are beaches near old city dumps or beaches where the sand is pebbly. If it's not too cold, wade out a little to where the waves crash...that's where the best sea glass can be found. Also...get there early before other beach combers take all the beautiful cobalt blue!

Drilling the sea glass:

*I use a 1mm diamond tipped ball bur for a dremel that I purchased at my local hardware store.

* I fill a glass pyrex baking pan with about 1" of water and attach my dremel bur to my Flex shaft. You can use a dremel or a drill press...I just happen to have a flex shaft, so that's what I use.

*First, mark the spot that you want to drill with a sharpee. Turn it over and mark the other side as well. It helps to hold the glass up to the light so you can see the first sharpee mark through the glass...this will help you to be able to place the second mark directly opposite it. You want the sharpee marks to line up as perfectly as possible since you will be drilling halfway through on one side, and halfway through on the other...you want the holes to line up.

*Place the sea glass glass in the water...I just hold it with my hands. Being careful to only get the tip of the bur wet and NOT the flex shaft, drill halfway through one side of the glass...flip it over and drill the rest of the way through the other side. Don't apply pressure...just let your drill bit do the work. You'll know it's working when you see clouds of powdered glass swirling around your bur.

*Because you will be putting the glass onto a ring that will be soldered closed, you don't want the hole to be too tight on the metal. If the fit is too snug, the glass will conduct too much heat and the glass will break. Even though 16g round sterling silver wire fits perfectly through the hole made by the 1mm ball bur, I still like to widen the hole a little just to be safe. For this, I attach a diamond tipped bead reamer to my flex shaft. Again, place the glass in the water and drill with the graduated reamer to enlarge the hole.

Soldering a Sterling Silver ring closed with the sea glass on it:

* Make a ring whatever size you like with your 16g wire (other gauges of wire can be used...I'm using 16g for this project).

At this point I set the glass aside and solder the ring closed without the glass on it. This way I can hammer it perfectly round on my round mandrel. Once I have a perfectly round ring, I cut it open at the seam, file the ends and put the sea glass on. Close it the same way you would close a jump ring.

*Now to solder...Hold the ring of silver with your third hand tool and at the same time clamp the sea glass with a pair of cross locking tweezers. The tweezers act as a heat sink and help to prevent the sea glass glass from breaking. I use medium Silver solder for this step because it requires less heat than hard solder, yet is still strong enough for everyday wear. I have had success with hard solder, but the chances of breaking the sea glass are higher. Solder your ring closed by pick soldering. Basically, heat the ring and place your solder on the join. Circle the ring again with your flame and heat the solder to help it flow. Try not to directly hit the glass with your flame if you can. Do this step as quickly as you can to avoid excess heat flowing to the glass. Get in and get out!

DO NOT QUENCH!! after your solder flows....walk away! Sorry to scream, but this is important. :-) Go heat up your coffee, check your email...maybe you had a sale! Basically...let the glass cool on it's own.

Pickling and Finishing:

* I use eco-pickle, which is basically just distilled white vinegar and table salt...OR sometimes red wine vinegar and pink Himalayan salt for a gourmet pickle, if that's all I have left in the cupboards. I take a coffee cup, fill it with just enough vinegar to cover my piece...and microwave it about 60 seconds until its hot. I then put it on the warmer on my stove top and add the salt. (sometimes I put it on an electric coffee cup warmer in the garage because nobody in my house likes the strong smell of warm vinegar). IN THE MEAN TIME...I put my sea glass charm into a cup and ran it under luke warm water...gradually turning the water warmer and warmer until it is sitting in a cup of hot water. Only then do I put the charm into the hot pickle. Basically, when working with glass, you want to avoid ANY abrupt temperature changes that will result in your glass breaking.

*Rinse in warm water...then file, sand, finish as you would finish any silver jewelry. Finally, I tumble it to clean the glass and give an even finish to the metal...it doesn't break the glass...at least not yet. :-)

Click on the links below to view the tutorials written by my fellow Aspiring Metalsmiths:

VCArtisanOriginals
Sylvia Anderson
Metals Addict
Lilian Ginebra
Esmeralda
Amy Estelle
Stacy
Mary Anne Karren
Shannon of Gifted Designs
Pennee- All Wired Up Jewelry Designs
Jessica @ Abella Blue
Elizabeth Brown - resurrectionsilver.blogspot.com

What I'm working on right now.....

2011-07-24T19:48:00.000-07:00

My very talented team, the "Aspiring Metalsmiths", does a monthly blog project where we choose a topic and "everyone" writes about it. I put "everyone" in quotes because this is my first time to participate...usually I write about 10 lines and get distracted and end up missing the deadline. This month the topic is "What I'm working on right now". I'm 8 lines into it and I'm not distracted yet...so far so good!

As usual, I'm working on tons of different things at once.

These gemstones will soon be made into rings....

Rose Quartz, Carnelian

The new rings will look similar to this ring, but I may wrap them in solid gold bezels....

I'm in the design stage with a couple stones.....

This one is a hand cut Ray Mine Chrysocolla from Laura of Cabbingrough

The little wheel looking things will actually be poppies. I'll stamp and dome the silver and add a center ball.

Or.....maybe I'll go with this design. Hmmmm....lots to think about!

I had to bevel the upper edge of this drusy with my sanding disc so that I can bezel set it. It will be either a ring or a bracelet....

I'm leaning towards this design....

I'm halfway done making several pairs of earrings that I hope to be able to finish soon. I will add the gemstones later...

Then there's my little Sterling Silver and Copper barn. This was for a team challenge where the theme was Architecture. I missed the deadline to enter and so here it sits. I'm determined to finish this little barn, and I actually have been working on it little by little over the last few weeks. I have to cut out, bend and solder the second half of the roof, cut and solder the hinge onto the back, and figure out how I want to do the finishing. I'm thinking the roof might get a verdigris finish. I like the way the soldering has left a distressed look to the barn, but I think I may end up sanding and polishing it because that way the little flowers I stamped into the sides will show more clearly....and part of me really wants to watch it age over time and end up with a natural patina...

I searched for the little sterling animals I made, but couldn't find them. I'll post pics of them when they turn up!

It will open like this, and have a hinge down the back...once I learn to make a hinge. There will be a latch on the front to keep the animals in. Moo!

I soldered little stalls inside but the solder didn't hold. I'm not sure why, but after several attempts I abandoned them, so the inside will just be hollow. The design is modeled after a toy barn Santa brought for my kids.

I have more things that I'm in the middle of....but I had to stop somewhere! I just wish there were more hours in the day. I'll post pics of my little barn when it's finished!

To see what my Aspiring Metalsmith Teammates are working on click on their blogs listed below:

Girl Loves Glitter on Etsy.com

2010-12-18T14:04:00.000-08:00

My name is Lilian Ginebra and I am a mostly self-taught metal smith living and working in the San Francisco Bay area. I am so excited to have recently opened my jewelry shop at www.girllovesglitter.etsy.com where I have the opportunity to sell my designs. I am a mother of three young children, and I do most of my work in the evening when I magically transform from mommy to jewelry designer. Occasionally, someone takes a fantastically long nap, and I actually get to work during the day! Amidst the tricycles, suitcases, and holiday decorations, I have set up a home studio in my garage. This is where I happily sit late into the night cutting, sawing, sanding, torching, drilling, filing, and hammering away like a mad scientist while the rest of my family sleeps soundly.
I grew up in a family filled with artists, creative thinkers, and DIY’ers. I received a BA in Art History and Fine Art from San Francisco State University. I have been designing and creating jewelry for as long as I can remember. It began with daisy chain necklaces and then transitioned to friendship bracelets made from my mother’s seed beads. From there, I began working with wire and semi-precious stones. I have since graduated to the vast world of metalwork. I was hooked the moment I lit my first torch and melted my first sterling ball. From sketching a design to manipulating the metal and gemstones into my visions, I love the entire process of transforming my drawings into finished pieces of jewelry. My designs are inspired by colors and shapes from nature and my time spent living in the Caribbean and Mexico. I strive to make jewelry that is beautiful, well made, comfortable and that people will love to wear.

Photo of my workspace

2010-11-17T12:48:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is, in all of it's messy glory, my workspace. I's not fancy, it's not a proper jewelers bench, but it's mine & I love it. It may bewilder you to know that a place that appears as chaotic as this is one of the places where I am most at peace. To me it isn't chaotic at all, in fact everything is exactly where it should be...you should have seen it before I cleaned up!

The board nailed into the wall above is a convenient place to hang tools...

I'm loving the handy little design punch holder my Dad made me for my birthday. He drilled holes into a piece of picture framing & voila! Now, i just need about 3 more & I'm all set...Dad...are you reading this?