How To Collect Silver Bits and Silver Dust, Wire Jewelry Tutorial

I posted a topic asking what do I do with the silver dust left on my bench the other day in Wire Wrapped Jewelry Artist facebook group, and everyone suggested me to collect them and wait for it to accumulate, then sell it back to Rio's or melt it to create something. I never really had to collect silver dust until I started to drill my silver wires and blanks, using metal sheet puncher will leads to some silver bits for me to collect too, and I figure picking them up from the bench might be a little tricky because these silver dust or bits will get into those holes on my wooden bench.

So I took this opportunity to recycle two of my ST. DALFOUR 1 Ounce Jars to collect my silver bits and silver dust.

Here's the video - please excuse the fan spinning sound at the background, I was using an USB fan near my workbench lol.

P/S: I put a ceramic plate on top of my wooden work bench before start drilling my silver pieces just in case the hand-twist drill will drill through the wooden workbench and the wood dust mixed up with the silver dust.

Let me know what you think!

Handmade Self Locking Silver Hoops Earrings

Handmade Self Locking Silver Hoops Earrings

So I finally tried out Mary Anne Karen's Self-locking Hoops Earrings tutorial. Well I don't have most of the tools she was using, and I made do with whatever I have got.

I didn't have a drill press, I took an jewelry artist's advise that instead of getting a drill press (and other power tools), I've gotten myself an Eurotool EuroPunch 1.25mm Round Hole Punch Pliers for Sheet Metal, which, well, did not work for this project. Hole punch pliers JUST won't work for 20ga flatten wires, 18ga may be, provided you manage to flatten the wires VERY nicely.

To flatten the 20ga wires, I've tried using just one steel block and hammer it directly with chasing hammer - it didn't work out; I then tried using riveting hammer, kneading on the wires to spread out the silver - it became too thin for a pierce and when I use the hole puncher, it broke; so I end up using a square steel block on my Bench Block With 4" Rubber Base 3" Steel Block And Nylon Block Metal Working Anvil, by taping both blocks together to prevent the square steel block from sliding... argh it's too much work when you don't have the right tools! And the hole - it's not done by drill press, nor it was done by the hole puncher, I actually use an ordinary awl to pierce through the flatten part of the wires, and then file it to establish a bigger and wider hole to allow the other end of wires to go through.

The result is pretty close to Mary's hoops earrings, though I could have made these in much shorter time if I've got the right tools.. :P

Handmade Self Locking Silver Hoops Earrings

Close up shot of these cute hoops earrings:

Handmade Self Locking Silver Hoops Earrings

Now your turn to try it out and show off! :)

Corra