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Making Attractive Jewelry From Sheet Metal For Jewelry Making

Jewelry making is an activity for some and passion for people. It’s a great way to express your self and make a statement. Sheet metal is a metal formed into thin and flat pieces. It can be cut and bent into various shapes to make beautiful jewelry and its thickness varies significantly.

If the sheet metal is really thin, it’s called foil or leaf. The thickness of sheet metal is called gauge and it can vary from 8 gauges to 30 gauges. Higher gauge indicates thinner sheet. Aluminum, brass, copper, steel, tin, titanium, and nickel can be created into sheet metals and they’re extensively used in jewelry making.

Processing Sheet Metal for Jewelry Making

Sheet metal and hardness testers or Brinell hardness test for jewelry making can be purchased from any jewelry supplier but you can also make it on your own. It will help you save money and you’ll not have to depend on the suppliers. You can use the rolling mill to compress the cast ingots into sheets of any thickness.

Thickness of sheet metal for jewelry making could be reduced by using tangential compression. To reduce the thickness, sheet metal is passed many times through the controlled space between the rolls of rolling mill. Before passing the sheet metal through rolling mill, you need to anneal it. Annealing is very important as the sheet metal gets hard after passing many times through the mill. To have a smoother and more uniform surface, it is best to roll the sheet metal with the mill when it is cold.

Texturing Sheet Metal for Jewelry Making

You can make any impression on sheet metal and use textured clothes, wires or watercolor paper to create the pattern. If you anneal the sheet metal properly prior to passing it through the rolling mill, you will get great results in texturing.

To make an impact, put the material whose texture you want, on the top of annealed metal sheet. Besides this, put another metal sheet and place this sandwich on the rolls. Close the gears tight and then pass this sheet. Calculating the pressure that is sufficient for transferring the patterns could be learnt only with experience.

Texturing the Sheet metal for jewelry making is a great option for any kind of design. Just remember that annealing is really crucial so that flakes and cracks can be avoided. Before you decide to start the procedure on sheet metal for jewelry making, ensure that the surface of the metal is completely clean.

After the sheet is ready, you can fold it, pierce it, dome it, chase it and stamp it to have the jewelry of your option. If you are interested in making jewelry, you can check out other options as well like metal clay and glass jewelry making. Each medium offers a unique method to present your creativity and ideas. Sheet metal for jewelry making offers endless opportunities to explore your creative self. Just be certain to follow each step carefully in making the sheet metal or else, purchase it from the supplier.

Chapter 09 – Walden by Henry David Thoreau