Epoxy question

Jewelry Discussion
1

I bought some drilled turquoise hearts in Tucson which I plan to
turn into pendants for necklaces. I have some 16ga wire that fits the
hole, but not snugly, and I want to fashion a pendant bale out of
this wire. There is probably some dust from the drilling in the hole
that I won’t be able to remove. What epoxy would be best for this?
Also I would need some sort of applicator to get the epoxy into the
hole? Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Beverly

2

find some non-sterile smallest hypodermic syringe, disposal type,
mix your epoxy, use shaped ice cream stick or a dowel or toothpick.
put what you need in the barrel and inject your hearts or any thing
else that needs it. use this application when you have multi-jobs
only, otherwise it will be a waste. Before you insert the wire in the
hearts, take your exacto knife and put barbs on the wire like a
fish-hook, and push them on top of the epoxy and the only way this
wire is coming out is by drilling and hope that the object is harder
than silver - otherwise your bit will glide to the path of least
resistance.

Hope this helps, Stephen

3

My favorite applicator for using epoxy in small places is broken saw
blades. I’ve never run out!

Pam

4

You could flatten the end of the wire to the diameter of the hole,
then twist it to make a wire that will hold glue better. Just use a
pin or wire to put the epoxy into the hole, plunging it up and down
until the hole is full. Then put your twisted wire in, and wipe off
the excess glue. HTH!

M’lou Brubaker, Jeweler

5

For my epoxy applications, a rounded toothpick is great. For mixing
epoxy, I like the little stirring sticks that are used for coffee.
My local Starbucks lets me retrieve the sticks from their garbage.
Eventually of course, I am adding to garbage with epoxy, but now I
separate these and off they go to the hazardous waste folks. They
can dispose them safely rather than adding them to land fill.

-k

6

Pam,

Broken sawblades are a favorite of mine too. I have a handy pin
cushion of various sized pins by my bench to pluck.

If you need to gather broken sawblades from your sweeps drawer, a
little magnet works wonders.

-k

7

Another slightly OT epoxy question…will silver cleaner (the liquid
dip kind, like haggerty etc) cause epoxy to dissolve or weaken? Any
experiences

with this? Thanks.

8

Hi Beverly,

Try to blow out the dust with an air compressor, or canned air with
the skinny straw. Use a triangular file to cut a few shallow
horizontal grooves in the wire to give the glue something to grab
onto. I like Devcon 2-Ton Epoxy the best. Mix it with a toothpick,
and use the end of a sawblade to put the glue down in the hole. Clamp
it if you can. The glue takes 2 hours to set, overnight to reach full
strength.

Lauren

9

I have just started to use epoxy for a cheaper range of earings and
have concluded that using Devcon and dipping in silverdip( Goddards),
the fast epoxy(5 Min) is attacked and the surface goes matt, the
slower one(2Hr) is not affected.

I have only tried Devcon, because that is what I had in the
workshop, so others brands may be as good, better, or worse…

I am adding resin dyes to give me colours, and also putting the
pieces in a hot box at approx 35 deg C overnight to harden.

I would be interested by others experience, I settled on a glue
rather than thinner pourable epoxy because I found it would stay on
angled surfaces.

regards Tim.

10

Hi Fuzzi Shu,

I use epoxy quite a bit in my work. The question I have for you, what
kind of epoxy are you using? If you are using Devcon 2 part 2 ton,
there should be no reaction whatsoever with the Haggerty. There are
very acidic anti tarnish dips out there, and what their reaction to
epoxy I can’t say. I suggest making a series of tests first.

For my husband’s one and only good dinner jacket, I made resin inlay
buttons (looked quite cool, I must say), with sterling silver, 2 ton
Devcon, some tumeric mixed in and some with yellow mustard powder.
The coat with the sterling went to the dry cleaners with no ill
effects. They of course have tarnished now and I will have to clean
them with a polishing cloth.

-k
Karen Christians
Cleverwerx
Waltham, MA