Hello All,
Just wanted to get some input on a piece I have made a dozen times
and am looking to re-work. I attached a photo of the earrings I am
speaking of to better help with my question. Currently I am
enameling the discs (now with my torch) and then pull the ear wires
through adding a dab of epoxy to hold the discs in place. I figure
the epoxy stops one from playing with the disc and hopefully prevents
cracks in the enamel. Since I started torch firing enamels and using
hard solder in place of eutectic I have been re-thinking my design. A
few thoughts came to mind on how to deal with the ear wire. (I am
trying to do away with the use of epoxy because I just don’t like to
deal with it and hate to wait for it to cure. I just want my piece
finished when I am done handling it.) First, I thought that I could
solder the ear wire in before enameling. However, I am afraid of
continuously reheating the piece with solder on it. Also, if the ear
wire is now attached to the enamel disc then I would think the enamel
would likely crack when forming the wire, especially in the first
bend. (For ease in position while firing I would leave the wire
straight while enameling and form when finished.) My second idea was
that I would fire the enamel completely then pull the ear wire
through and bend just the bottom behind the disc then fire it one
last time. This would create a situation where the enamel would hold
the ear wire still. To me this seems more stable, but I don’t have
much experience with using enamel to fuse metal in place. Any
thoughts on either method would be most appreciated, as would new
options too!
Thanks,
Kim