I get through a fair few headpins when I'm making jewellery, especially if I've done something to upset the God of Loops (such as forgotten to leave out an offering). And while I can generally get away with using 1.5 or 2 inch headpins, sometimes I need longer pins for wire wrapping larger focal beads etc. I have found a few suppliers of longer pins but they are either expensive, too far away (for my impatient self) or they are out of stock. So I was thrilled to find a tutorial for making balled wire headpins on How to Make Jewelry.com. I discovered that it was fairly simple to make your own headpins by heating the wire in a torch (which I already had to hand after my Adventures with Art Clay Silver). So I managed to fire up the torch (after a bit of persuasion and a few squirts of lighter fluid), and here are the results.
I used some 20 gauge half hard sterling silver wire that I had in my stash - ideally I'd have had 22 or 24 gauge to hand.
I cut the wire into several lengths, longer than the usual 2 inch headpins, as I knew I wanted longer headpins for some pendants I wanted to make.
Then I followed the instructions in the tutorial, and basically stuck the pieces of wire into the flame until a ball formed, then dunked them into cold water. And here's what I got:
They're a bit 'organic' looking, but I am quite pleased. Well, at least until I compare them with bought headpins:
Although to be fair to my attempts, I was using thicker wire AND they've not been cleaned up.
The tutorial suggests using soapy water and wire wool to clean up the wire, but I was being impatient (and don't have any wire wool) so I dunked the wires into some silver cleaner and then buffed them with a soft cloth.
They're not perfect, but they are usable. And I will get some smaller gauge wire and some wire wool to make some more, as they were so quick and easy to make. I'm also eyeing up another tutorial on the same site, which shows you How to Make Earring Wires. Watch this space!
I used some 20 gauge half hard sterling silver wire that I had in my stash - ideally I'd have had 22 or 24 gauge to hand.
I cut the wire into several lengths, longer than the usual 2 inch headpins, as I knew I wanted longer headpins for some pendants I wanted to make.
Then I followed the instructions in the tutorial, and basically stuck the pieces of wire into the flame until a ball formed, then dunked them into cold water. And here's what I got:
The tutorial suggests using soapy water and wire wool to clean up the wire, but I was being impatient (and don't have any wire wool) so I dunked the wires into some silver cleaner and then buffed them with a soft cloth.
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