Making Balled Headpins

[caeterle]

Yes, the fine silver ones I made looked really nice right out of the flame.

[gbobmi]

Dawn, the torch comment was for everybody!

[DawninCal]

I know, Cat! I have this mental image of you huddled over a camp stove making balled head pins!

Interesting, Carina. It's like a science experiment to see how different types of gas behave. The ones you made with your torch look great!

Thanks for clarifying, Gayle. In that case, I stand by my original statement!

Ok, headpins are out of the tumbler which cleaned off a great deal of the black stuff. They will be going into the pickle soon. I think I'll use Carina's recipe. Have never pickled anything before so this will be a learning experience too.



Dawn

[DawninCal]

Before pickling:



After pickling:



That worked great, Carina!



Dawn

[violetmoonnl]

Apr 15, 2017 13:47:59 GMT -6 DawninCal said:

Before pickling:

View Attachment

After pickling:

View Attachment

That worked great, Carina!



Dawn

Wow, awesome, yours got cleaner then mine, maybe because you tumbled them first.
Who needs the expensive stuff when all you need is already in your kitchen cabinet.


Now I'm wondering why I never used my torch before, it is so dead easy!

[DawninCal]

Carina, I think it was the tumbling as they came out a lot cleaner than they went in.

I agree about using things already in the kitchen cabinets. Less expensive and less toxic too!

Now that you've got your torch out, I bet you'll be using it a lot more. I really enjoyed making these headpins and I also really like the organic, hand made look they have over machine made factory headpins. I may never use commercial headpins again!



Dawn

[violetmoonnl]

I have big bags with store bought ball headpins, though not for copper.

So I think That I will be making them for my copper pieces.

Maybe I take a longer piece of copper and make a ball on both sides.
Would look awesome for ornate curled work.

Will have to try that one some day.

[DawninCal]

I've seen wire wrapped pieces with the balled ends and have wanted to make some myself, but didn't think I had a way to make balled ends. Now I can too, Carina. Maybe we should have a challenge to make a design with balled wire! What do you think? Cat, are you in?



Dawn

[caeterle]

Actually the first thing I had done with my thin wire is to make two balled ends. I know a few people who wire wrap with copper like that and always loved the look. What I also did was hold two wires together, so I had a ball (or two) on the end, but still two wires. No idea yet what that could be good for, but I used my scraps for that, anyway.

To answer your question, though, Dawn, I'm not in if I can't get my 21 gauge to work with me

[violetmoonnl]

That would be fun, Dawn


Wire gauge of choice, Cat!



Cat, when you separate the 2 wire, then you have the ball in the middle of the "V", right?
I think there must be 1 or 2 design possibilities for that one.

[caeterle]

I'm talking 28 and 30 gauge, Carina, too delicate in my opinion.

[DawninCal]

Cat, we'll set that challenge aside for the future in anticipation of the day when you make some 21g balled headpins.

Yea, 28 - 30; that's pretty thin. I ordered a spool of 30 the other day for weaving. The smallest I've used in the past has been 28. Looking forward to seeing what it's like to work with the 30.



Dawn

[caeterle]

I only use the 30 gauge in fine silver for crochet, I also have some 28 gauge, but not that much. Partly I like the fine texture of the crochet with 28 gauge, but of course it's also a monetary decision.
The copper wires, pure and colored ones, that I use for crochet and weaving are usually 28 gauge.

[violetmoonnl]

I think I have a spool of 30 and 28 or 26.

I think that the 30 gauge would ball up until your pliers i no time when you are not careful.

[caeterle]

Quite fast, yes, but not beyond control at all. Since I was using scraps, I could try different lengths of wire. You have to be more careful that the ball doesn't fall off, but even that only happened to me once.