Scarlet Hair Pin
Introduction: Scarlet Hair Pin
Although I have been wire weaving in some way, shape, or form for some time now, this is the first time I have actually attempted to create any sort of hair accessory. Although I very rarely do anything more complicated than a braid with my hair, I have always enjoyed seeing elaborate hairstyles with some rather fascinating pieces of decoration holding them in place. So, I decided to attempt an elaborate hair pin. Red being my favorite color and the rainbow contest being the only one that seemed plausible for this project, I (obviously) started hunting through my (far too large and yet not nearly large enough) collection of beads looking for anything red. In the end, while it may not be quite to my satisfaction, I have completed a rather strongly red hair piece that may have been much more appropriate if I had made it around Valentines Day. Oh well, inspiration struck, and if I put off a project, I very rarely get around to it. So without further ado, enough with my rambling, and let's get to the project!
Step 1: Supplies
Being a wire weaving project, I obviously used wire to make the frame. Personally, I prefer using fine silver to sterling silver for its better flexibility, and to my untrained eye, the two are remarkably similar in appearance. Due to being softer, one of its most desirable qualities for this project, fine silver also unfortunately scratches quite easily, so I would strongly suggest using tool magic or its equivalent to rubber coat the tips of your tools. While this is completely up to you, I find that my overall satisfaction with a piece is drastically improved with fewer mars that can easily be avoided with a small investment in the rubberizer and occasionally your time when you need to re-coat them. For this project I used:
- Two seven inch pieces of fourteen gauge wire
- Two eight inch pieces of sixteen gauge wire
- One seven and a half inch piece of fourteen gauge wire
- And enough 28 gauge wire to bind the crystals in place
Then for the crystals, I used a variety of Swarovski and off brand crystals to decorate the frame. I did not purchase anything new for this project, so I do not know the exact dimensions of the crystals, but I believe that both the bicones and the hearts are 10mm, so the teardrops must have been somewhere in the range of 15mm. 972
I ultimately used:
-Two 10mm(I believe) Swarovski crystal hearts
-Three perhaps 15mm Swarovski crystal teardrops
-And four 10mm(I believe) off brand crystal bicones.
Of course, I also used a great variety of tools, but I will try to list the ones I know I used:
-Wire cutters, one heavy duty pair and one light
-Pliers, all of the usual jewelry pliers, but to name a few, bent-nose, needle-nose, and round-nose
-A ruler and marker for measuring wire
-A ring mandrel for shaping
-A steel bench block and hammer
-And, of course, the always trusty torch and related necessities
I will try to name the tools I used as I go along in case I have missed anything here.
Step 2: Setting Up a Workspace
There are two primary area's I use for working on my bench. First, I have a flat table surface that I do most of my weaving on. I use softer surfaces to cover the wood bench, namely, a scrap of leather for when using files, and a jewelry mat that you can get at most beading stores for less than a dollar. Then there is my torching set up. I use torches for a lot of my jewelry making, and it is very beneficial to have a permanent place set up to work on. I use a honeycomb board on top of a battered cookie sheet on top of rubber feet. Behind and to one side of the honeycomb board are two bricks from Home Depot to create a heatproof backdrop to torch against. To hold the metal, I use a third hand with locking tweezers. To the right of the set up I have tweezers, solder picks, and fluxing brushes. Finally, I have a quenching bowl behind the setup and a spray bottle to the side for cooling off the working area enough to arrange more pieces of metal without being worried about getting burned. This is not a rigid set up, and those of you who do jewelry frequently will likely have your own workspace set up in a way that works for you.
Step 3: Torch Safety
Once again, this step is likely unnecessary for anyone who works with torches frequently, but for the sake of things, I should probably include the basics of how to safely use a torch. For the most part, torch safety includes the obvious. 972