Jewellery | Eileen Moylan

What to do with unworn gold jewellery?

05.28.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

This week I’m melting down a customers gold to transform it into a new piece of jewellery. Many people disregard this option as they think they don’t have enough gold jewellery to recycle. But how many broken chains and odd earrings do you have that will never be worn again? This is a perfect way to de-clutter your jewellery box and also give yourself a guilt free gift of jewellery!

Here are some photos of the melting and re modelling process. I begin my weighing the customers gold, making sure I have enough to make the requested design. I’m turning this gold into charms for a bracelet.

For these charms I need a length of D shaped wire. This is done by rolling the gold through my trusty rolling mill to form a length of wire. It’s a slow process with the gold needing to be annealed ( heated to soften) after every few rolls.

Once the gold is at the correct thickness I cut it into the required lengths and start rounding it up. This also has to be done in stages and annealed as the gold wire is very thick for the size of the charm.

I will post pictures of the finished charms next week…

How to set a pearl

05.11.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

I’ve had a few busy days of paper work and admin so it was lovely to get back into the workshop today. I’ve got a few making projects on the go at the moment as well as some repairs. One of which is to replace a pearl in a white gold ring.

I decided to photograph my technique and go through how I set pearls. Pearls are unlike any other stones as it is one of the only times I will condone the use of glue! Glue is a jewellers nightmare, often I’ll be asked to carry out repairs on pieces that people have already repaired with glue. Before I can even begin to repair the piece I’ll have to remove all the glue. If I solder the piece first the glue will create a dirty soldering joint causing the solder not to run.

I begin by cleaning and polishing the ring as once the pearl is set I can’t put the ring in the ultrasonic cleaner.

Then I make sure the pearl is a snug fit in the setting. I’ve bought this pearl specifically for this job so it makes for a better setting. I also make sure the post of the setting has little grooves cut into it, this allows the glue to sit into these grooves making it harder for the pearl to slide off. Once I’m happy with the pearl and the way it sits into the post I can begin preparing the glue.

I use a epoxy resin as it sets better and doesn’t shatter like super glue. I mix it with a tooth pick and then using a broken saw blade put glue inside the drilled hole of the pearl. I then put the glue on the post of the setting. Be careful not to add too much as it will gather at the bottom of the pearl.

Once the glue is on both the setting and the pearl I gently fit the pearl to the post. I give the pearl a twist to make sure it is sitting correctly and also to spread the glue around the inside of the pearl.

Then I get my most valuable pearl setting tool… a clothes peg. I can’t remember where I came across this tip but it really is ingenious. You use the clothes peg to hold the pearl to the setting while the glue is hardening. It’s soft enough that it doesn’t damage the pearl and the spring means it can fit most pearl sizes and settings. I’ve drilled a hole on the top of this peg so I can also using it when setting pearl earrings. The post of the earring goes through the hole so the pearl sits snugly in the peg.

Well there you have it, my guide to setting pearls. If you have any handy jewellery tips I’d love to hear them.

Have a good weekend 🙂

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Making Silver Earrings Part 2

05.02.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

Last week I wrote about a pair of silver earrings I was making for myself.

Now that the wires are in place it’s time to start soldering. I’ve filed the joint in such a way that they will fit together perfectly and won’t move during the soldering. Once I have them soldered, I leave them to cool and then clean them in the acid.

I’ve cut two lengths of .7mm round silver wire for the ear wire sections.

When I have the wires soldered on I can start filing the edges. I’ve decided to file the step between the silver earring and ear wire so it’s looks seamless. Once I have that done they are ready to be polished and of course worn!

Ta- dah!

Making Silver Earrings

04.20.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

Today I’ve been working on a pair of silver hoop style earrings. I could lie and say they are for a customer but the truth is I’ve decided to give myself a little Friday treat! This isn’t a regular occurrence…honestly!

I begin this job just like I would for any customer with sketching. I had a few ideas of what I wanted but there’s nothing like seeing it on paper to help me make my mind up.

I’ve decided to go with the middle design and alter the curve as I’m making them if necessary.

I begin by getting the silver wire the correct thickness. This just requires a few runs through my roller.

Then I cut the lengths of wire and begin curving. I have my lovely glittery pink half round pliers for this job. I usually wouldn’t use a pliers for this job but the silver has been well annealed this pliers has extra special soft curves so it won’t mark my pretty earrings.

Then I need to decide how much of a curve I want before I begin soldering. I just tape the wires together and see what looks best on me!

Once I’ve decided on the depth of the curve I can start soldering the wires together.

Well I had better get back to ‘real’ customers jobs…will post the finished product next week.

Have a good weekend.

Family Crest Brooch

04.03.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

Last week I posted photos of a brooch I made recently. The design brief was that it would incorporate the crests of the two family names. Unlike most family crest jewellery the customer wanted the crests executed in a contemporary design.

This was a really nice job to work on, not only were the crests lovely but the customer was so appreciative of my designs and sketches. The crests were a bird and a fish so I had to figure out how to incorporate these into a fun design.

Click here to see the making process.

I was really happy with the finished product. I decided to mount the crests in a frame design and make them in gold so they would contrast against the silver. I also added some flowers in silver. I had planned to keep it all polished silver but when I experimented with the surface the black oxidized finished worked better. Anyway here’s the finished piece.

Becky Crow: Silver Illustrations

03.30.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

I came across the work of Becky Crow recently and fell in love with her jewellery and three dimensional illustrations. In this tiny surface area she creates these beautiful scenes. As well as her illustrations I love her use of surface texture and contrasting metals.

Here are just a few of her silver pieces that I picked out, to see lots more be sure to visit her website.

Have a good weekend…

Is your costume jewellery safe?

03.27.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

A really interesting article was brought to my attention this week about the presence of dangerous chemicals in some high street costume jewellery. American scientists at the Ecology Centre have recently tested ninety nine items from well known shops such as Claire’s, Forever 21 and H & M and other U.S retailers.

Lead, cadmium, chromium, mercury and arsenic among other highly toxic chemicals, were detected in over half the pieces tested. I wasn’t sure of the implications to the wearer exposed to these nasty sounding chemicals so I went in search of more information. What I discovered was really scary. These chemicals have been linked to health issues such as liver toxicity, cancer, birth defects and acute allergies.

Of the pieces tested 25% had lead levels which exceed the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s limit of lead allowed in the production of children’s products. In fact many of the items that were labelled lead free were in fact made entirely of lead!

As far as I am aware in Europe we have stricter laws in relation to the use of chemicals in children’s products. I plan to do more research into this so will let ye know what I find out.

For the time being I think I’ll be sticking to silver!

Emery Sticks

02.23.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

The one area of silversmithing I don’t enjoy is polishing!. I’ve tried a number of ways to avoid or cut down the amount of time I spend on the polishing lathe. After many years of experimenting I’ve found the best way to reduce your polishing time is to have a prefectly prepared surface before you go near the polishing lathe.

The way I do this is by making my own emery sticks so I have a variety of shapes, sizes and grades. The initial reason I made my own was because I couldn’t get the shapes I was looking for to get into tight angles and curves. I started with a length of wooden dowel and adapted it to fit into awkward shapes.

Here’s how I did it…

So I start with the wooden dowel cut into lengths. I then cut my emery paper to size. I usually cut around three squares from each grade so I can have each shape stick in a variety of grades eg. 600, 800, 1000, 1200.

Then it’s just a matter of taping the paper in place with some really strong tape ( I use Gorilla tape). If you want a sharp edge it might be better to glue the paper but I think tape is quick and easy to remove if you want to change your paper.

Then I just mark the sticks with the grade number so I can pick it up quickly on the bench. I also colour code them, the brighter the colour the finer the paper. I know this sounds a bit crazy but I started doing this with my solder and it has saved me so much time. If I want a fine emery stick I’ll just have to scan the bench to look for the one with the red mark!

So there you have it, proof that making your own tools can often be better than buying them!

Showcase

01.10.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

Happy new year! I took an extended break from the blog this Christmas so I could concentrate on making. While I’ve been tipping away in the workshop over the holidays, mostly tidying and sorting I began work on new designs last week. It’s been really busy but I’ve loved being able to spend a full uninterrupted week at the bench. A luxury I could only afford myself in early January!

The reason I’ve been working on new designs is that I’m exhibiting at Showcase this month. It is held annually in the RDS Dublin and brings together Irish craftspeople and makers. Showcase is the biggest trade show of Irish gifts so I’ll be one of approximately 350 exhibitors. I’ve never exhibited a Showcase before but thankfully I’ve been getting plenty hints and tips from makers who have many shows under their belts.

I’m really looking forward to not only meeting with buyers but also meeting other makers around the country. I know some jewellers exhibiting so it will be a great opportunity to catch up.

While it’s not open to the public if you do happen to find yourself at Showcase be sure to pop by stand F27 to say hello.

On other matters here’s a photo of the stacking rings I was making before Christmas. Click here to see how they were made.

Sorry about the poor quality photo my camera was acting up before Christmas. I’m delighted to report the break has done it the world of good and it’s back behaving itself again!

Gold & Silver Stacking Rings Part 2

12.21.2011 by Eileen Moylan //

This is part two of a series on making stacking rings, to read part 1 click here.

Having made the silver rings I then needed to cut out the gold details and solder them on the rings.

Filing flat are on rings for gold detail

I begin by filing an area on the rings so the gold triangles will be able to sit flat on the bands. Then I cut the mark out the different size triangles on my gold sheet.

Marking out Triangles (and drinking tea!)

Because the gold details are so small they need to be held in a ring clamp when filing and cutting them out.

Once I have all the gold pieces cut out I place them on the rings to make sure everything sits nicely together and they will work in a variety of positions. I stick these on with blu tack so I can move them around easily.

When I’m happy with the size, shape and direction of each of the gold triangles I can start setting up for soldering.

It’s not a great photo as the sun started streaming in the workshop window. Once I’ve finished all the soldering I’ll post pictures of the finished rings.