Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip
February 24, 2010

Question:

How do you get that perfect mirror shine on your focal gemstones?

Answer:

As I am not sure which type of stone you mean, cabochon or faceted, I’ll give a general answer for cabochons. The reason this has to be ‘general’ is because the lapidary world is a huge venue and a lot of the polishing techniques used really depend on both the hardness and the make-up of the stone. For example, some softer stones are worked all the way to the polish stage and then we use Zam for the final polish, while some other materials receive their final polish from the use of either cerium oxide or Lindi ‘A’ on a leather pad (glued to a flat lap), and on agates we use a very fine diamond paste on a felt lap (using a regular silicone spray as the extending fluid). I have to credit my husband for the gorgeous polish he gets on the cabs I use, which has come from a LOT of experimenting (and you should see the bucket of, “well, that didn’t work”, which is future fodder for our tumblers).

Answer contributed by Dale “Cougar” Armstrong

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Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip
February 23, 2010

Question:

How do you connect each hook and eye at the end of your necklace?

Answer:

If you are handcrafting your own hooks and eyes, you can make them right onto the ends of the chain. The easiest way to connect ready-made hook and eye sets is to use either a jump ring or a split ring (that looks and works like a mini-key ring).

Answer contributed by Dale “Cougar” Armstrong

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Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip
February 22, 2010

Question:

When wire-wrapping, how do you decide where to put the wraps, especially on a free-form piece?

Answer:

In my opinion, the easiest way to decide where to place the needed wraps on a freeform cab frame is to first draw around the shape on paper, then wrap the circumference of the cab with a piece of quilters’ or painters’ tape. Decide what will be the top and then look at the shape of the stone. Where will it need to be supported in the frame the most and what features do you want ‘not’ to be covered? Experiment with your drawing; if you place your wraps in a certain area and make a pull with the top wire, where will the wire go on the stone? Use a marker and mark the tape where you want the wraps to be, then transfer the marks to your wire bundle (keeping in mind the right and left sides). Frame the cab and then make the appropriate pulls that you had planned with the tape.

Answer contributed by Dale “Cougar” Armstrong

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Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip
February 21, 2010

Question:

I want to wirewrap small gemstones for earrings. What size wire would you use for 2mm, 4mm, 8mm, etc.?  Do you use the same size for all?

Answer:

To use very small stones like the 2mm and 4mm you mention, I would first set them in snapsets and slide them onto either a 24g or 22g wire to use in whatever earring design you are working on. The gauge choice would depend on which size will best fit under the stone, within the snapset, according to the shape of the stone, how deep its pavilion is, and the style of the snapset you use. For example smaller, round snapsets will work more easily than some of those that are larger and square shaped, due to the way the setting is made. (I had a student come by this week with a gorgeous bracelet design he was having issues with because he was using 12mm x 14mm rectangular snapsets that were rather thick underneath, so he had to file down part of the metal at the base of the prongs to make room for 22g sq wire.)

When using a round 8mm stone, my students and I have had success both with wrapping it bare with 24g sq wire and in a snapset using 21g or 22g wire (again, in a snapset the wire size depends on what will fit through the snapset and under the stone without dislodging the stone). I also advise that you secure a snapset stone by wrapping a wire completely around the setting, just under the girdle, tying it into your design.

Answer contributed by Dale “Cougar” Armstrong

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It seems nowadays there is something new on the marketing front that perplexes even the most experienced marketers and Google Buzz coming on the scene is no different.  This article is to help you navigate this new tool and start deploying it as a toolset for your wire jewelry business.

First of all, if you are Gmail user, you got introduced to Google Buzz at launch of the new “social networking” tool.  When you opened your email a couple of weeks ago you noticed that you were asked if you wanted to “follow” folks and you were able to quickly and easily make your selection.  So, the signup process is where you start.  If you don’t have a Google Gmail account then click here to get signed up – http://www.google.com/buzz.  You will notice also that you can get Buzz on your phone.

After you have registered you will have a dashboard to manage your buzz activity.  It provides a private, consolidated summary of the data associated with your Google account as well as direct links to control your personal settings.  You can also see how many people you are following, information about your recent posts (once you get started) and comments, etc.

You will need to invite people to follow you.  Once done then you can directly message them all or if you want to make sure one of your friends sees a certain Buzz post, you can direct it to their inbox with @reply. Type the “@” symbol followed by the first few letters of their name, and select their email address from the list. Only you’ll see their Gmail address — other people will just see their name.

After you’re set up and have people who have agreed to follow you, you can send out messages to them about your wire jewelry business.  Keep them short (like Twitter) and to the point making sure that your audience will find what you are communicating about as important or useful to them.  If you buzz too often on topics that don’t matter you will find that people will “mute” posts or worse, stop following you.  The integration with email puts it closer to your fingertips.  Again, select those to follow you that may engage you in the future for wire jewelry pieces.  And stay on topics that they will enjoy hearing about.

The core philosophy behind Google Buzz is to allow people to share experiences in real time.  Integrating this social networking tool into an email application directly is new and may pull some people from Twitter that have to “go there” to Tweet.  However, keep in mind that many software solutions online have integrated with Twitter and Facebook so that you can auto-deliver one message to a number of platforms quickly and unless Google does the same thing, these other platforms may keep market share.  This means, don’t stop using Twitter or Facebook.

The bottom line is, keep your followers happy and make sure that they aren’t overwhelmed by you using all of the tools out there only to rehear your message too many times.  Learn what they like and keep building your base.  The connections you make and continual interaction will ultimately create a loyal following of wire jewelry enthusiasts.