True Love Stamped Metal Jewelry Set by Margot Potter for Jewel School
I have been veering more and more into wire and metal work over the years. I love hammering, stamping, forming, riveting and making organic designs. Message jewelry has been staying strong on the market and now Jewel School has all of the tools and materials you need to make message jewelry to express yourself with your own personal message. Riveting was complicated by the math required to calculate what drill bit went with what rivet, but with Jewel School’s new Riveting System, you don’t have to worry about the math anymore. How much do I love that?! More than words can say! This is a little homage to my true love, Drew. I love you, honey! - Margot
'True Love' necklace and earrings by Margot Potter for Jewel School
Materials
3 24mm brass heart stamping blanks
2 small German silver oval stamping blanks
Large German silver oval stamping blanks
3 small rivets
3 6mm bronze shell pearls
70 3-4mm freshwater pearls
34 4mm smoky quartz SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS rounds
20 4mm Bali style spacers
48 4mm silver tone spacers
EZ-Crimp™ Clasp
.018 19 or 49 strand beading wire
4 6mm copper jump rings
20 gauge copper wire
3 ball tipped head pins
Tools
Chasing hammer , bench block and pad
Lower case typewriter font metal letter stamps
Upper case typewriter font metal letter stamps
Round nose pliers
2 pairs chain nose pliers
Flush cutters
Mighty crimp tool
10mm dowel for making ear wires
- Use ball end of chasing hammer to texture the metal blanks.
- Stamp ‘l o v e’ on one small oval.
- Stamp ‘t r u e’ on the second small oval.
- Stamp the initials of the couple with a & sign between on one of the brass hearts.
- Decide on rivet placement, use hole punch end of riveting tool to pierce hole through both components in each set (large oval and large stamped heart on top, 2 stamped hearts with each of the smaller ovals on top.)
- Rivet components together using riveting end of tool and small rivets. (Follow instructions on riveting tool.)
- Designer Note: I made a left and right earring, piercing a hole at the opposite side of the top of each earring. You will need to take that into account when placing rivets as well as allowing space under the blank at the heart tip for another hole.
- Each component has a hanging hole and a hole at the bottom to attach a dangle. Mark and pierce holes.
- Create copper ear wires with 20 gauge wire. See The Making Earring Wires VOD or The Art of Making Earrings DVD for details. You can also opt to use pre-made ear wires.
- Create coiled dangles for the three bronze shell pearls using ball tipped head pins.
- Attach the dangles to the bottom of each riveted charm using jump rings.
- Attach an EZ-Crimp™ clasp to one end of a 19” segment of beading wire. Thread on beads as follows: pearl, bali spacer, smoky quartz, bali spacer, 2 pearls, plain spacer smoky quartz, plain spacer, 2 pearls, plain spacer, smoky quartz, plain spacer, 2 pearls, plain spacer, smoky quartz, plain spacer, 2 pearls, Bali spacer, smoky quartz, Bali spacer, 2 pearls… continuing a pattern of 2 pearls, spacer, smoky, spacer and 2 pearls using Bali spacers on every 4th smoky quartz until you reach the 34th pearl. Attach a jump ring to the top of the large heart, thread it on the wire and add the 35th pearl. The necklace is in a mirror image of the first half, same pattern until you reach the 68th and final pearl.
- Thread wire into the other end of your EZ-Crimp™ clasp. Use chain nose pliers to grasp and pull wire. Round necklace before finishing to keep it from being too stiff. Attach EZ-Crimp™ using Mighty Crimp Tool.
- To make earrings, attach a jump ring to the top and bottom of each riveted charm. Add a coiled bead to the bottom jump ring on each. Make sure the loop at the bottom of the ear wire is turned so the earrings will hang straight when worn. Attach the earring loops to the jump ring at the top of each charm using a chain nose plier.
