How to Make Sterling Silver Stud Earrings

Sometimes it's fun to know how the jewellery you wear is actually made. I thought I would share how I recycle the scrap silver left when I cut out my designs by making it into sterling silver studs.

For this, you need a charcoal block, which encourages the sterling silver to collect into a molten ball when it is heated. 

This scrap of silver is the middle between two cut out squirrels! 

When heated with a torch, the silver starts to melt and draws together, you can see the ball shape starting to form.

Suddenly the ball shape is formed.

It takes quite some time for the metal to cool.

Here is the finished pair of earrings available from my etsy shop.

This Is Halloween

I had a tiny length of cast silver twig left from a previous project and I was wondering what on earth I could do with it. It occurred to me that it might make a good broom handle. 

 I inherited some embroidery threads that were owned by my great grandmother (she had a seriously impressive array of colours in an old biscuit tin) so I soldered a small jump ring to one end of the twig and created a mulberry coloured silk tassel, tying it with a contrasting amber brown colour. 

I've added an earring post so that it can be worn as an earring. It is long enough so that it just brushes your shoulder (please forgive the pun!)

I've placed it next to a doll's house sized broom for comparison.