Saturday, seven of the South Shore Beaders gathered to have a demo on making some copper earrings. Of course the techniques apply to many other ideas. That's part of the fun. Ann, our teacher, as with all of our gatherings had a hard time getting our attention. But she persevered and we behaved. We watched as she punched out a circle from a copper sheet with a metal punch. (We quickly learned that this technique required many tools and new equipment.)

Then she made small holes in the circle for attaching jump rings and other adornments.

Next came using a steel dapping block and a dapping punch set to transform the copper circle into a dome shaped circle. Of course, a hammer was involved. Ann instructed us in the fine art of forming the dome with out ruining the copper.

Then came the fun and somewhat scary for first timers, using a torch. We talked a bit about safety and different types of torches plus how to turn it on and off. (An important part of the instruction.)

Ann then pulled out her other fun pieces of equipment. Steel Bench Block, Annealing Pans with Pumice, high heat block and cross-locking tweezers. We frantically started writing a wish list and thought about up coming birthdays etc.

With the torch, Ann transformed the copper color into a salmon, orange, pink, black mix of colors. She told us how much heat to use and all that important stuff. The transformation was fun to watch. She then quenched the hot disk. Then the oo's and ah's and planning in our minds of the next steps.

All in all it was another fun gathering of our group complete with plans and ideas for more.

B


www.bevsjewelry.com and www.bevsjewelry.1000markets.com