Making Beautiful Jewelry From Sheet Metal For Jewelry Making

Jewelry making is an activity for some and passion for people. This is a great way to express your self and make a statement. Sheet metal is a metal formed into flat and thin pieces. It can be cut and bent into numerous shapes to make attractive jewelry and its thickness varies significantly.

If the sheet metal is really thin, it’s called leaf or foil. The thickness of sheet metal is called gauge and it can vary from 8 gauges to 30 gauges. Higher gauge indicates thinner sheet. Aluminum, brass, copper, steel, titanium, tin, and nickel can be created into sheet metals and they’re extensively utilized in jewelry making.

Processing Sheet Metal for Jewelry Making

Sheet metal and metal hardness tester or Brinell hardness tester for jewelry making can be purchased from any jewelry supplier but you can also make it yourself. It will help you save money and you’ll not have to depend on the suppliers. You can utilize the rolling mill to compress the cast ingots into sheets of any thickness.

Thickness of sheet metal for jewelry making can be reduced by using tangential compression. To reduce the thickness, sheet metal is passed often times through the controlled space between the rolls of rolling mill. Before passing the sheet metal through rolling mill, you need to anneal it. Annealing is important as the sheet metal gets hard after passing several times through the mill. To get a smoother and more uniform surface, it is advisable to roll the sheet metal with the mill when it is cold.

Texturing Sheet Metal for Jewelry Making

You will make any impression on sheet metal and utilize textured clothes, wires or watercolor paper to make the pattern. If you anneal the sheet metal well before passing it through the rolling mill, you can get great results in texturing.

To make an impact, place the material whose texture you want, on the top of annealed metal sheet. On top of this, place another metal sheet and put this sandwich on the rolls. Close the gears tight and pass this sheet. Calculating the pressure that is sufficient for transferring the patterns could be learnt only with experience.

Texturing the Sheet metal for jewelry making is a great choice for any type of design. Just keep in mind that annealing is really crucial so flakes and cracks can be avoided. Before you start the procedure on sheet metal for jewelry making, ensure that the surface of the metal is absolutely clean.

Once the sheet is ready, you can fold it, pierce it, dome it, chase it and stamp it to get the jewelry of your option. If you’re interested in making jewelry, you can explore other choices as well such as metal clay and glass jewelry making. Each medium offers a unique way to present your creativity and ideas. Sheet metal for jewelry making provides endless possibilities to explore your creative self. Just make sure to follow each step carefully in making the sheet metal or else, buy it from the supplier.