Not What I Planned, but it's ok

by Staci L. Smith

 

It is no secret that I love Lisa Peters Art's donut style beads.  You can see them in about 40% of my designs (ok- maybe not 40% but I use them a lot).  Lately, she has been making these flowers, and I hated to string them with wire the way I normally do with them, because it would have covered too much of the design.

 

an older design with the wire across the donut

 

 

I have great flowers like this one below that I want to use and didn't want to cover it up

 

I thought I would prong set them, but the copper and the silver were not co-operating.  The backing was too big, and it was taking too much heat- I have trouble getting copper and silver to work together a lot of the times.

 

 

So instead I came up with this design for prong setting, and it goes on the back- AND IT'S PRETTY...bonus!

 

 

It lies on the back like this

 

 

 

All but two of the prongs get folded around (after some antiquing and such) and the two on each side become the connectors to use it in your design. 

 

I had so much fun figuring this design out.  I was so very frustrated at first when I realized my plan wasn't working.  However, if it had, then I wouldn't have had this happen.  And once I get over the initial frustration- I do like a challenge. 

 

Furthermore, I botched up some of the spirals and pieces as I made them, so them these were born too.

 

 

They are squiggly little focal components that you can hang charms from.  Half are getting a fancy patina right now, and the rest will be antiqued and stuff.  They will be available at Bead Fest.

 

So, the moral of this little blog post is, if it isn't working out they way you had planned, run with it, it may turn out even better!

 

 

 

 



Prong Setting Tutorial

by staci smith


So, I wrote a tutorial for the new Artisan Whimsy blog. It's a great site, and you should hop on over there. There are teams for everything from polymer to metal, desingers to bead hoarders. There are tutorials and challenges, and lots and lots of people to meet. It's a great place for resources and information.

My tutorial is just an easy, beginners way to prong set.  Here it is....
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Easy Prong Setting

by Staci Louise Smith

Materials: 

cab
sheet metal
rivets
hole punch or drill
metal shears
sharpie marker
rivet hammer
file
sanding pad or steel wool
raw hide mallet
silver solder paste
butane torch
pickle
liver of sulphur
prong setting tool or wood dowel
burnisher
flush cutters

1.  Select your cab

2.  Place it on your sheet metal and trace it with a sharpie

3.  Cut out your backplate with the metal shears

4.  trace your cab and mark where you want your holes to be- make sure your holes are close to you cab line, but not ON it, or too far from it

5.  file and sand the edges

6.  texture as desired, I used the back of a rivet hammer to add texture- you must texture before punching holes or the holes will distort

7.  Flatten back plate with your raw hide mallet

8.  punch or drill your holes - you must match your rivet wire gauge with the correct size drill bit or hole punch.  This can be a guessing game, since drill bits and hole punches aren't sized by wire gauge.  A chart like this one from Rio Grande can be very helpful.  Make sure your rivet fits snugly into the hole.

9.  Place rivets into the holes

10.  Add solder paste to the flat bottom part of the rivets, then push the down flush onto the back

11.  place on your soldering block and heat until solder flows (or until its red hot, easy solder paste should surely flow by then)

12.  Quench, pickle, clean

13.  add your cab

14.  Now its time to set your cab- fold the prongs over using one of these tools. 

I used the prong setting tool with the groove, but you can use a wood dowel or something similar if you don't have that particular tool. 

15.  Burnish the prongs to strengthen them

16.  Cut them down with flush cutters- make sure to leave enough prong to just come over the curve of your cab and hold it secure

17.  File edges of prongs- careful not to damage your cab
18.  Add liver of sulphur and polish it back when its done

19.  You now have a prong set cab. 

 

 

 

 I am also part of a blog hop taking part today, where everyone gets to show off what they made for the prong setting challenge.  If you want to check it out, you can go to my blog www.stacilouiseoriginals.com

 

I went big for this one.....................................

 

 

Lavender Mica and black fossil ammonite prong set

 

Enjoy the tutorial, and let me know if you have any questions.

 

PS- the Art Bead Love Tour is at Genea Beads- and not only can you win a chance to host the chain, but there are also two additional people who will get to win little charm packages.  So this time there are three chances to win!