Daily Archives: February 5, 2010

All of the 14 gauge rings (in the back) fused.  But they are too chunky for me right now. (Soon to be hammered and become some stand-by necklace or earring element.)  The rings in front are 18 gauge wire, I then hammered them with one or two strikes. The ones that didn’t fuse broke right apart at the seam.  The others…usable, but OMG they weren’t perfect on my first try! (Ha ha) If I had tried 20 gauge, it would have melted for sure.  Yup. The 16 gauge will be the one to try. Practice should help too.

Today = Clasps. I bought one of Hattie Sanderson’s  Maglette kits at the Metal Clay World Conference in Chicago last summer and I finally got around to using it, today.  Nothing is fired yet, but I am experimenting and it felt great to spend a whole day in the studio.

Magnet holders have a male and female side, making one of them deeper than the other. Once they are fired, the thin, but very strong magnets will be secured in holders with a chemical bond. (Ha ha. That’s just a fancy way of saying glue or epoxy.)  My own design challenge is to fit them inside a bead or other form. I have a lot to learn about how to best make these work for me.

Inside a lentil bead looks like it will be a good basic design for a lot of the necklaces I make.

I think this one will sit funny when it is strung, but I’ll fire it anyway to try it out. It would have been better to attach “holders” directly to the sides, rather than slipping wires under a decorative top piece.

I have a total of eight magnet holders to work with for this kiln firing. I hope the design below will work out well for some of my beach rock necklaces. This was using one of the smallest magnet holders, which may mean it won’t be strong enough for rocks. But maybe some pearls?