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| Essential Jewellery Making Tools for Amateurs and Professionals Alike |
By:
Glenn J Tucker |
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Jewellery making is an exciting hobby for many people - it's fairly easy to learn the basics, but once you're hooked there's a whole world of possibilities that can take a lifetime to master. From necklaces to bangles, from charm bracelets to wedding rings - your jewellery making creations are limited only by your imagination. Let's take a look at some of the essential jewellery making tools to get you started on your jewellery making journey.
Who knows - once you've had a go with these jewellery making tools you might just find yourself wanting to go full time as a professional jewellery maker!
Tweezers
Jewellery making can be a fiddly business - you'll need something that can grip the tiny gems and wires you'll be working with. For this reason, a good set of tweezers are amongst the most important jewellery making tools you'll need. You can find sets of tweezers online that are tailor made for different jewellery making tasks, including soldering and stone setting.
Never start a jewellery making job without knowing where your tweezers are - I would recommend that you invest in a set of jewellery making tools that includes all the tweezers you'll need to get going.
Pliers
Pliers - the hard-working cousin of tweezers. Jewellery making involves a lot of bending and shaping metal, and a strong pair of pliers is essential. The pliers used in jewellery making are generally smaller than standard household pliers. Again, I'd recommend buying yourself a set of dedicated jewellery making tools to make sure that your pliers are right for the job.
Emery Sticks
Emery sticks are used in jewellery making for sanding and preparing metal. Simple but effective, emery sticks come in many different shapes and sizes and are amongst the cheapest jewellery making tools available. Stock up on these to ensure that you never run out in the middle of a crucial project.
Saw
It's not all about bending and sanding metal, you'll also need jewellery making tools that can cut straight through precious metal with ease. Any small saw will do - to give you a general idea, the depth of the saw frame will generally be between three and six inches, which is more than adequate for most jewellery making applications.
Cordless Drill and Polishing Set
For the all important finish, it's worth getting hold of an electric drill to polish up your jewellery creations. You'll also need polishing accessories - buffs, burrs, bristle brushes and grinding cone wheels are some of the most important jewellery making tools for polishing and finishing jewellery. Make sure that these are compatible with your drill before purchasing.
Soldering Kit
Solder acts as metallic ‘glue' when making jewellery. As sticking things together is at the heart of jewellery making, a good soldering iron is one of the most important jewellery making tools for moderate to difficult projects. Soldering is a skill to be mastered in itself - so get hold of a soldering kit and read up on the process before you have a go yourself. But be careful - it gets very hot!
These are the most basic jewellery making tools you'll need. I would recommend that you join jewellery making forums and look at the many helpful websites designed to help the budding jewellery maker get started. Once you know the basics, all you need to do is clear yourself a dedicated, well-lit jewellery making workspace and get going - it really is a gem of a hobby!
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Glenn Tucker writes for a variety of arts and crafts blogs and enjoys sharing his knowledge of jewellery making tools for the benefit of the hobbyist and professional jeweller. |
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