Metal Sand

Jewelry Making Techniques In Adding More Colors To Metal

This is fairly interesting for someone that has not heard of methodologies in adding more colors to their metals and has just been doing beaded jewely making.  Fundamentally, there are three common materials that may be bonded, stuck, or dripped onto metals to add more colors. 

The first one is epoxy ; this is a low-tech material that you may use in your work.  This is an inexpensive medium which will produce countless results.  Resin and hardener are the two parts of the epoxy mix.  It’s simply a matter of time for it to cure and become a hard, robust, super glossy plastic substance that may be drilled, fixed and sanded, when they’re mixed.  This is the same as 50 coats of varnish and dries to a mirror finish.  Here’s where the color comes in, use acrylic paint, gouache, jelly powder, makeup powder, or anything else that you can think of. 

Try playing with epoxy on some of your jewelry designs.  You can try layering, drip it into etched or stamped depressions on sterling or copper sheets, and pour it into bezels ; you can try dipping things into it too.  Vital reminder, you need to suspend any dipped work while waiting for it to cure.  Epoxy is glue ; you don’t want to glue it to anything.  Epoxy cures fast, epoxies that are available in appliance store typically comes in 5 and 10 minute varieties, and others are fast too, so be sure of your working time, only mix up as much as you can use in the five or 10 mins.  Don’t mix it with anything you ever wish to use again, or only mix them up on a chunk of scrap paper with a stick.  And, don’t inhale or touch epoxy with your bare skin before it cures.  Epoxy can be dangerous to your well-being, always consider proper care in working with this type of chemical.  Two-part epoxy is available from the ironmongers in little 2-sided syringes, and you may also find it in massive 2 bottle kits from craft and hobby suppliers. 

The second material you may use to add colors to your metal is polymer clay.  Polymer clay comes in a variety of colors.  This is formed from PVC ( polyvinyl chloride ) and goes under sundry brand names, like Fimo bead making, Sculpey, and Friendly Clay.  When using metal and polymer clay, to make polymer clay jewelry, cut metal sheet parts to make mosaics, and then fill the pieces of sterling tubes with clay.  You can try messing with liquid clays and colored powders that are available on the market.  However, polymer clay is made subtley different when it comes to quality from each manufacturer.  So when using it, especially when baking it’s vital to first read the instructions.  You also need to condition the polymer clay before using it.  Exercise conditioning by kneading the clay with your hands, or running it through a dedicated blender just make sure to use dedicated tools. 

The 3rd material you can use is the enamel.  Enameling isn’t like the two materials we’ve discussed earlier.  Enameling uses powdered glass or glass granules, and a torch and kiln.  These are all required in making glass beads.  Everyone knows that glass beads can be very colorful, so you can add this to put more colors in your metalwork. 

In this process, the glass is liquified in thin layers onto a metal form, frequently on copper.  The layers of melted glass are customarily colorful and do not fade or chip under normal conditions, but bending metal could cause cracks in enamel.  Explore enameling with the use of powdered glass from enameling providers and a butane torch.  Enameling providers also sell copper blanks and also try enameling sterling silver etchings and stamping.  In working with these materials for these techniques, always use caution.  Read and understand first all of the instructions and cares to avoid accidents.

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