Thursday, May 23, 2013

Copper Bracelet Set-back, or, Oops, I Made a Boo-boo

I was doing so well yesterday ... I had started off by deciding to go ahead and make an etched toggle to match the bracelet, so I cut some copper pieces and got them into the acid.

I began drilling holes, stopping off and on to help customers, etc. Then my pieces were ready to come out of the acid, so I stopped the hole-drilling (so tedious) and started on the toggle. I sawed out the center of the toggle ring, smoothed all the rough edges, and set out to solder a loop onto the back of the toggle bar. Naturally, that took way longer than expected. But here is my cute custom toggle (it still needs to be tumbled):

 etched copper toggle

etched copper toggle

Once the toggle was finished, I started drilling (and filing) holes again. There are a LOT of holes on this bracelet!

With 3 pieces remaining, I started drilling this piece:

copper connector before the drilling accident

and this happened:
oops - drilled too close to the edge!

I got too close to the edge, and there is just no working around this.

After some chosen words, I cut a new piece, prepped it and stamped it, and packed up for home.

This morning, I plopped the newly stamped piece in the acid, and I just hope it looks like the rest of the pieces when it is done (same degree of etching, same patina with the liver of sulfur, etc.) - it's nice to make all the components of a particular jewelry design at the same time, to try to control all these variables. Oh, well!

So, while my new connector is etching, I listed 2 pairs of the earrings I made last weekend on Etsy:







Stay tuned for further adventures in copper bracelet-making! And I'll also reveal more of the pieces I made last weekend!

Drop me a comment and tell me about some of your boo-boos!

2 comments:

dreaminofbeads / SAS Jewelry Designs said...

oh I actually gasped out loud! I am sure it will all turn out good. Your stuff is always really amazing. I love those zentangle earrings.

Sweet Freedom said...

Thanks, Sonya - I did WAY more than gasp!