Forged Iron Necklace

Originally uploaded by leonfangs

I have yet to blog about a forged piece, and that is probably because I don’t know much about forging nor do I know anyone who makes forged jewelry. But I stumbled across this piece and many other really exciting pieces by Leonfang on Flickr and it sure made me want to learn and see more.

I love the fluidity of these pieces and the naturalistic inspiration for her work.

I love the classic look of this pearl and flower necklace, especially on a simple black sweater like this.

This one comes from Infarrantly Creative and has excellent instructions and illustrations.

Think a beading project for slow days at the office or a good recycled materials project. It is fun and drapes in a pretty cool way.

I’d like to see this project taken even further with some creative wire work or a bit of beading.  Could be a fun task.

Pictured here is one of her experiments on everyday objets such as steel washers and wire from the hardware store.

There are funky large beaded necklaces, one of a kind pieces and my favorites, these up-cycled chunky necklaces, like this “tangled up in gold” necklace, assembled from chains, earrings and a brooch.

Definitely a fun way to revive old pieces and good project if you want to set yourself a treasure hunt at local yard sales and flea markets.

Instructions are included, and I really like the look of this clasp – would be great with some chunky, funky beads.

Also nice about the tutorial is that they give links to suppliers for everything from the beads to the ribbon.

She also shares with her readers her recent bargin finds in other stores and how she modified them to fit her tastes. I never would have thought of Forever 21 as a spot to pick up jewelry making findings.

She never fails to inspire and seems to have endless energy for crafting projects.

As usual they have really clear instructional photos and a sense of humor in their instructions.

You can leave this bracelet as pictured here, or there are also instructions on how to patina the bat either with heat or painted patinas.

Have Fun!

She includes a good list of which gauges you might want to use for specific types of projects as well as a discussion of hardnesses in wire.

This might be a good article to keep around for future reference.

I like the leaves.  They are something that I might have skimmed over in a bead catalogue but she has caught a great look for this season.

I might spice them up a little using gold plated earwires like these at Rio or these darker niobium earwires.

She has hit the nail right on the head with this one.  The jewelry saw is really the most important tool if you are doing any metal work and using it is simultaneously simple and quite hard.  Practice is the key.  It is easy to learn to make cuts, but take time to really look at your lines. Are your cuts straight verticals or do they meet your guideline at the top of the metal and seem to stray away to the left or right at the bottom?  Mine always did at first.

Follow Helen’s instructions and you will be well on your way to mastering this.   I can’t stress a few things enough:

- Keep a light touch, no pushing into the metal with the blade, just an easy up and down motion

- Blades break all the time, just buy them in big quantities and realize that at least for the start you will break lots.

-Keep you blade completely vertical all the time to aid in getting straight lines.

- And use something to lubricate the blade – I just keep a chunk of beeswax nearby and run my blade through it every once in a while

Have fun!

Also check out their huge variety of jewelry making classes held each month. October includes, among many others, PMC, hot glass, enameling, half persian chain maille, pearl and bead stringing, and kumihimo.

They are holding an introduction to PMC workshop tomorrow Oct 10th, so give them a call to see if space is still available

Lastly, they have a bead bead sale planned for November, so I will keep you posted when I hear more.

It seems like a fun idea to troll through flea markets and yard sales looking for color combinations or specific styles for this necklace.

I have also found that when looking for strands of colored pearls or big glass beads, or whatever really, eBay can be a good place to look.  You can often find deals, especially on the cultured and dyed pearls, that are much less than at traditional bead stores.

The possibilities are truly endless with this project

Here on instructables.com you will find instructions for making chainmaille out of the pull tabs on soda cans.   I like the look that this creates and think that you could use strips of maile for necklaces etc.