July August Wire Wrapper's Challenge

I have two thoughts, one of which won't work. (1) I would *love* to see people post photos of what went wrong--and how they fixed it, but I'm sure this would be jinxed and everyone would create their next masterpiece flawlessly if I ask for that. (2) Do something that you've never done before. I don't care if it's a new technique of wrapping, a new type of material, a new type of structuring.

Oh my! This will require a lot of thought...

I believe the second option.... bonus if you correct a mistake doing it.  

Well, I'm early enough for this challenge that maybe I'll have time to make something for the last one! So this is my first time doing a hammered frame that's asymmetrical on asymmetrical Stone. It's the second time I put a continuous inner frame on the stone. Usually I end up with a little nub where I bring all the wires together and wrap them like you would for the start of a bail. Then I simply bend them all over and cut them off. I thought it might look better without the nub on there. On some I think it might actually add to the design. I didn't want it on The rustic card I did a little bit ago though. So this is actually my second one with the continuous frame.






One of the reasons I went ahead and posted and used this one is because I screwed it up to the point that I didn't think it was going to be fixable. The way I make a continuous frame on the inside is to bring everything tight , hit a little spot solder on it, and then wrap The binding wire over the top of it. I've tried to do it without the solder and it just pulls apart. When you start bending the wires that holds stone in place.  The problem is somehow I got a little bit too much solder and sucked it all the way down the sides and soldered all the frame wires together all the way up to the upper binding. The only thing I could try and do was hit it with another torch and I was able to separate the wires with a little knife. I really boogered up the entire thing. I got it so hot that I burned off one of my tie wires at the top. I didn't realize till I started fixing that that I actually fused the wires together. 









I also decided to put a spot of solder on the bail.  It's just a hammered piece bent into a split ring. I managed to solder it to the hammered frame. That was a little easier to get a part. 



After seeing it enlarged I'm going to go back and clean up some tool marks and re patina.

Thanks Tela. I tried several times without solder and just couldn't make it work.

I love it! You really have a talent for the hammering, and you moved beyond your original ones (which were fantastic). And I think it absolutely wonderful that your mistake turned into a bonus and a back side design element. Plus, it's great for either sex. Way to go!

Thanks Patty.  The deviation allowed me to do something different with the bail

Thanks Susan.  I'm just glad I could save it.  I had 4-5 failures in a row with the "continuous frame" (I should trademark that)  until I decided to solder and it was getting a little old.

And I still wouldn't have been able to tell that you soldered it.
I think you really have that style down
Patty

Four days to spare ! Boy am I glad we had 2 months this time.
I think I covered it all-mistakes & something new.

First the fun, new.
I've never made hoop earrings before, in fact I think I might only own one pair that I got as a present years ago.
So it seemed about time to give them a try.

I started out with a tutorial, although her earrings were 3" and that just seemed way too big for me, so I downsized them.


Overall, I think they came out OK, but I certainly had to learn about snap sets in the process.
Tela, thankfully shared with me the trick about using a Popsicle stick & sticky tape (Thanks Tela !) and that helped a LOT,
but I found out that crystals are a bit more fragile, than I would have thought.

My solution was to use a dapping punch to spread the prongs evenly, set the crystal nice & square with the pop stick & then tighten the prongs 2 at a time.


I like them so much I'm currently working on another version !