granpaw
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rocks...The oldest living things on earth.
Member since October 2007
Posts: 111
|
Post by granpaw on Dec 6, 2007 6:34:41 GMT -5
Hello all.. I have seen many references here to "polishing" after the piece is wrapped. I can find nothing else about it though, would that information be found in a tutorial or something? anyone got a link?? Thanks. granpaw
|
|
adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,777
|
Post by adrian65 on Dec 6, 2007 6:58:35 GMT -5
|
|
granpaw
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rocks...The oldest living things on earth.
Member since October 2007
Posts: 111
|
Post by granpaw on Dec 6, 2007 9:20:54 GMT -5
arg..don't know how I missed that one Adrian, I have her site bookmarked and visit it often. Thanks!
granpaw
|
|
Sparky
starting to spend too much on rocks
Still diggin'...
Member since October 2007
Posts: 147
|
Post by Sparky on Dec 6, 2007 9:44:33 GMT -5
Adrian...this is the method I use. I got it from an old article on www.wire-sculpture.com but unfortunately its been removed. Luckily, I saved it! ;D Hope it helps. How & Why to Tumble Polish Few people take advantage of the wonderful world of tumble polishing their hand crafted jewelry. Tumbling your jewelry will give it a shine like you have never before seen. It will amaze people with even the highest level of expectations! The process of tumbling is actually called "burnishing", and it is like your jewelry is being pounded over and over again by a million little hammers. Contrary to popular belief, tumbling is in no way abrasive, and only improves the look of your jewelry, never damaging. You are sure to outshine the competition at craft shows if your jewelry has been polished using this surprisingly delicate process. Another great use for tumbling, aside of polishing, is hardening the wire in the wire sculpted jewelry. This can be very important, especially if you have trouble working with hard wire. Those with painful arthritis or other muscle and bone problems would find it much easier to work with softer wires, but the jewelry needs to be firm. Tumblers solve this problem. After using dead soft wire to create a piece of jewelry, simply tumble it for a couple of hours to harden the wire, and give it the same strength as if you had used half hard to sculpt your piece. Here's a Simple Method of Tumbling Your Jewelry. Run a new tumbler for a couple of hours with nothing but the stainless steel shots and enough water to cover them and a couple of healthy squirts of Dawn the first time. Rinse the tumbler and shots well afterward. With the clean shots in the tumbler, add the jewelry, a healthy squirt of Dawn and enough water to cover everything. Put the lid on firmly and tumble for about 2 hours. Some stones require special care. Amber can be ruined in a tumbler because it cannot stand to be soaked in water. Soft stones such as turquoise and malachite can lose their polish and become dull. Brittle stones such as opal can shatter, pearls can have their nacre damaged, emeralds can seep oily resin, so you polish all beads and gems at your own risk. It's always better to test tumble a lone bead or two than to take the chance of ruining a finished piece. Personally, I have yet to ruin any of my jewelry in a tumbler. Just avoid putting amber in it. Do not panic if you ever open your tumbler and find everything in there has turned mysteriously dark. Although people seem to think you need only one drop of Dawn, there is a limit to how much dirt and oil can be held in suspension by one drop of Dawn. If your jewelry has turned dark, it simply means that the crud removed has surpassed the amount of Dawn you used and been uniformly deposited onto your jewelry. Rinse out the black water, put in fresh water and considerably more Dawn and tumble again. Also, I bought my stainless steel shot from www.mamasminerals.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?><INPUT%20TYPE=Again, I hope all of this helps. Rus
|
|