Cool Tools | Simple Floral Drop Earrings by Karen Trexler

[@SBQuill73]

I came to your video knowing nothing about working in silver clay. I've been doing polymer clay jewelry. You are a good teacher and explained the steps carefully, showed what was needed, and held a good speaking pace. I did have to watch another video on what is a tumbler and how to use it --- and it was a CoolTools video, which I didn't notice the credit until after watching. Your silver clay video has opened a whole new aspect of jewelry making for me, a new direction. Thank you for the excellent instruction.

[@mary-annkieckhaben5026]

Thank you your working is verry good .

[@summerknight6413]

Great video! I wonder, is there a way to make design embedded (like you have the orchid design) large hoop earrings from PMC?

[@emiliemendoza9652]

this technique is great! But could I acheive this using a torch?

[@cooltoolsvideos]

Karen is using FS999, which is not torch fireable; however other fine silver clays such as Art Clay Silver or PMC can be torch fired, so yes. :)

[@laurar8486]

Great project! Thanks for another great video! I do want to add 2 things. 1st, use something under your piece when sanding to catch the dust so you can reclaim it. 2nd, I don't believe that fine silver can be work hardened from all I've read on the subject, but maybe there's info out there to prove me wrong.

[@cooltoolsvideos]

Hi Laura, Thank you! Yes, that’s a great reminder and something I’ll make a note to remember to point out in future videos. Being able to so readily recycle dust from sanding is a wonderful quality of precious metal clay and something that should be highlighted and explained- sometimes I get in a groove and forget to remember to mention the little things! As far as hardening fine silver goes- I’ve learned that fine silver cannot be heat hardened, as heat hardening of silver requires the presence of copper in order to go through precipitation hardening. For example, sterling silver can be heat hardened- when heated to the correct temperature, the copper crystallizes out of the sterling alloy and precipitates along the larger silver crystal grains, locking the grain boundaries and building structural strength. However, since there is no copper in fine silver, heat hardening of fine silver cannot happen. On the other hand, fine silver can be hardened through cold working-stressing or work hardening without heating or annealing the metal. While “hardness” is relative to the specific metal alloy being measured (in that full hard 14k gold will have a different hardness than full hard sterling silver) and fine silver will never be able to be worked to be as hard as sterling or other more strong metal alloys, it can brought back to a more stiff state after being annealed as was the case in this project. I’m going to point you to page 7 in Tim McCreight’s The Complete Metalsmith: “Annealed fine silver has a harness of Vickers 26 (tensile strength of 9 tons per square inch). Cold working increases the hardness to Vickers 95-100 (tensile strength of 20-22 tons per square inch).” Fine silver can be worked to increase its hardness from from its dead soft, annealed state. Unlike precipitation hardening, work hardening does not require the presence of copper; fine silver crystals distort or compress from being hammered, bent, drawn, or burnished (to case or shell harden)- which yields a work hardening effect and increases stiffness. This ability to be hardened by upsetting the orderly arrangement of the annealed grains is true of almost all metals- some exceptions being those metals that have a transition temperature- or the temperature at which annealing takes place for a specific metal, at room temperature (lead for example could never be work hardened because its transition temperature is around an ordinary room temperature- so the crystal lattice of the metal re-forms and the formed stresses relax as soon as the piece is done being manipulated.). So, fine silver can be stressed or worked after being annealed to increase its hardness or stiffness. I think a majority of the discussion of “can fine silver be work hardened” comes down to vocabulary and the relativity of “hardness” from metal to metal. Fine silver will never be a “hard” metal, and it cannot be work hardened it past its full hard state in order to make it as “hard” as other metals; it will always dent or scratch more readily than other “harder” alloys. Despite that, it can be worked after being annealed to return to its more stiff full hard form. As the fine silver wire in this project was annealed in the kiln while fusing to the precious metal clay component of this project, it was able to be stiffened to a more-hard state from the dead soft state that it came out of the kiln in. Please excuse the length of this response, and I hope I didn’t over-explain or offend, I just wanted to be thorough in providing background for my statements. If you’d like to discuss this further, please feel free to contact our customer service, and they’ll connect us so we can speak more readily. Best, Karen

[@laurar8486]

@@cooltoolsvideos Thanks Karen!!

[@Bunglbeez]

Beautiful ❤️

[@GCShupe]

Could you tell me the gauge of the wire? Thank you. Nice video

[@cooltoolsvideos]

Hello, this is 20 gauge fine silver wire. Thanks for watching!

[@euvid1]

Lov it, How long did you tumble them? In what medium..

[@cooltoolsvideos]

Hi David, Karen tumbles these in a tumbler with stainless steel shot, water and a little soap for about 2 hours. You can find this product here: www.cooltools.us/Stainless-Steel-Mixed-Shot-1-lb-p/brn-402.htm

[@jennymadrigal9082]

@CoolToolsVideos can you polis and tumble the clay before applying black max?

[@cooltoolsvideos]

Hi Jenny, after applying black max you would want to polish the high areas only. Tumbling will cause all of the black max to come off.

[@kellysimpson5144]

Can this project be made using EZ960? After reading up on the two clay types (EZ960 and FS999), it looks like FS999 captures more detail. Is there any other benefit? I already have EZ960 and sterling wire on hand.

[@cooltoolsvideos]

Hi Kelly, yes! This project and any other earring project can be done with EZ960. The only difference between these two clays is that EZ960 is sterling silver and FS999 is fine silver. Sterling silver is recommended for pieces that take abuse such as rings or bracelets. Fine silver is great for earrings or pendants and fires to .999 fine silver.

[@morganlewis2667]

I'm a pre beginner with metal clay and an old pro in clay. For efficiency she could have pressed 2 at the same time on that pad with that amount of clay in production mode. But I guess this is a basic demo.

[@iseejewelz3874]

The smacking noise is driving me insane Really nice pieces

[@aliceharvey1226]

I see Jewelz What smacking noises, I don’t hear any. Karen is one of my favorite presenters, always makes me want to try her projects.