Category: I made this

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Thoughts On Wampum Bead Making

I tried to make my own wampum bead tonight, just one. For those who don’t know (and can’t be bothered to follow the link above), wampum are beads made from a certain kind of shell found on the east coast. These shells have a white area, but a small purple area as well, and that is the part you make the purple bead from.

All I have to say, is wow…this is hard. I mean first you bust the shell up into little chunks. This part was fun, and I got to use a hammer. Then you have to drill a hole through the chunk, this was a not hard, but took a long time.

Then you have to shape the bead…holy shit (pardon my French). You need some serious zen like patience. I think I am going to give up and go outside with a dremel and see what kind of mess I can make tomorrow because after about an hour of chipping away at this thing it doesn’t even look close to what I have seen in pictures.

You can also see that in my desire to drill through this bad boy I pushed too hard and the exit hole is a little ugly. If you ever get your hands on some of these beads that was made by hand (especially if they were made in the old way) you should treasure them, as they are really really hard to make!

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Making A Brass Name Tag For Your Bicycle

A lot of people I know like to name their bicycles. A friend of mine calls her bicycle Oliver, so I decided to make her a little name tag for her bike.

Things you will need for this project

26g Brass Plate (polished to a high shine)
jewelers saw
burnisher
rubber cement
print out of design you want to cut out
needle vise
drill bit
eye protection
dust mask

Start by cutting your brass plate down to the size needed for the project, polish it to a high shine (I used various sand papers working down to finer and finer grit).

Cut out your design, leave some space around the edges.

Apply rubber cement to your (clean and dry) brass plate, then apply your design

Use the burnishing tool to get all the air bubbles out and to make sure every single part of the design is fully pressed to the plate.

Wait till the rubber cement sets up. This takes about five minutes.

Get your pin vise, and choose a drill bit that can drill through metal, make sure your drill bit is small enough to fit inside the portion of your design you want to cut out.

These tiny little drill bits are very fragile, but sure not to put too much force on the bit as you drill the holes. Drill your hole straight down, making sure to keep the drill perpendicular to the metal.

When you are done you should have little holes in each part of the design you want to remove.

You are now going to thread your jewelers saw, affix the blade in the bottom half of the saw, then thread your saw blade through one of the hole you just drilled out. Carefully affix the top half of the blade making sure that the saw is properly tensioned. Its easy to break a blade here so be sure you have eye protection. Also because we are about to make a lot of metal dust its a good time to put your dust mask on.

Hold your saw straight up and down, and make smooth easy strokes using the saw to slowly cut around the design printed on the paper.

Be careful not to pull down too hard or you can bend fragile parts of the design. After you cut out each place you will have to detach your saw from the frame and move to the next hole.

When you are done carefully peal off all the paper, and rub off any rubber cement left over, give the piece one last polish with a cloth. I rounded off the edges and gave the edges a good taste of the burnisher to give it a high shine.

To affix it to your bike you can gently bend it over the top tube, and affix it with jb weld, or other strong epoxy. You can also drill small holes in the corners and affix it with screws, or even use very strong 3m double sided tape.

If you don’t want the brass to lose its shine you can spray it with shellac, or give it a clear coat.

Its a great way to give your bike a little individuality.

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How To Make A Chain: Part Two, Assembly

(read part one first if you haven’t already)

There are many ways to make chains, from the simple, to the complex. Once you have made enough jump rings (see part one), you can experiment and find some styles you like.

Every chain made in this way follows a basic procedure.

1. Grab jump ring
2. Thread jump ring
3. Close jump ring
4. Repeat

This can be a tedious project, but the results are often amazing.

When you are closing the jump rings, be sure to use two sets of pliers, doing it with your fingers will lead to sub-standard results, and over time will destroy them (seriously this hurts).

Grab both sides of the jump ring, and move the two ends gently towards the gap, sort of wiggling them back and forth while pushing them together, when you are get it just right it looks like a ring.

You can do simple patterns such as two rings then two rings then two rings, or you can do fancier stuff like the following.

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How To Make A Chain: Part One, Making the Jump Rings

I have been playing around making some chains in copper for now, but I might get some silver and give it a go. You can use any type of metal wire, even colored craft wire. I would suggest a thicker gauge 12-16, as it makes nicer chains. But thinner wires can work if you are skilled.

I will be making this chain from scratch as it were, so I am going to need some jump rings.  Jump rings are the individual components of the chain.  To make them you will need some wire, a mandrel (more about this in a bit) a jewelers saw, and some chain nose pliers.

First you will need some wire, I have chosen 16 gauge copper wire, mostly because I had it lying around, and also because copper is a beautiful metal that shines with a deep warmth.

Once you have your tools ready we can begin. To make the jump rings we first need to make the coil. I like to hand wrap my coils but you can do this with an electric drill. I find hand wrapping makes it easier to fix mistakes before they happen.

Wrap your wire around the mandrel. The mandrel will determine the size of the jump rings, use something that is metal and the same diameter the whole way down. I am using a Phillips head screw driver, but aluminum knitting needles work well also. Avoid wooden dowels as they vary in diameter.

You want a tight wrap with no gaps. Leaving a little tail will allow you to have something to grab on to as you twist.

When you get to the ends use your pliers to smooth down the last little bit.

Next you will need to cut your rings out. I use a jewelers saw.

I find holding the screw driver inside the coil helps stabilize it for the first couple of rings.

It is really easy to break blades when making jump rings so be sure to cut straight down, use the small overlap of the previous ring to help you line up your saw for the next one. Cut straight back towards the coil.

As you cut your jump rings will often fall down onto your saw, this is fine, I often let a couple of them collect before I remove them. They also like to jump all over the place, putting a towel on your lap will help catch them.

After I have cut a whole bunch of them I like to go through and gently open each jump ring, this just makes it easier to work with them as you will have them all ready to go.

If you have any little burs on the rings you can take them off with a needle file. Once you have a good collection of jump rings you are ready to make some chain.

Keep reading part two