By Kathy Grzedzinski
TOOLS & SUPPLIES
• Joyce Chen scissors (or other metal culling scissors)
• 10-gauge round half hard or sott sterling wire, 5* long
• Chasing hammer
• Rawhide mallet
• Steel bench block
• Round nose pliers
• 7mm 18-gauge sterling jump rings. 4
• 22-gauge half hard sterling wire. 2'
• Small piece of 24-gauge flat sterling sheet
• Assorted beads
• Assorted charms
• Sandpaper, 320-, 400- and 600-grit (must be silicon carbide)
• Green Scotch pad
• Set of steel alphabet stamps
Resources: Silicon carbide sandpaper can be found at Ace Hardware, acehardv/are.com. Steel alphabet stamps can be found at Harbor Freight, harborfreiglit.com.
Photo of fmiihcd prcce by Jim lawuxi; all omit photot cowrtf »y of iftc author,
On a chosen evening every December, my friends from "The Low Expectations Book .Club" arrive at my home to celebrate our annual holiday gathering. This is our one and only meeting of the year where wc refrain from reading and discussing a particular book due everyone's hectic holiday schedules. Instead, everyone brings a festively wrapped book forour gift exchange and wespend the evening catching up on each other's lives over a leisurely dinner.
A few years ago, I had the idea to give each of them a handmade bookmark. In the beginning, they were often made of ribbons, cording and beads. This year 1 decided tocreate them out of sterling silver, and I also personalized each one with a silver tag bearing their name.
This project requires basic skills. You need to know how to saw metal, file metal, and have basic wire wrapping skills. Before you begin, you might want to purchase some charms that relate to the gift recipient in some personal way. Knitting charms for the knitter in your life, and dog charms for the dog lover, would personalize the gift even more.
wire boslcs ol STEPBYSTEPWIRE.COM
Post a comment