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FELTCreate forged silver and kinetic elements to accentuate

your felt components.by Annie Pennington

Designing with

Fibers have always been a part of my life. My mother is an award-

winning art quilter and designed heirloom-style clothing through-

out my childhood. She had a sewing room in every house we lived

in, and bits of fabric, thread, and other fibers were always at my finger-

tips. It’s only natural that I now combine fibers with metal!

A variation of a series I made a few years ago, this pendant (above

center) combines a handmade wool felt ball, forged rectangular sterling

silver wire, and tiny kinetic wire components. You can use premade felt

balls, but it’s fun — and surprisingly cathartic — to make your own!)

Rather than tell you how to re-create this exact pendant, I encourage

you to play with the techniques I present, and develop your own kinetic

hard and soft pendant.

PROJECTBEGINNER | METAL/FIBER

materials ■ Sterling silver:

■ Rectangular wire, dead soft, 4 x 1 mm, 2 in. (51 mm)

■ Round wire, 20- and 18-gauge (0.8 and 1.0 mm), amount determined by your design

■ Sheet, 24-gauge (0.5 mm), amount determined by your design

■ Jump rings, 20-gauge (0.8 mm), 1/8 in. (3 mm) inside diameter (ID), 2

■ Chain, length variable ■ Clasp

■ Felt ball ■ Fine-silver jump rings: 18-gauge (1.0 mm), 3/16 in. (5 mm) ID, 2

toolboxes ■ Hammering ■ Sawing/piercing ■ Soldering ■ Finishing

additional tools & supplies ■ Ring or bezel mandrel (optional) ■ Clamp (optional) ■ Wood or plastic mandrel, wood forming block (optional)

■ Center finder

Silver Pendant ComponentsCut the silver strip. Use a jeweler’s saw frame and a #2 blade to cut a 2-in. (51 mm) piece of 4 x 1 mm sterling silver rectangu-lar wire [1]. Use a flat needle file to round the ends of the wire and to remove any saw marks [2]. Sand the wire ends with 320-grit sandpaper.

NOTE: If your sterling silver strip isn’t dead soft, anneal, pickle, and dry it before continuing.

Plan your design. Decide if you want your pendant to hang vertically or hori- zontally, and where you want to place the felt ball. Based on this, determine where you want to compress (“neck in” or swage) the strip and where you want to stretch it. Mark these areas with a fine-tip permanent marker. These don’t have to be precise measurements, so you can just eyeball it if you prefer!

Forge the edges of the silver strip. To compress the strip from both narrow edges at once, you want to effectively pinch the strip from opposing sides. Secure a ring mandrel, bezel mandrel, cross-peen hammer, or a dapping punch

in a vise. Hold one edge of the strip on the mandrel at the point where you want to compress the metal, and strike the oppo- site edge with a cross-peen hammer [3].

NOTE: If you don’t have a vise, clamp a dapping punch shank to your workbench.

Continue to forge the narrow edges of the strip, flipping it over occasionally to make sure you’re compressing both edges evenly and creating a smooth transition from the pinched areas to the flat areas. Check the edges of the compressed areas often to make sure they haven’t folded over (cold-shut) onto the wide surfaces of the strip [4]. You can prevent this by forging slowly and tapping the edge back into position as you go.

NOTE: If you don’t want to compress both sides of the strip, place one narrow edge of the strip on a steel bench block, and forge only one side. The flat surface of the bench block will support the strip along its entire length and prevent it from compressing only in select areas.

Stretch the silver strip. Set one wide surface of the strip flat on the bench block.

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buying felt ballsYou can purchase premade felt balls from many craft, knitting, and bead stores, as well as from online sources. You’ll want to use fairly small balls for this pendant, so look for ones that are approximately 1/2 in. (13 mm) in diameter.

the wires to be loose in the holes, but not so loose that the balled-up ends can pass through the holes.

Place the tip of a large drill bit into a hole, and rotate it with your fingers to remove any burrs left from drilling [8]. Repeat to refine both ends of each hole.

Make the felt-ball components. Use a disk cutter to cut a disk of 24-gauge (0.5 mm) sterling silver that’s approximate-ly half the diameter of your felt ball. Use a center finder to determine the center of the disk, and then drill a hole through the disk with the #59 (0.041 in./1.04 mm) bit. Use the large drill bit to refine the edges of the hole.

Place the disk into a dapping block and slightly dome it [9]. Test to see that your wire will still fit through the hole. If necessary, carefully drill through the hole again to refine the edges.

Flatten the bottom edge of the dome by sanding it in a circular or figure 8 motion on a piece of 320-grit sandpaper taped to a flat surface [10].

Ball up the end of a 11/2-in. (38 mm) piece of 18-gauge (1.0 mm) sterling silver wire [11]. Ball up the ends of wires for your other kinetic elements as needed.

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10Use a cross-peen hammer to strike the noncompressed areas of the strip parallel to the length of the strip [5].

Stretch the strip as much or as little as you like. Compress the edges more as necessary until you achieve an elegant, balanced form.

Use your fingers to gently curve the strip [6]. If the metal is too hard to form with your fingers, form it on a wood or plastic mandrel with a mallet.

Drill the holes. If you want your pendant to hang vertically, drill a hole at least 1/16 in. (1.5 mm) from the top of the strip [7]. If it’s going to hang horizontally, drill a hole at each end of the strip.

Determine where you want your felt ball to be, and drill a hole in the strip at that point. Your felt ball will be centered on this hole.

Decide where you want the kinetic elements to be (see “Kinetic Elements,” opposite page) and what gauge of wire you want to make them out of. Drill holes at the appropriate spots.

NOTE: I used a #59 bit (0.041 in./1.04 mm) for 18-gauge (1.0 mm) elements (including the jump ring and felt ball components) and a #61 bit (0.039 in./0.99 mm) for 20-gauge (0.8 mm) elements. This allows

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AssemblyAttach the jump rings. Close one 3/16 in. (5 mm) inside diameter (ID) 18-gauge (1.0 mm) fine-silver jump ring and fuse it shut. Open a 1/8-in. (3 mm) ID 20-gauge (0.8 mm) sterling silver jump ring, add the fused ring, and slide the open ring through the hole in the top of your pendant [12]. Close the jump ring so the ends are flush.

Grasp one side of the sterling silver jump ring with a pair of cross-locking tweezers. Keep the join facing up. Apply flux to the join, and add a small pallion of hard solder. Heat the jump ring until the solder flows across the join.

TIP: A jump ring is small, so it will heat up faster than you might expect. Heat it slowly and evenly to ensure that both sides of the join reach soldering temperature at the same time. If the solder flows to only one side of the ring, it was heated unevenly. You can use a soldering pick to draw the molten solder across the join, or clean the join, add a second solder pallion, and try again.

kinetic elementsThere are endless variations and combinations of kinetic elements you can use in your pendant. A basic rule of thumb is to complete one side of the element, insert the wire through the hole, and then form the second side. If you’re using a torch to ball up the end of a wire or solder on a ring, you’ll want to use a pair of cross-locking tweezers in a third hand base to hold your pendant horizontally, letting gravity hold your component in the hole. Use flux (and antiflux, if needed), and make sure to pickle and rinse your pendant when you’re finished. Here are a few possible combinations.

Ball up the end of a wire. Insert the wire into a hole, trim the wire, and ball up the other end.

Flatten one end of a wire into a paddle. Insert the wire into a hole, trim the wire, and ball up the other end. Bend the paddle side down parallel to the strip.

Ball up the end of a wire. Flatten the ball into a “nail” head. Insert the wire into a hole, trim the wire, and ball up the other end.

Solder a small jump ring onto one end of a wire. Insert the wire into a hole, trim the wire, and ball up the other end.

Forge one end of a wire into a paddle. Insert the wire into a hole, trim the wire, and forge the other end. Bend the ends down parallel to each other.

Solder a jump ring onto one end of a wire. Insert the wire into a hole, and repeat for the other side.

Solder a small disk onto the end of a wire. Insert the wire into a hole, trim the wire, and ball up the other end.

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ASK THE ARTIST: ANNIE PENNINGTON

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2 Art Jewelry ■ January 2013

TECHNIQUEBEGINNER | FIBER

M ost commercially available wool is cleaned, carded (combed

so the fibers are aligned), and dyed in an array of colors

before being offered for sale. Felting is a process in which

loosely bunched wool fibers are interlocked and compressed, creating

a dense piece of wool. In this project, I’ll show you how to combine

needle- and wet-felting techniques; while you can use either tech-

nique exclusively, I find that combining methods gives me greater

control and a more quickly felted ball.

Combine two felting techniques to make colorful balls to use in jewelry.by Annie Pennington

Felt ballsNeedle-felt the wool. Pull (don’t cut) a small tuft of wool roving. Place the tuft on a piece of dense insulation or upholstery foam that is at least 11⁄2 in. (38 mm) thick. Pull a second bit of roving, and place it on top of the first tuft with the fibers laying in the opposite direction [1]. Continue stacking thin layers in opposite directions until you reach your desired quantity. NOTE: The wool will shrink 30–50% after

felting, so use more wool than you think you’ll need. Wad the stack into a tight ball to estimate the size of your finished ball.Roll the wool into a tight ball, tucking in

the sides as you roll [2].

materials ■ Wool roving, less than 1 oz. (28.3 g) additional tools & supplies ■ Dense foam (insulation or upholstery), at least 1½ in. (38 mm) thick ■ Felting needles ■ Small bowls, 2

■ White vinegar

See Safety Basics at www.artjewelrymag.com/howto

suppliers

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Hold the rolled wool ball against the foam, and stab into the center of the ball with a felting needle a few times [3]. NOTE: Felting needles are long triangular-

or star-shaped needles with sharp barbs along the edges. They come in a variety of sizes, from coarse to fine. The barbs start approximately ¼ in. (6.5 mm) from the tip of the needle, so using just the very tip of the needle will have no effect.

SAFETY NOTE: Felting needles are sharp; it definitely hurts if you poke yourself! Keep your fingers away from the needle. If the process makes you nervous, use a second felting needle to tack the wool to the foam while you felt it.

interlocking the wool fibers and creating a dense felt.

Continue rolling the ball, alternating dipping it in hot and then cold water. As the ball becomes denser, apply more pressure when rolling. When you feel that the ball is felted

enough, rinse it thoroughly in clean water until no more suds emerge when you squeeze it. Squeeze out the excess water. NOTE: Perform a pinch test to see if your

ball is completely felted. Use your finger-tips to pinch a tiny bit of the wool fibers, and pull them away from the ball. If the fibers pull out, continue felting [7]. When you’re satisfied with the density

of your ball, soak it in a bowl of water and white vinegar (approximately 2T vinegar to 34 oz. [1 L] of water) to neutralize the soap.

NOTE: The slight alkalinity of soap can damage wool over time. Vinegar neutral-izes the soap and restores the natural pH of the wool.

Rinse the ball in clean water, and let it dry thoroughly, preferably overnight. (If you have a cat, don’t leave your felt balls where the cat can find them. You might just wake up in the morning and have to go on a ball hunt. It has happened.)

Repeat to make more felt balls. (I recommend making more than you think you’ll need, so that you have a variety of size and color options [8].)

Lift the wool, rotate it, tuck in any excess fibers, and stab it in the center again. Continue rotating and stabbing the wool to create an even, rounded form that holds its shape [4].

Wet-felt the wool. Protect all work surfac-es with towels; I like to keep a towel on my lap to wipe my hands on periodically.

Fill one bowl with hot water and a second bowl with cold water. Add a drop of dish soap to each. Dip the partially needle-felted ball into the hot water, and gently squeeze out the excess water [5].

Begin rolling the ball between your palms, applying very little pressure at first

[6]. Sometimes, it’s helpful to simply toss the ball back and forth between your hands until the fibers begin to felt.NOTE: If you apply too much pressure at

first, you’ll end up with a flat, clumpy piece of felted wool. After a few tries, you’ll get a sense of how much pressure to apply and when you can increase that pressure.Dip the ball into the cold water, and

continue rolling it. NOTE: The shift from hot to cold water, in addition to the soap and agitation, causes the cuticles of the wool to open and close (think hook-and-loop fasteners),

Make Your Own Felt Components

Use a file and sandpaper to clean up any excess solder on the jump ring. Thread the top jump ring onto a sterling silver chain. Attach a clasp (I recommend making your own) to each end of the chain with jump rings. Solder the jump rings closed with hard solder. Pickle, rinse, and dry the necklace. Scrub all the components with a brass brush and soapy water.

Patinate the necklace. Apply a patina, such as liver of sulfur, to the necklace, balled-up wire, and domed disk. Rinse and dry the parts, and remove the patina with an abrasive cloth or pumice powder as desired to highlight each component.

Attach the felt ball. Thread the disk dome-side down onto the balled-up wire [13]. File and sand the end of the wire into a smooth point [14].

NOTE: You’ll cut off this point later, but at this stage, it’s necessary so that the wire will penetrate the felt ball easily.

Carefully push the wire through the center of the felt ball while twisting the ball back and forth. This twisting motion helps the wire push between the fibers rather than splitting them.

What have been your most or leastsuccessful texture experiments?“One time I used a latex mold-making material to create a textured, skin-like covering for a steel-armature hand piece. It looked great for a few months, but the latex reacted with the steel over time, and it broke down. It turned in to a gloopy, sticky mess. But, I learned to always do long-term tests when using new materials (or old materials in new ways).”Contact: www.anniepennington.com

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silver strip, and squeeze the balled-up wire, dome, and felt ball against the strip. Trim the wire with flush cutters so that only ¼-in. (6.5 mm) of wire extends [15]. File and sand the end of the wire smooth.

Squeeze the components against the strip again. Place the end of the wire on a bench block while holding the squeezed elements off the edge [16]. Use a round- peen hammer or planishing hammer to flatten the wire into a paddle shape. Flat- ten the wire as close to the strip as poss- ible. Release the tension and decide if the wire needs to be flattened any more. Sand the edges. Use chainnose pliers to fold the flattened end of the wire down so that it’s nearly parallel to the strip [17].

Want to make your own felt components?It’s easy! Learn to combine two simple felting techniques to create felt balls to use in this project. Check out the article “Make Your Own Felt Components.”