Monday, July 7, 2008

Slinky Links

These three fine silver links were made using 16 gauge wire, fused and hammered, then tumbled.

They are the bright silver, no patina was put onto them.

Each oval link is fused tightly closed to the others, to make a solid chain 3-link unit.





These 3-link units were also fused together from 18 gauge wire to make the elongated links, and they were patinaed with liver of sulphur to darken them, then tumbled for an hour with stainless steel shot.

The patina goes into all the crevices where the links were hammered and give the silver a rich, dark look.




Wanted to try using some of the silver metal clay disks with chain, so the elongated 18 gauge silver wire links were used together with two small round metal clay silver disks.

This is a five-link chain, the first link is rounded and the other two wire links are ovals.

These might look nice at the end of a necklace close to a clasp. Or just one oval wire link with one round disk used together with a silver earwire, to make a pair of earrings.

Could see a wire-wrapped hook closure going with that round link, and some strung pearls on a bead wire at the other end for the necklace.

Making chain and clasps is fun. Now I need to get busy and make some more beads!

3 comments:

Cindy Gimbrone said...

You've mastered fusing fine silver wire very quickly, Lynn! I love the links!

Keep fusing - metal and glass!!
Cindy

jeanine said...

Such an original look. Love the circles with the long links. Looking forward to those finished pieces, as always.

LLYYNN - Lynn Davis said...

Thanks Cindy. I am so envious of your torch abilities, my little tiny butane torch can't hold a candle to your setup!

Hi, JP, thanks for the feedback about using the circle disks. I just never know what they will turn into, it's a surprise even to me!