Troubleshooting hand forged headpins?
May 18, 2009
Love Eni's tutorial on fine silver (ball) headpins; when I make them I am not very successful in getting the round ball effect at the wire end. It balls up but in an inconsistent shape (most often like teardrops versus round balls). Any suggestions about what I might do differently to achieve the desired look?
Thanks in advance for your kind reply. Cheers! Colette
I cannot say for sure why this is happening to you but one suggestion would be to be certain that you are holding the wire perpendicular to the ground; i.e. pointing directly down. The melted silver will respond to gravity. If you are holding it even a bit "side-ways", it will form a teardrop instead of a ball.
HTH,
Arachne53
Colette, my experience (which is limited on this subject :^)))has been that mine end up more round if I pass the full length of the headpin thru the flame before settling the end into the full heat - not sure why that works, but it does. ?
Why don't you PM the author of that tutorial, Marie Christine. I'm sure she'd be willing to give you pointers or post here so that all of us can benefit. :^))