I wanted to make a meaningful Christmas present for a younger family member. My mother had given me my Grandmother’s silver plate and said that it would be OK if I made jewelry out of it. I took two teaspoons and heated them until they were cherry red with my lamp working torch. After letting them cool, I clamped them into a vise and sawed off the handles with my jeweler’s saw. I filed off the rough edges and drilled holes in both ends of each handle. I shaped the pieces with a rubber covered mallet and a form made to hammer out dents in cars. Then I threw the handles in the pickle pot to clean off most of the fire scale. Next, I used a wire brush attachment in my drill to clean off the rest of the dirt and shine them up. I filed around the rough edges of the holes I’d drilled and went over the handles with steel wool before polishing them with muslin buffing wheel and rouge.
I assembled the pieces with jump rings I’d made previously, and a lobster clasp. When I don’t solder jump rings, I like to make them oval shaped with the cut on the side because they are stronger and less likely to pull apart which is important for a bracelet. I was going to put a lamp-worked bead dangle on the front with a wrapped loop. I ended up using the dangle you see in the picture-an odd earring belonging to my mother.
I have a full set of my Grandmother’s silver plate and a ton of ideas for using it to make jewelry. What about a ring or bracelet for my maternal girl cousins? That’s a thought. It would be a good way to share the silver plate with the family.
Yesterday, my Mother was telling me about the wonderful Christmas dinners my Grandmother cooked years ago. I imagine they enjoyed more than one with the spoons I used on this bracelet. I never knew my Grandmother. The picture of her below must have been taken when she was 16 or so, which would make it circa 1900.
Emma Peterson Montgomery
December 13, 2007 at 2:54 pm |
Hi Martha!
The bracelet is gorgeous, and also a wonderful way to share memories with the family. I’m sure your relatives will love it. Say hi and happy holidays to your Mom for us.
March 13, 2008 at 12:53 am |
Hello, Your bracelet is lovely. I too am trying to make bracelets from some family silver ware. My problem is with drilling the holes into the spoon handles. We keep breaking drill bits even though we are using bits for drilling through metal. I am getting very frustrated. Can you offer any help for my drilling problem? Many thanks for any suggestions you might have!
March 13, 2008 at 2:43 pm |
You have to use a high speed drill or a flex shaft. Make a guide hole first.
Place your metal on a block of wood and make a dimple in it with a center punch (or nail) and a hammer. This will keep your drill from skating around when you drill. Insert your drill into the dimple and drill straight down at very high speed until you drill through the metal and hit wood.
I recommend safety glasses and keep a firm grip on everything.
You will actually burn the wood a bit from the friction. The metal will get hot too, so be careful. If you lose a grip on what you are drilling and the whole thing spins around madly (this has happened to me) remain calm and turn the drill off. This is one of the great advantages to controlling your drill with a foot pedal. You simply lift up your foot and the drill stops.
Good luck! I have some more spoon jewelry I will post in the future.
March 18, 2008 at 10:51 pm |
[...] is made from part of another one of my Grandmother’s silverplateed spoons. After I made the bracelet I showed you in an earlier post, I decided to try something new. The cabachon is polymer. The spoon [...]
July 29, 2008 at 2:14 am |
Hello.
I was happy to find information on drilling holes for the spoon bracelet but I need help with the entire project. I would like to get started in making spoon jewelry but I don’t know how to bend the spoon handles and cut them. I also need advice on what tools to use and how to twist the wire when adding beads and charms. Thank you.
July 29, 2008 at 2:28 am |
The post describes the tools I used. After heating the spoons cherry red and letting them cool (called annealing) you saw the bowl part off with a jeweler’s saw. Find something that has the shape you want and bend the bracelet over that. A rubber or rawhide mallet lets you whack it without marring the surface. Don’t be shy-give it a try. I did not take a class on how to do this. I just played. You might want to take a basic metals class to become familiar with the properties of metal and the tools.
August 13, 2008 at 6:29 pm |
As sawing goes, you can probably use a hacksaw, and if you only have a hammer but not a mallet, if you put some ‘cushioning’ between the hammer and the spoon you can probably get away with using a hammer.
Having made blades on wire with a c-clamp, that may be worth a try too.
- Take this with a grain of salt, I’m not a metal-worker, but I sometimes use tools in rather unorthodox ways. -
April 3, 2009 at 4:25 am |
[...] stuff, take it home and figure out what to do with it. I used their Body and Fender Set to make bracelets from spoon handles. If you want, but can’t afford a disk cutter, try their Hollow Punch Set and a sturdy [...]
July 15, 2009 at 9:16 pm |
I have also been trying to make bracelets from spoons….The trouble I’m having is in the bending…I’ve tried using a rubber mallet but am unsucessful…Please help…Thankyou
July 15, 2009 at 10:32 pm |
Be sure to anneal the metal as described in the instructions. I formed the bracelet with a metal form called a dolly (used to repair car dents) along with the hammer. You could also use a bracelet mandrel or a wooden baseball bat. If the metal becomes work hardened, you can anneal it again. Don’t be afraid to whack it. If your first one is not perfect, remember that you’re learning.
October 8, 2009 at 4:52 pm |
Please tell me how to preserve the sterling after the bracelet is made.
Do you something on it to prevent tarnish??
October 9, 2009 at 12:31 am |
I don’t, but there are lots of anti tarnish products. You can also wipe of tarnish with a jeweler’s rouge cloth. The Internet is full of information and links.
October 9, 2009 at 1:06 pm |
Thank you.
I’m searching the internet, but nothing seems to stop tarnish for years.
October 9, 2009 at 1:31 pm |
That’s the nature of metal.
Try http://www.silverguard.com/t-silver-plated-articles.aspx