Finding Center: Find the Center of a Metal Disc

In a couple of my previous posts I shared a tutorial on making a necklace using washers and another tutorial about using washers to create a pair of earrings.  The process of cutting washers from metal sheet leaves a metalworker with a pile of smaller discs. These smaller discs are a happy by-product of the process. 

These small discs can make nice bead caps; they can be domed or left flat. To be used as bead caps it's important to have a hole punched in the center of the disc. If the hole is off center the bead cap will sit crooked on the bead. I've been experimenting with various methods to find an accurate center on the discs.

You can find various methods for finding center of a circle with a google search. The one I preferred involved using a ruler to draw a line across the disc, turn the disc 90 degrees and draw another straight line. The point at which the two lines intersect is center. Sounds simple right? Not so much. If the first line doesn't bisect the disc at its true center point then the intersection of the two lines won't be center. 

Then I found this tool. Yes...eyebrows raised and a slow grin came across my face.

The EuroTool Center Locator.

Slide a round disc into the V slotted side of the tool.

Flip the center locator over, holding the disc in place and draw a straight line. 

Turn the disc 90 degrees and draw a line perpendicular to the first line.

Simple!

The tool has two sides. On side has a V shape to find the center of  a circle. The other side has a 90 degree angle to find the center of a square. The piece I have in the photo above is a rectangle. I just wanted to give you a visual of the other side of the tool.

All the discs are marked and ready to be punched. 

You need to pay attention to detail when marking the discs. The lines need to be drawn perpendicular to each other to ensure finding center. You also need to take care to line the punch up carefully. 

I'm loving this little tool. This has been the most effective way I've found to find the center of discs. The tool is very afforable, less than $9.00. I purchased my nifty Center Locator from Beaducation.

The discs after punching.

A collection of discs after cleaning up and adding some finishing touches. I embossed the discs, left some flat and domed others.

Ema Kilroy is a lampworker and metalsmith living and working in Central Massachusetts. 

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Inside the Studio with Ema Kilroy

Welcome to Inside the Studio!

Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.

Congratulations Susanm! 

You have won a pair of handwoven bead earrings handmade by Rebecca of Songbead and The Curious Bead Shop.

Please email Rebecca with your contact information and your color selection.

___________________________________________________________________________

Hello Art Bead Scene Friends. It seems like it's been quite some time since I've had a chance to visit with you. There have been some changes in my life that have been keeping me busy. I'll cut straight to the heart of it and tell you that I got a job! A job outside the studio. A job that pays weekly (yes I'm liking that!).

I am excited about getting out of the studio and back to work with other people. I had a challenging summer. You could hear the cricketts chirping in my workspace. My ideas dried up with the summer heat and I felt artistically tired. After a lot of thinking about my life and my direction I decided it was a good time for me to look for a job outside the studio. There are many folks that work hard and successfully create a niche for themselves in this art bead world we all love. Personally I find marketing my work to be daunting. Keeping up with trends and the ever changing desires of magazines and such is a chore for me. A chore that doesn't resonate with my style. I'm pretty laid back and prefer to take life slow. I have a style and I'm not one who chases after too many trends. I stop often to listen to the birds and to smell the roses. I don't care to rush about to meet deadlines for shows and magazines. I think some folks are cut out for this type of lifestyle. I don't think I'm one of them. I love to create but a marketing guru I am not.

 I've gone back to my accounting roots and taken a job as a bookkeeper for a large company that has a second location not far from my home. I'll be handling all the accounting tasks in this location. I'm really enjoying it so far. I think this job will be perfect for me. The job is supposed to be part time but for the last 4 weeks I've been working close to full time. I see the light at the end of the tunnel and hope to be working on a part time basis next week. That's where I want to be. I'm hoping the part time hours will allow me to have free time to create and spend more time with my family. I feel that creating without relying on it for my income will free up my creative spirit. I have to say that I like getting that regular paycheck. If you've relied on your art and craft for an income you know exactly what I'm talkin' about.

Soooo....as far as what's happening inside my studio, it's been a bit quiet. I did manage to create some pieces inspired by the onset of Fall. It was down right cold in my part of the world this past week. We might even get a frost tonight. Yikes! It's too early for that! Inspired by thoughts of Fall I got out some leaves I had collected, dried and pressed last year; before I ever had a thought about creating the Natural Impressions line. This means there are a limited number of these pieces available. When they're gone they're gone (until next year). As the Fall season gets into full swing I'll definitely be on the hunt for fantastic leaves to press this year.

I thought these pieces would be fun in an Autumnal jewelry design.

I have little more cleaning up and polishing to do in order to get these pieces ready for sale. I'll be listing them on  Sunday Friday. I'll be sharing new listings on my FB page. 

In the meantime you could win this lovely lampwork bead set. Silvered glass encased in a layer of clear glass, handmade by me.

Leave your comment answering this question for a chance to win. 

Are you creating a special piece of jewelry inspired by the beauty of the Fall season? 

Thanks for visiting ABS today.

Ema Kilroy is a lampworker and metalsmith living and working in Central Massachusetts. 

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Tutorial Tuesday - Copper Disc Earrings by Ema Kilroy

Happy Tutorial Tuesday. Today I'll be sharing a tutorial with you for a pair of earrings using copper discs. I've been feeling like my creative juices are running low lately so I won't insult your creativity and say this is a full blown tutorial like you've never seen before... like Claire's Tutorial last week...wasn't that Tropical Silk Necklace spectacular! Let's just say it's more like a meeting of creative minds, bouncing ideas around and considering design options.

This past winter into early Spring I began working on the Natural Impressions pieces which I unveiled in a post here at ABS. When I began creating this line I was most excited about the toggle as a focal concept. They've been popular online and at shows so I've been busy making them. (I'm working to restock my shop as I write.) As I was creating the toggles I couldn't stop thinking about the discs as earrings. Big, round disc earrings. Now many months later I'm finally putting the idea together and sharing the design with you.

Materials for the project (detailed list below)

String a seed bead, lampwork bead and another seed bead onto a headpin.

 

Start a wrapped loop.

Insert the loop into the bottom portion of the disc and finish wrapping the loop.

Add the earwire to the top of the disc.

I like to make my earwires a bit square on the top. I find they stay in the ear better. I acheive the square by grasping the top of the earwire with flat nose pliers (preferably square flat nose pliers) and gently pressing the back of the earwire flush against the plier.

The finished earrings!

An alternative option....

The earrings pictured above have a slightly different design with accent beads above with the disc as the dangle. I have wire wrapped a jasper bead, a daisy spacer, and a jasper bead together and attached the disc to the wrapped set.

Materials list for the tutorial:

2 - 1.25" copper discs (available in Ema K Design's Etsy shop)

2 - lampwork beads (Ema K designs)

2 - copper headpins

4 - size 8 seed beads

2 - earwires

Thanks for taking the time to visit ABS today. I'd love it if you'd share your thoughts on the disc earrings. Do you prefer the pair that has the green lampwork as a dangle below the disc or the pair that has the jasper beads with the disc as the dangle? Or do you have another creative idea you'd use to turn these discs into a pair of earrings?  

Ema Kilroy is a lampworker and metalsmith living and working in Central Massachusetts. 

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Metalsmithing Tools: A Basic Overview

Thank you for all of your comments on my last Inside the Studio post! I appreciate all your kind comments. It seems the majority of you are interested in learning about metalworking tools. In today's post I'll share with you the tools I'm currently using to create metal components. I think it's fair that I fully disclose my background in metal work. I have none. ;) Well that's not entirely true. I'm not formally trained in metalsmithing, so some of my techniques may be a bit unconventional. I have, like many of you, spent hours scouring the internet, borrowed hundreds of books from my local library, purchased many books and simply sat myself down to figure out how to make the metal do what I wanted it to do. 

As I mentioned before most of the copper I use is upcycled from the construction industry so it's basically scrapped roofing metal. It's a 22 gauge metal.

I begin by annealing the metal. Annealing is the process of heating the metal until it glows red. This softens metal making more malleable. Much easier on your body, your tools and the metal. 

IMPORTANT: Heating metal releases toxic fumes. It is important to properly ventilate your work area. 

I am showing a butane torch because it is a relatively 'user friendly' option for heating metal. I currently use a plumber's torch with tanked acetylene. 

Then into the pickle pot it goes to remove the black fire scale. You can buy pickling solution at any reputable jewelry tool company but I get mine at the grocery store. I try to eliminate my exposure to toxins as much as possible. I mix food grade pickling salts with water. I don't measure; a couple of tablespoons to a couple cups of water. It works like a charm. 

You'll need to transfer your design ideas onto the metal.

Permanent markers are a great tool for drawing your designs onto the metal before cutting them out. The ink can easily be removed using rubbing alcohol.

One of my favorite tools for measuring and marking on metal comes from my days as a quilter. It's a gridded quilting ruler which allows me to draw straight, square edges.

I use a heavy duty pair of pliers to rough cut the metal into useable sized sheet. I use a finer (much more expensive), Lindstrom metal shear for finer cuts. A jeweler's saw is also handy for detail cutting. I hear many people don't like using the jewelers saw but I do enjoy using it. There is definitely a learning curve involved in using one. (oops, my blade is broken in the photo.)

Another tool for cutting shapes are disc cutters. Disc cutters come in a variety of shapes; round (pictured), heart shaped, oval, etc. I highly recommend spending the money to purchase a quality disc cutter. I had a cheap disc cutter which I threw away (well, technically recycled) because I was so stinking happy to get it out of my studio.

If you're using a disc cutter you'll need a lubricatant for the punch, a brass hammer for striking the punch and a rubber mat or leather bag (not pictured) to deaden the sound. 

There are a variety of tools you can use to punch holes into metal. My favorite are the hand held hole punches (the green and blue pliers). If you use a drill or flex shaft to make a hole into metal you need to pierce the metal with a sharp object (the gold center punch on the left) as a pilot hole to keep the drill from bouncing across the metal.

Hammers of all shapes and sizes are handy for forging and texturizing metal. From left to right: a large (cheap) ball peen hammer, a black weighted  3 lb dead blow hammer (I use this to shape a piece around a basebal bat for a nice bracelet curve without marring the metal.), two very old ball peen hammers, a riveting hammer.

Files of all shapes and sizes are great. I have acquired files from my husband, picked them up at flea markets and purchased them from jewelry supply companies. The five files to the right are a set of hand held diamond files. Filing is always necessary when you're working with metal. Firstly, you need to make sure the piece is smooth and won't snag or scratch somebody. Other uses would be to remove a bur, define a curve or smooth an edge. As you saw in my last post I often use a stone wheel to file edges. If a motorized machine can help me accomplish the task faster I don't hesitate to use it.

Steel bench blocks are used to aide in texturizing metal, flatten a piece of wire using a hammer and stamping metal. My block needs some TLC, it's not in the best shape right now. Working a piece of metal on a steel bench block will work harden it

I couldn't/wouldn't work metal without a rotary tumbler. The tumbler was one of the first purchases I made when I began metalsmithing. The tumbler uses stainless steel shot to clean your pieces to a brillant shine, works to smooth or fine tune edges (prior filing or sanding is still required) and makes all your hard work look like it's finally worthy of a jewelry design.

Pieces fresh out of the rotarty tumbler, sitting in the the stainless steel shot still wet with water droplets.

I'd also like to point out that you don't need to have every single one of these tools to begin working with metal. I've added to my collection as the need has arised. I still have a wish list that is a bit long but for now the tools in my studio work for me. I've recently purchased my first, albeit inexpensive, flex shaft with a foot pedal. I'm so excited about putting that to work! I have two other tools which are high on my wish list. The first is a metal bench shear and the second is a forming or shaping block.

It seems there's interest in learning more about working in metal so I'll work towards getting more information or tutorials on this topic in the future. I won't forget about those of you that wish to know more about lampworking. I'll try to get a post about lampworking onto the June schedule. 

Tool Resources:

Harbor Freight - Rotary Tumbler, Hammers, brass hammer, diamond files

Otto Frei - Disc cutter, fine quality metalsmithing tools

Rio Grande - Disc cutter, fine quality metalsmithing tools, Stainless steel shot, Steel bench block

As always thanks for visiting with me at ABS today. I leave you with this question: what tool is on your wish list today? 

Ema Kilroy is a lampworker and metalsmith living and working in Central Massachusetts. 

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Glass Bead Extravaganza Review

For the past couple of months I've been busy preparing for the big show. I haven't sold my work at a show for a number of years so dipping my toes back into the water felt like a really big deal. I'm happy to say the show went well and I had fun! The show ... Glass Bead Extravaganza. This is a show organized by my local chapter of the International Society of Glass Beadmakers (ISGB), The New England Chapter - ISGB. I was surrounded by so many greats in the glass bead world. I won't name names for fear I would leave someone off but suffice it to say I was a wee bit starry eyed.

I must give a huge shout out to the Chapter's leaders and show organizers. These folks worked incredibly hard to bring this show to fruition and deserve a round of applause.

Donna Richey, Chapter President pictured with Lou Crescintini.

Deb Keshishian, Recording Secretary

Susan Sheehan, Treasurer

Doug Wales, Vice President, and Susan Sheehan

My apologies for not photographing Beth Mellor, Secretary of Communications and Debbie Harary, Special Events Coordinator. Beth was outside much of the day (on a cool, rainy New England day) providing visitors with lampworking demonstrations. Other demonstrators included Mike Close and Wes Fleming. Unfortunately (or perhaps I should say fortunately because it was busy) I was unable to leave my table long enough to get outside and see any of the demonstrations.

Here I am, at my table.

My tablemate, Lynn Hahn - Jewels of Earthsea

Lynn and I shared a table. What a wonderful tablemate Lynn was. She saved the day for me. Due to technical difficulties I was unable to access my PayPal account and Lynn happened to have an extra Square card reader with her, which she kindly let me borrow for the day. I don't know what I would've done without her help. Lynn specializes in beautiful, chunky style bracelets. I just loved her kumihimo braided pieces!

My neighbors for the day. With beautiful beads and jewelry for sale.

Sue Underwood and her helper, Andrea of Mystic Moon Beads

Carol Bugarin of Carol Bugarin Glass Art Jewelry

There were so many beautiful beads and jewelry to be oogled over but a couple of pieces really jumped out at me. Let me introduce you to Ann Conlin and her husband, Gary Andriotakis.

I think it's wonderful how Ann and Gary share this beadmaking and jewelry making journey. Ann creates beautiful lampwork beads and Gary creates stunning chain maille jewelry to accentuate Ann's wonderful beads. In the photo above you'll notice Ann is wearing one of Gary's gorgeous creations.

Ann was also offering something I've never seen before. Ann has been decorating glass beads with silver PMC! They were gorgeous! She offered a variety of designs, below is just one example.

Yup! That's silver on glass! Stunning, isn't it? You can head over to Ann's website if you'd like to learn more.

Lori Messenger of DNA Studios and Sylvia de Murias

Sylvia offered unique copper pieces for sale. I had to buy one. They are so cool!

Sylvia offered a variety of designs, it was difficult to decide which one I wanted. I am a heart girl so of course I got this one. These pieces look like ancient artifacts. Some of them have little surprises inside so they jingle when worn. I just love mine.

Sylvia sells her work locally, at The Armory in Somerville, MA or you can contact her via email if you're interested in her work.

There were so many wonderful finds at this show I couldn't possibly share them all. The web has opened up a world of possibilities for both artisans and consumers. It provides us with the opportunity to find material we might otherwise not have access to. However, If you have the chance to visit a local show I hope you do so. As a customer I think there's nothing like touching a handmade item before purchasing it and meeting the maker in person. From an artisans persective I think it's wonderful to meet customers and talk to you face to face. I really get a feel for what customers think about my offerings and what it is you're interested in.

The Bead Extravaganza was a big event for me and I'm happy I had the chance to participate. Thanks for letting me share the day with you.

Ema Kilroy is a lampworker and metalsmith living and working in Central Massachusetts

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