Tips to Consider Before Starting a Work in Silver Forging.

When you have an idea for a job, it may be worth thinking about certain things. You can start by sitting down and drawing up what you want. It can be good to think about how big and heavy the work gets. It may matter.

You have to decide if you want to use semi-finished parts of the work and what this should be. It is important to plan what kind of silver to use and where. Then you have to decide which kind of sheet and wire is suitable for the work. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Round wire thicker than 3mm in diameter becomes bulky as a ring.
• Sheet to ring should be between 0.8-2mm in thickness.
• Round hooks of 0.9 mm diameter are often used for micro hooks.
• If you have to braid it is difficult to take a thicker thread than 0.8mm in diameter. Thicker thread requires strong fingers.
• Threads at least 2mm in diameter are used for neck rings.
• For pendant use at least 0.8mm thick sheet.
• For closed rigid bracelets use at least 2mm diameter on round wire.
• For wide, open and rigid bracelets 0.8 to 1.0 mm thick sheet is usually used.
• For smaller chain links, threads of about 1.0 diameter are used. To larger links 1.5-2.0mm diameter of the thread. Threads that are thicker than 2.0 in diameter are difficult to bend into smaller shapes.
• An earring must not weigh more than 7g.
• Fine silver can be good to use in sockets as it is softer and does not spring back as much as sterling silver.

The next step is to figure out how much material you need. Formulas are used for rings. There are two common formulas. It is assumed that the circumference of a ring is the diameter times π. π = 3.14

π • The inner diameter and then 2 thicknesses are added to the plate or wire.
π • (inner diameter + thickness of plate or wire).
 π = 3.14

Examples of how to clean when a ring has an inner diameter of 18 mm and it should be made in sheet thickness 1 mm.

Formula 1: 18mm x 3.14 = 56.52mm Then add two thicknesses 2 x 1mm to 56.52 = 58.52mm should be the finished ring rail.

Formula 2: 18mm + 1mm = 19mm Then you multiply 19mm by 3.14. 19mm x 3.14 = 59.66mm should be the finished ring rail.

No. 1 will be slightly smaller than No. 2. For slightly thicker thread, No. 1 may be better and for slightly wider rings, No. 2 may be best. It may depend a bit on how to process the ring as well. If you have a wide ring, it often needs to be a little bigger and then No. 2 is best. Wide rings can be tricky the best is to try out with slightly wider ring dimensions.

Another way to find out how much material is needed for a piece of jewelry is to make a paper model and measure. Then you also get a glimpse of how big the work looks in reality and if it suits myself and you get an idea if you have chosen the right kind of thread or sheet for the work. I do not recommend it for ring rails, except when putting something on the rails. Then you can make a paper model of this, to see that the model fits with the size of the hand and the width of the ring rail.

The next step, which is the most important step , is to plan the order of the steps to make when you make the jewelry. You can have the order in your head or write down on paper or on your mobile. As a beginner, I would recommend that you write down the order in which you work. If something goes wrong you can go back and change the description next time.

This is especially true of the solder, in what order they come and which solder you should use. Maybe you have four parts that are soldered to two parts that are sanded and polished separately before soldering them together. That way you can use as hard as possible. The advantage of this is that the solder joint does not become unnecessarily yellow. Remember that open bracelets should not be boiled. Planning is tedious but important and you learn from your experience.