Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Monday, August 11, 2014
How to drill sea glass and beach stones
Drilling Holes in sea Glass &
Beach Stones
Beading and designing
jewelry has become one of the most popular and profitable craft. Many artistic
folks find designing jewelry on outlet for their creativity. It is an enjoyable
craft and it is a money maker for many jewelry artists. The next time you visit
a craft show notice the number of booths displaying handmade jewelry. All of
them have a rather large group of women looking over their creations and paying
good money for that special set of earrings or bracelet that they fell in love
with. Many jewelry creations are made from sea glass , semi-precious stone,
beach stone and pottery shards.They are unusual because sea glass and beach
stones are found with a wide variety of shapes and colors that offer the artist a wide range of design
possibilities. You may want to try your
hand at designing jewelry made from sea
glass or beach stones.
I offer the following
suggestions and tips that will help you be successful in drilling sea glass and
other semi-precious stones. As you gain experience you will really get involved
and enjoy designing your own jewelry.
Whenever you use
electrical motors with high speed RPM you need to be extra careful. Wear eye
protection for sure. You will be drilling with a little water around your
work.Be careful with your electrical cords and drill motor.
For best results use
good quality diamond drill bits . The mini diamond drill bits that I have
available are popular and hold up very well.
I buy my sea glass from
a collector who spend the winter in Florida. I am not sure if it is authentic
and genuine. I do however, enjoy walking along the shore of Lake Huron looking
for any unusual beach stones .Beach
stones and pottery shards have become a
very popular medium for jewelry artist.
I pre-sort my pieces of
sea glass and beach stone. I look for the smaller pieces that lend themselves
to a pair of earring or a bracelet. The longer pieces would make a nice
pendant.
You have to use your
imagination to create a piece of jewelry in your mind. You need to decide where
to drill the hole. You may want to drill in the center on top or at each end. Sea Glass is often so
irregular that you will need to study each piece very carefully before you
drill you holes. Many jewelry artist use diamond files or diamond burrs to
touch up and reshape their sea glass.
You need a Dremel drill
motor. Be sure you have a collet that will accommodate the shank size of your
drill bit.
Your best bet is to use
a Dremel chuck Model 4486. This is an adjustable chuck that will accommodate
most mini size diamond bits. This chuck will accept a 3/32” bit. I usually use
the middle setting for my drilling speed. The larger the drill bit the more you
need to slow your drilling speed down a bit. Recommended speed is 5000-25000
rpm. Insert the shank of the drill bit far up into the collet. Leave just
enough of the tip of the bit to drill through the thickness of the glass or
stone. These are very fine bits that can heat up very quickly and wear out the
diamond segmentation on the tip of your bit.
Lubricants. All diamond
drill bits require water to keep the tip of the drill bit and glass cool.
You will need a shallow
pan about two or three inches deep. I use a piece of ¾ inch wood to place my
sea glass or beach stone on. Add enough water to just cover the glass when you
press it to the bottom of your pan. If
you use to much water it will splash all over the place and you will have
trouble seeing your work. Change the water often as it will get cloudy from the
fine glass dust. If your sea glass is not to thick you can usually drill
straight through your piece of sea glass
or stone. Use a very light touch when you sense you are about to break
through. Sometimes I will put a small
dot on both sides of the glass with a permanent maker. I will drill my hole
from both sides in order to help prevent a chip out when the bit breaks
through. Very often jewelry artist will drill the hole with a under size bit and than re-drill with the final size.
You can also use a round head diamond burr to touch up the hole.
You could hold your
piece of glass or beach stone cause the glass to crack or chip. I usually set
my bit at a 45 degree angle to the glass to get the hole started. Once the bit
starts to bite you can bring it straight up and continue drilling. When you
sense that you are about to break through you need to let up on the down ward
pressure. Some sea glass is very hard and you need to be patience, take your
time. Sand stone and pottery shard are much easier to drill. I hope that these
tips and suggestions will help you get the feel for drilling sea glass or beach
stones or pottery shards. I find this craft fascinating and I am sure you will
enjoy it once you try it. You will soon develop your own technique as you gain
some experience.
You may want to Google
search lapidary products for additional accessories and information. Give it a
try and let me know if I can be of more help. You can contact me at:
My esty store:
jpdiamonddrillbits
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Darice DECO teeny,teeny bulbs
The major issue with using the standard string of Christmas
lights in your wine bottle is the high
heat that the lights generate. If you use a string of thirty five lights the
bottle will be too hot to touch. Maybe
not so hot that it will burn your fingers, but quit warm. The longer you leave
the lights on the warmer your wine bottle will be. It could be a safety issue
if you sell your lighted wine bottles and someone picked it up and was startled and
dropped it. You may want to check to see just how hot a wine bottle can get
depending on how many strings lights you inserted. It may surprise you. What about using LED string lights? LED string lights are brighter and
burn much, much cooler. They will last longer and will not cause your lighted
wine bottle to get too hot. I prefer using LED lights in my wine bottles that I
sell or make as gifts. They have one major problem. A string of twenty LED
colored or clear lights cost about three or four times as much as a string of
standard Christmas Lights. The extra cost makes selling your lighted wine
bottles a little more difficult due to the higher price you will need to
charge. Have to tried teeny or rice
lights?
Rice or teeny lights are very bright and also
burn very cool. They are much smaller but give off plenty of bright light for
your bottle. They often come in a count of 20 and can be found in most hobby or
crafts stores. You can use Google search to find your local craft store as well
as to check price. Your comments are always wlcome Please take a peck of my new webpage at: www.makeawinebottlelamp.comwww.makeawinebottlelamp.com,www.lightedwinebottlemaking.com
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Make a Mason Jar lamp with your favorite frangranceoil scent
1. one pint
light blue Mason Jar pre-drilled with a 3/8 inch hole.
2. 8. ft.
white lamp cord .
3. Pre-wired
standard light socket.
4. One
standard light socket reducer (you may want to use a candelabra size bulb).
5. A set of
DECO Teeny, Teeny Multi-colored
bulbs.(wired to socket base)
What you need to do:
1. Fill the
mason jar with one of your favorite accent items.(sea shell, marbles, wine
bottle corks, buttons, beach stones, thread spools, potpourri).
2. Spread
the Deco Teeny lights among the content of your mason jar.
3. Buy a 4
inch lamp shade that will complement your lamp or room.
4. Apply
your favorite Fragrance Scent.
5. If using wax scent cubes just un- screw jar
ring and place under jar lid .
6. If using fragrance oil just squirt a few
drips threw jar top.(your will need to add new scent cubes or scented oil every
so often).
www.makeawinebottlelamp.com
Sunday, May 11, 2014
wine bottle lamp kits lighted wine bottles
Complete wine bottle lamp kits
Complete wine/whiskey bottle table
lamps Kits
Darice Deco Teeny bulbs
Darice Deco String Lights
Halloween Lights
Jewelry Making Mini Diamond Drill Bits
For All of Your Lighted Bottle
Supplies
Contact me at:
Starkey25@live.com
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Old beer bottles & seaglasss
Check out flea markets, garage sale re-sale shops to find vintage bottles
Tumbling vintage bottles to make sea glass I recently found 4 vintage beer bottles at a garage sale. I paid $2.00 for the four of them. They were not in very good condition. By the color and shape of the bottles I would judge them to be about 100 years old. In fact the lady who sold them to me said that she know them to be at least that old. Two of them were cracked and had little value for re-sale. I had the ideal to tumble them to see what kind of faux sea glass I could make. I wrapped the bottle in several layers of old towels and broke it up with a heavy hammer. After sorting through the busted glass I collected just the pieces that would most likely make a nice piece of sea glass jewelry..I have a small toy rock tumbler that I also found at a garage sale. Using just some beach sand and a small amount of Silicon Carbide grit, I let the tumbler run for ten days. I changed the water and sand after first three days and several times after that. To my surprise, the pieces had a very nice crystalline patina and looked very much like genuine sea glass. I would venture a guest that most jewelry makers working with sea glass would not be able to tell the difference. The only distinction that I can make about this man made sea glass is that it was made from an antique beer bottle. I would not advertise it as "pure sea glass" It was fun to make and I enjoy experiencing with tumbling vintage glass bottles. _
www.makeawinebottlelamp.com
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