Jewelry 101: Making Headpins

Posted on August 8, 2007 by Leah
This tutorial is moving! An updated version is in the works and will be available at leahhitchcockybarra.com in March 2012.
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15 Responses to Jewelry 101: Making Headpins

  1. jennifer says:
    August 10, 2007 at 9:15 am

    Just wanted to let you know, I stumbled upon your site this morning and I’m finding it very helpful. Being an artist, I love to create things…but lately I’ve become bored with my usual creative outlets. I’ve always collected different stones and minerals and decided I might like to put them to good use…and so I ended up with the jewelry making. I think it will be a wonderful creative outlet for me. I’m having a hard time finding good resources on the little details because no one seems to want to do the little things (like making headpins instead of buying them). I want my work to be as much “ME” as possible, so thank you for helping me with that.

    Jennifer
    :)

  2. Administrator says:
    August 10, 2007 at 3:05 pm

    Thanks Jennifer, and good luck with your jewelry making. If you decide to start working with a torch, be sure to research safety & ventilation so you don’t inhale the fumes. Other than that, I find using the torch to be a lot of fun!

  3. Alette Designs says:
    August 11, 2007 at 3:29 am

    Wonderful as always! Very informative and Helpful! I’m going to have to try this!!!

    I Could see this as being a awesome project for our group also! Kudos as always!

    Alette

  4. Administrator says:
    August 15, 2007 at 1:19 pm

    That is great, Alette. What is your group? I’d love to see what you make if you decide to try some of your own headpins.

  6. erin says:
    October 25, 2007 at 7:35 am

    There are so many expensive classes to learn how to make jewellery in my city but I am so excited to come acros this website, the information is priceless I can’t wait to get started, thank you so much

  7. Administrator says:
    October 25, 2007 at 11:19 am

    I do recommend taking a class if you can – it sometimes helps to have someone demonstrate a technique. I’m glad if my articles help though!

  8. Nina says:
    May 6, 2008 at 8:09 am

    how do you make copper ball end headpins? Will the flux trick work on gold-fill wire to make gold headpins? Thanks for any info!

  9. Administrator says:
    May 6, 2008 at 11:20 am

    Copper has a higher melting point than silver, so you need a hotter/bigger flame to melt it, but it’s basically the same process as with sterling silver. Gold-filled wire is different, because it’s a thin layer of gold over another metal (brass, I think) so if you melt it, the gold mixes with the core metal. So I probably wouldn’t do this with gold filled wire, but you could try if you don’t mind that the ball might be a slightly different color than the wire.

  10. Teresa says:
    June 18, 2008 at 1:29 pm

    this article was just the push I needed to go ahead and finally do this!

    thanks! i’m posting about my triumph and your blog article on Etsy so you might get a little traffic!

  11. Leah says:
    June 19, 2008 at 9:27 am

    thanks Teresa! :)

  12. Rhianna says:
    July 12, 2008 at 9:39 am

    Hi – what if you want to make your own solid gold head pins? Flux?

    Thanks – your website’s great.

    R

  13. Leah says:
    July 12, 2008 at 9:42 am

    If you want to make solid gold head pins, you need a better torch than the one I have, and some flux. When I’ve worked with 14k gold, I used an oxy/acetylene torch, which gets hotter than propane.

  14. Kate T says:
    August 15, 2008 at 2:53 pm

    Thanks for this article. I’m in the midst of trying to do this very thing with 24 gauge sterling silver wire. I don’t have any type of torch. This might be silly, but… could I use the burner on the gas stove?

    And the other question I have is, what is a tumbler? Is it a machine I’d need to buy?

    Thanks for the info,

    Kate

  15. Leah says:
    August 16, 2008 at 8:25 am

    Hi Kate – you know, I’m not sure if a gas burner would work – I actually don’t know what kind of gas it uses, so I have no idea if it’s hot enough. A tumbler is a machine, you’ve probably heard of rock tumblers that are used to polish rocks – it’s the same idea, but used to polish jewelry. Mine is half full of stainless steel mixed shot, and I toss in the jewelry, cover with water, and add a pinch of tumbling powder (I’ve heard dawn dish soap works well if you don’t have tumbling powder) and then run it for about 15 minutes. Hope this helps!