Comments on the cuff portion of my ear cuff designs

In response to Sonya's comment inquiring about the building of the cuff portion of my earcuffs, I have to confess that I passed that task on to my husband a few years ago and since, he has become the expert. Just to clarify - this is the portion of the ear cuff aka ear wrap, earclip, earring cuff, - that holds the piece to the ear. I'm definately gonna have to keep him because it would take longer than I have to reach his quality of work in that area. But I have done it and have some comments that I think might be of help. Also, I'll see if I can't coax him into sharing his expertise too. He has shared his discoveries with me through the years and I'm sure can explain the "whys of them" better - though I'll have to warn you, he's pretty scientific about it.

The cuff itself is soldered. I had originally done them in a thinner gauge wire and knotted them but came to the conclusion that they needed more strength to be a better product. So I went to a thicker gauge wire (18 gauge) which then had to be soldered since it was too difficult to knot. As usual, one thing leads to another and another etc.etc.!

I asked other jewelers for advise - first of all, whether it could even be done. I was first encouraged to learn that it could, but soon after a bit discouraged to not be given the easy answer as to how. I was told, which was the honest truth, you've just gotta play with it and get a feel for it. No matter how many feet of expensive gold or silver wire you've got to go through.

Soldering, of course, is a common jewelry making technique and like any skill worth acquiring, takes practice. Every different application of soldering has it's own little quirks you just need to try and work out. The materials and tools you use comes into play. The heat disbursement and timing of the solder application effect the outcome as well. And so on. In the process of playing with it, pay attention to how the different elements involved effect the outcome, make adjustments and you'll get it pretty quickly. It's just a feel thing. Understanding the metals at their different levels of liquidity and having control over that is the goal. Initial failures are a bummer, but you eventually break through and the success you've earned is fun!