Yes, I do have a pet peeve! No surprise there. I don't have many but I'm really stuck on this one, it's something that bugs me so much that I just can't get over it. Probably because this one is so elementary and yet some people don't even think it's a problem is why it bothers me. Even if they know about it, they may be too lazy to implement a solution, even though it's pretty simple.
All right, are you ready? Because I'm going to let loose and give this post a piece of my mind.
Illustration, an old pair of earrings, with hooks to push through the pierced hole in your ears.
Do you see what I see? I certainly hope so. It looks like the person who made these just cut off those wires at the end with a pair of flush cutters. They may have run a file over the ends perfunctorily but it's not a very good job because when I get a pair of earrings like this, if I put those hooks in my ears, the end is going to cut up the inside of the holes in my earlobes. I hate it when that happens! It hurts, and then I have to apply that sterile solution that you get when you get your ears pierced a few times a day and wear a small pair of smooth sterling hoops that hook closed for a few days until the cut heals . . . and I have to go back and fix the ends of those wires so I don't get hurt again.
I've gotten into a habit now about checking the earrings I buy and fixing them when I get them. You'd be surprised how many times this has happened.
So listen . . . YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!
Make your ball ended wires the same length by cutting them with flush cutters.
(Ha! The wires in that photo look way longer than they really are. They're only 2-5/8 inches long.)
PLEASE use some . . . ANY needle file and file off those ends all around. Filing flat just won't do.
It may feel awkward at first but your friends and customers will thank you and think you're earrings are really special.
Look! Needle files don't cost that much.
Then once you've filed them, you can use a cup bur on the ends.
I just swirl them around really fast, kind of like I'm stirring coffee in a cup, not twisting around in a circle. I usually rotate clockwise and then I go back and do counter clockwise. This seems to do some shearing of metal and then some burnishing with the same tool. Yes you still need to file first, in my opinion.
Consider it a favor to us all!
Check out those tool ends. (click on the photo to really see them!) They look like jagged cups. If you don't like doing repetitive actions like this by hand, and you have a dremel tool or a flexshaft, get some cup bur bits for it. They come in many sizes and also in sets for different gauges of wire.
After the shaping of the wire ends and the forming of the hooks, I like to connect my perfect earring pairs with some scrap wire and put them in a tumbler for a half hour to an hour and those ends come out smoo-ooth! I like to add patina while they're still connected and then I just keep them in a little tray of earring hooks until I'm ready to use them.
Now look!
LOOK!
Don't make me have to come over there!
Well, everyone loves a good peeve fest so don't stop now. Go and check out what bothers my other jewelry making friends at their blogs that follow:
Andes Cruz: http://www.andescruz.wordpress.com
pencilfox. www.pencilfox.com
KSkiles Studio: http://kaskiles.com/2014/04/20/pet-peeves/
Catherine Witherell: http://happydayart.typepad.com
Kathleen Krucoff: http://kathleenkrucoff.wordpress.com/
Diana Bell http//www.bellsprings.blogspot.com
WATTO: http://blog.wattoonline.com/
barbaradonovan: http://barbaradonovan.blogspot.com/
Are you wondering about what this “Blog-o-Sphere” thing is?
Andes Cruz, a metalsmith I met online and whose work I love, formed a group of friends who blog and she called it the "Blog-o-Sphere Think Tank". We all write a blog post once a month about the same topic, and we all post at the same time, on the 20th. I've been writing with them since October 2013 and it's one of the things that got me blogging again. I hope you’ll visit all the blogs on the list and see what they have to say and if YOU have anything to say, please leave me a comment.
