Today at lunch I bought an anvil.
It just makes me happy to say that. Oh sure, some people might call it a bench block, but if you look at it, it's a perfect miniature anvil and it serves the purpose of one. It's just a couple inches long, and for some stupid reason it's covered with shiny chrome. But it is in fact a real anvil, and I bought it for function, not for its cuteness. I got it because I've been experimenting with making my own earwires, so I don't have to buy them. The ones I'm making are like this, but since I'm making them out of plain wire, when I take them off and put them down, the silver balls tend to roll right off. The anvil is so that I can pound the front part of the wires flat, to keep the balls in shape and make the wires more rigid. I'm hoping the small brass toolmakers' hammer I made in a shop class will work for that, but I'm not sure whether brass is harder than silver. I'm looking forward to testing it out and to getting that pristine chrome all scratched up. It's not actually all that much cheaper to make my own wires (maybe $.50 for the wire and silver balls vs. $1 for a pair of commercially made wires) but it's nice not to have to worry about running out. Also, now if I want to, say, pound a wire spiral flat I can.
I did think it was a bit strange when the woman at the bead store told me she'd bought a tiny anvil too, as soon at the shop got them in - "I don't know if I'll ever use it, but I love all kinds of miniature things and it was just so cute!" Cue Dichroic stepping s-l-o-w-l-y away from the counter.
I also bought a few findings including a clasp for a leather necklace. I've concluded that one soltuion tomaking more jewelry than I can wear is to give or barter some of it away. A few years back I bought a 3" long flat African bead at the local RenFaire, put it on a thing, put it away, and never wore it again. When I thought about it in this new light, it was clear that it's just not my style - but I know whose it might be. So I'll gussy it up with a clasp and maybe a little additional silver and see how it looks then.
Posted by dichroic at June 13, 2006 04:06 PMThe nice thing about cutting and bending your own earring wires is how you can customize them. For instance, I have thick earlobes and sometimes French hook wires are curved too steeply. The earring doesn't hang right. And re-bending boughten ones is chancy. Sometimes they snap. ~LA
Posted by: LA at June 13, 2006 06:09 PM
Heh, a mini-anvil would suit me to a tee. Can't do big heavy stuff anymore and a mini would just fit what I can do.
Maybe a bit of jewelry in my future ?
Posted by: Denver doug at June 14, 2006 02:15 AM