Trying Out New Tools

My newest tools have been on the floor long enough!  The doming kit and the Swantrom Disc Cutter Set were getting dusty and I was getting anxious to try them out.  Out of the box and unwrapped!
Swantrom Disc Cutter Set
Remember my trip to the junk yard in a previous blog?  My friend, Kim, and I divided the scrap metal and the wire and it too was sitting on the floor.  Right!  I could hardly walk to the work bench.
I had a couple of polymer clay discs ready for something and I liked the blue copper (someone’s failed etching project) from the junk yard.  So I took the disc cutter and tried it out.  After a couple of tries with the mallet, I had a disc.  Wow! It works!  And a second disc and tiny holes in each of those.
I was careful to leave enough blue copper around the holes I cut so that I could use the leftover for another project I have in mind.
Next the doming kit…not as easy.  In fact, I watched a Beaducation video on YouTube about using it and I will practice.  I was a little intimidated by the process.  Funny! It was just a piece of metal and a mallet and I did not tap it enough.  But for my project, I did fine.  Next time I’ll be more aggressive.
Doming Kit
Got my 20 gauge copper wire out of the box and made head pins for the ear wires.  I wanted large heads so I coiled 4 turns of wire and torched that.  Nice size.  And then I made the ear wires and attached both the copper the polymer discs.  Tomorrow I will clear coat the wires and have a new pair of earrings! 




I love learning how to use new tools!

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