Call: 0345 100 1122 Click: cooksongold.com Visit: Birmingham + London

Beadalon Crimp Plier 999 CB8

Badger Balm 700 575

Metal Clay Starter Kit 700 557

A Texture Mat. (Optional)Star Cutter x Set of 3 700 539

Soft Touch Wire, Medium, 0.48mm, x 1 reel 998 1203

Crimp Tubes, Plain Silver, 2mm long x 1 pack NVO 108

Crimp Covers, x 1 pack N2Q 162

Wire Guardians, Silver Plated, x 1 pack N2Q 173X

Silver Clay Torch 999 955

Teflon Work Sheet 700 600

FollowTheStar by Hilary Minor

What you'll need: Tools

Level of design:

Intermediate

Get in the festive spirit with this delightful star necklace and earrings by Jewellery Designer, Hilary Minor.

Tutorial

What you'll need:

Swarovski® Drop Pendants 11 x 5.5mm Crystal AB x 3 packs 62SW DO1X

Swarovski® Crystals, Indian Sapphire, 6mm round x 6 packs 62SW 526X

Jump Rings, Silver, 4mm dia. 2 rings (to attach silver

star to bail bead) NVH L40

Jump Rings, Silver, 5mm dia.

x 2 rings NVH L50

Bead Bails, Silver, 6mm x 1 pack NVM 022X

Necklace Clasp, 1 row 8mm NVF 055A

Art Clay Silver, 10g pack 855 201

Ear Pins, Silver, 11.1 X 0.8mm

x 1 pack NVJ 102X

Silver & Plastic Ear Stud Back,

Silver x 1 pack NVL 109X

TIP: Spread a very light coating of Badger Balm (you can also use olive oil but use it very, very sparingly) on your hands, the clay roller, the texture mat (if you are using one) and the Teflon sheet. This is to prevent the clay from sticking.

Call: 0345 100 1122 Click: cooksongold.com Visit: Birmingham + London

Step 2Cutting out the stars

Using the middle sized star cutter, cut three stars out of the rolled clay. You may need to do two rollings to achieve this. If the cutter retains the silver clay, you may need a pointed tool to gently press the clay out of the cutter.

Step 1 Making the silver clay stars

Using the clay guides, roll out the silver clay. Then, lay the texture mat (if you’re using one), textured side down, onto the clay and press it down gently and evenly all over. Lift it gently off the clay making sure it hasn’t stuck.

Step 4Drying the clay

Leave the clay to dry completely overnight. Then, look at it next morning and, if necessary, gently clean off rough edges with the flat file in the Kit. You may need to ream the hole gently with one of the needle files.

Step 5 Torching the clay

Torch fire the stars one at a time, not forgetting to move the torch at an angle all around and over the star until the binder has all burnt off and you no longer see any smoke rising. Then, with a kitchen timer or the second hand on a watch, time 3 minutes and fire the star with the torch flame

held vertically down onto it. Move the flame over the surface of the clay so that it doesn’t heat on just one spot continuously.

Step 6 Keeping the colour

The clay needs to go a pale, salmon pink, so be careful you don’t overheat it. If it starts change to a rosy red colour then lift the torch away from it momentarily until the redness has died down then lower the flame again (the idea is to keep the clay looking that pale, salmon pink!)

Step 7Cooling down

Take the flame away as soon as the 3 minutes are up and when the silver has sintered it will look chalky white. Then, let it cool down a bit, and lifting it with tweezers, drop it into a bowl of cold water. Next, dry it off and give it a good brushing with the brass brush in the Kit to bring up the silver shine.

Step 3Creating a hole

While the clay is still wet, make a hole in each of the stars that will take a jump ring later. You can do this with the point of the spatula in the Metal Clay Starter Kit or by punching it out with one end of the thinnest drinking straw you can find. Don’t try lifting the wet stars off the Teflon yet.

Step 8Fluxing

First, clean the backs of the silver earring stars and flux them. Then cut small pallions of easy silver solder (or use a small quantity of silver solder paste). the larger disc. Next, flux the paillons and then place them on the fluxed area of the silver stars.

Call: 0345 100 1122 Click: cooksongold.com Visit: Birmingham + London

Step 9Soldering the earring posts

Have ready the earring post, held in a pair of reverse action twee-zers and then heat the earring stars gently until the flux has burnt off and the solder flows. Next, position the earring post into the melted solder and reheat until the solder flows again and attaches the post to the star. Allow to cool off and quench in cold water. Repeat the process for the sec-ond earring star.

Step 10Attaching the Swarovski® crystal beads

Put a 5mm jump ring through each hole in the earring star and thread a crystal drop bead through this, too. Then close the jump ring.

TIP: You need to have at hand: the soft touch beading wire, the clasp, the crimp tubes, the wire guardians, the crimp covers, 6 packs of Swarovski® Indian Sapphire 6mm round beads and one bead bail.

Step 12Make the necklace

Note: The total length of soft touch wire used on this necklace is 60cm. It is highly recommended that you don’t cut this length off the reel but thread on the beads from the free end of the wire.

Without cutting off any beading wire from the reel, start stringing the beads. The pattern is: 6 Swarovski® Indian Sapphire Rounds, then 1 Swarovski® Crystal Drop. There are 5 full sections of 6 Sapphire/1 Crystal Drop before you get to the middle of the necklace.

Step 11Attach the jump rings to the necklace star.

The necklace star needs two, 4mm, jump rings to make it hang well from the bead bail.

Step 13 Creating the middle of the necklaceThread on 3 Indian Sapphire beads, 1 Bail Bead, 3 IndianSapphire beads, then 1 Crystal Drop. Next, keep going on thepattern of 6 Indian Sapphires, 1 Crystal Drop, for a further fivefull sections. The bead threading is now complete.

Step 15…And repeat!

Next, go to the end of the necklace that is still attached to the beading wire reel and cut off enough spare wire to allow you to work comfortably to attach the other end of the clasp.

Then, repeat Steps A) & B) shown above.

Step 16Hanging the star

To finish, hang the central silver clay star from the bead bail. For this you’ll need 2no, 4mm and don’t forget to make sure the jump rings are well closed. And that’s it! Enjoy your beautiful new creations!

Step 14Attaching the clasp

TIP: Don’t separate the two halves of the clasp.

Firstly, decide which way round you want the clasp to go – left-handed or right-handed.

A.) On the end of the wire, thread first a crimp tube, then up one ‘leg’ of a wire guardian. Slip the other ‘leg’ of the wire guardian through the ring in one end of the clasp.

B.) Pass the end of the beading wire through that same ring and then down the other ‘leg’ of the wire guardian and the crimp tube and pull it until the wire sits snugly onto the wire guardian. Then, crimp the tube

closed using the crimping pliers and then put on a crimp cover. Next, squeeze it closed with a pair of pliers. Spare beading wire can be threaded through at least 4 beads and any excess snipped off. Push the beads snugly against the crimp cover.