Famous Jewelry Collections: THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

Monday, February 13, 2012

THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

ORRTEC's $35 Riveted Earrings Kit Giveaway

Posted: 13 Feb 2012 04:00 AM PST

Riveting is a fabulous way to make cold connections - i.e. join metal pieces without using any heat like from a torch. It is much better than using glue as the connections are secure.

One way is to use eyelets as I did in my tutorial on How to Make Riveted Recycled Soda Can Earrings.

But if you are not keen on the holes, then try nail riveting. The process is not difficult as you can see from Melinda Orr's fabulous tutorial on her blog. You do need a metal hole punch - it is an indispensable tool to add to your tool collection. But Melinda says not to worry if you don't have a riveting hammer (a much smaller and lighter hammer than the usual kinds). She suggests alternatives.

So with a hole punch, suitable hammer and rivets, you are ready to connect together all sorts of things and come up with different designs.

To get you started, Melinda has a riveted earrings kit - there are enough supplies for 3 pairs of earrings. But you'll have to supply your own creativity! What's more, Melinda has kindly sponsored this giveaway for one kit to one lucky winner!

If you are intrigued with nail riveting, also check out her new video tutorial for an easy riveted heart ring. I must add that I am increasingly fond of using ring blanks (long metal strips) over the wire wrapped ring styles. It helps to get the wonderful multi-size ring pliers shown in the video.

Melinda also created another free tutorial (kits are also available) - the gorgeous Sapphire Starry Night Patina earrings which I wrote about before.

Be sure to check out Melinda's Etsy store, Orrtec. She sells supplies as well as beautiful finished jewelry. The combination of some easy metal smith techniques and patinas is awesome! Here are some of my favorites :

Giveaway
To win the riveted earrings kit, all you have to do is make a comment below. Subscribers need to click on the post title to come to my actual blog. Scroll down and enter your comment. Pick Name/URL. If you don't have a store or blog, leave the URL blank

Extra entries if you become or are a blog subscriber or follower or also on Facebook Fan page or Twitter . If you also do shout outs about this giveaway on your favorite forum, own blog, Facebook or Twitter even Google+ those will count as additional entries too! Please say so in the comments.

This international giveaway ends in a week's time at 6 pm EST Monday, February 20, 2012. I will pick a winner randomly and announce the results as soon as possible after. So be sure to leave a contact email if you don't have an online link or make sure you come back and check! Good luck!

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