The making of an Ammonite

One of our most popular lines are the little ammonite stud earrings. So much so that I struggle to keep them in stock sometimes.

I thought it might be interesting to show what goes into making a pair. The process is very similar for all my plain silver stud earrings.

Every earring starts as a little pile of left over silver from previous items.

Silver is rare and expensive (and getting ever more so) so I try to use every little bit. None is wasted.

The silver is melted into a little blob that rapidly turns from orange to black.

The black is unwanted oxides that are removed by soaking in a hot acidic solution to turn them silver again.

The balls, now silver again, are placed in an impression die. This one is from Gemina Ltd

The next stage is to force the silver into the impression. This can be done by hammering or (much easier) by using a hydraulic press. It can sometimes take a couple of goes to get a decent impression.

Once this has been achieved, it's necessary to cut away the excess silver and to file off any roughness.

Next step is to solder on some ear pins. All our ear studs are put onto 0.8mm posts, so they will be comfortable for most people most of the time.

This is very much the ugly stage - once I'm happy that the pins are in the right place and are soldered on firmly, they will go back in the acid to remove all the unwanted by-products of soldering.

Nearly done right? No not yet!

Into the tumble polisher they go. This will burnish the studs to a high shine. It will also act as a test of my soldering as any insecure ear posts will invariably be dislodged!

Must be nearly done right? No not yet.

Having made them nice and bright and shiny, I'm now making them black again.

This stage is called patination and helps to bring out the detail in very complex designs.

We really are nearly there now. I have filed and polished off most of the black patination but left it in the ridges of the ammonite to provide definition and depth.

Now it will go back in the tumbler for a final hour and then I will give it a final hand polish when it comes out.

And the final result. A lovely pair of stud earrings.

At just £15 these really are a steal!