The handmade sterling silver bale...
Here is a little summary of the steps I took to make the bale.
First I cut a 1x2 inch strip of 26g silver sheet and applied texture by hammering it with heavy grit sandpaper.
Next I cut and sanded the edges of the oblong shaped bale and prepared it for drilling. A single hole would be used to fit a small rivet. I like to tape down my pieces with clear scotch tape to keep them secure and see exactly where I am drilling.
After drilling the hole I annealed the bale with a butane torch to keep the metal soft and get it ready for bending the shape in half to hold the rock pendant. I decided to use a silver headpin for a rivet.
The flat bale was bent over a stainless steel rod that was roughly the same thickness as the rock pendant. Once the bale was bent and fitted to the pendant I drilled the second hole at the back of the bale using the original first hole as a guide to insure a good fit. Next I inserted the silver headpin/rivet with the head of the pin showing at the front of the bale. At the back I trimmed the pin to a shorter length suitable for hammering. The rivet was actually trimmed back about half again as much as you can see in the photo before actually hammering to close the end. Its also important to file the rivet flat before hammering.
Finally I annealed and formed 14g sterling silver wire around one of the beads to hold the bale.
And here is the final result.
A great costume piece. I think I will call it:
"Wilma"
(After one of my favorite childhood cartoon characters... can you guess which one?)
