Some time ago, there was a discussion on Orchid about how to attach a commercial barrette finding to the back of a hand-made barrette. I tried to describe my method, but, words are never as good as a picture. Here are photos of both front and back of a barrette that I recently finished.
Barrette- Forged, with Marriage of Metals
The “frame” of this piece is forged Argentium Silver. The interior section is marraige of metals made with AS (Argentium Silver) and nugold (also called jewelers’ bronze, or red brass).
Here is the back view:
Barrette finding is attached with wire
I soldered a piece of wire that has been bent in half to the back of the the piece I made. When the piece is finished, I spread the wires to hold the finding onto the piece. (I’ve posted thumbnail images of the back. click on them to enlarge the images.)
Cynthia Eid
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Yleana 03.03.09 at 10:40 pm
Cindy– thanks for posting this! Today I tried the method you suggested; alas, I went with a tube rivet and it worked fine but, as you warned me, there is no good way to replace the mechanism if it breaks.
I bought the barrette from Rio; it has a hole in each end that supports a rivet nicely. First I bent a thin wire (to fit through the hole) in half, sanded the bottom end flat, and had trouble soldering it on. that’s when I went with tube rivet. The barrette in your photo looks like the end has a “bite” taken out of it, instead of hole. Now that I’ve seen these photos, I can follow your instructions better. Thanks! (And beautiful piece, BTW). Yleana (shoulda checked Ganoksin files in first place).
ceid 03.04.09 at 12:15 pm
Hi Yleana,
I had to modify the holes on the finding, in order to make it fit the piece. Usually, I simply enlarge the hole a bit, in order to be able to use thick enough wire.
Cynthia