Making your first few pieces of jewelry can be frustrating. They often don’t look quite right, and they don’t feel comfortable when you wear them. They look and feel clumsy.
It is an uncomfortable truth that metals can be quite unforgiving of a nervous hand. Edges will wobble, the texture of filings will look more torn than filed and the scratching out of textures will look more like dragging a nail down a chalkboard. Don’t worry, this is not because you are not cut out for this, it’s simply because your hand isn’t used to repeating the motion yet. There are so many small movements in jewelry making that take lots of practice and patience to get right and, until they are second nature, your hand will reveal your inexperience. So, initially, strive for consistency over perfection.
A good practice to do is start with an old piece of scrap and draw some straight lines on it with a pen or pencil. Attempt to cut right on those lines and not veer off. You will see the blade veer off, particularly around corners because the wrist is still turning instead of using your shoulder and elbow to move the frame. After a couple of minutes, you will notice that the blade noise will even out and the cut will start to follow the line closer. Use the noise of the blade to help you. When you’re sawing well, the blade will have a steady rustling or whisper sound. You don’t want to hear the blade chattering as it scrapes across the metal.
Another is to squeeze the tool or file in your hand in an attempt to ‘muscle’ your way to accuracy. Truth is, you’re only increasing the amount of movement your hand makes and deadening the feedback you get from the metal. If you’re filing, you’ll end up gouging grooves and rounding off corners because your file moves in deep arcs when you push too hard, and your surface will look bumpy even when it’s polished. Instead, ease off the pressure and make more strokes. Allow the file to do its job. If the file skates across the surface of your object, instead of engaging it, try to angle the stroke a little more rather than applying more pressure. Often this alone will make the difference between random gouging and accurate work in a matter of seconds.
Even 15 minutes of daily sawing can pay off. Alternate sawing straight lines and filing flat with the same metal. After sawing a line, smooth the edge until it appears straight by the light. Turn it around and do the same on the other side. This helps train the hands in the relationship between sawing and filing, which must complement each other. Within a few days, the hands start to anticipate the movement of the metal, and later, fewer mistakes will need to be corrected.
Blunt work often results from hasty movement from one phase to another. Cutting is not taken far enough, filing is either omitted or done inadequately, and polishing is relied on to correct what are essentially constructive deficiencies. Rather, each phase should be seen as setting up the next phase. A properly cut piece is simple to file; a properly filed piece is quick to polish; a properly polished piece shows its true shape. And when patience becomes part of the technique, so does fineness, and what was previously awkward slowly starts to take on the appearance of deliberate artisanship.