Hammered Donut Earrings
One method, two different looks
About the Class
This class will teach you how to make not one but two pairs of lovely earrings, all from small pieces of scrap silver left over from other projects.
Each pair begins as simple silver discs with their centres cut out — silver “donuts” — before being textured and shaped in different ways to create two distinct finished designs. By hammering the silver in different directions, you’ll see how simple techniques can completely change the look and feel of a piece.
This is a wonderful beginner project for building confidence with texturing, shaping, and soldering small joins, while also encouraging you to make the most of the silver you already have on your bench. It’s also a lovely reminder that even small offcuts of silver can be turned into beautiful finished jewellery with just a little creativity and a few simple techniques.
This class is part of a series teaching you all the basic but essential jewellery making skills that you need to create beautiful jewellery. You can choose to enrol on this class separately or on the whole Beginners Jewellery Making course bundle and access the full series of classes.
If you need any extra help as you work your way through the classes do join us over on The Jeweller's Bench Café group over on Facebook - the perfect place to ask for advice and to show off what you've been making.
You will need:
Materials:
You will need small pieces of sterling silver sheet, ideally 0.7mm to 0.9mm thick, stud earring posts and butterflies.
Equipment: (all the jewellery making kit listed here can be used for many different projects) Soldering kit
Disc Cutter
Heavy hammer for use with disc cutter
Bench peg
Cross-pein hammer for texturing (a hammer with a straight rather than round head)
Steel bench block and leather cushion (or folded tea towel!)
Sharpie
For polishing - a tumble polisher or elbow grease and a silver polishing cloth.
An explanation of all the tools and materials that you need is included in the videos, and a downloadable equipment and materials list is available with the class.
Don’t worry if you don’t have the same materials in stock that I have used in the class example, or hammers that give the same textures – experiment with what you have available. A cross pein hammer is needed to fully appreciate how the metal changes shape as you hit it but a ball pein (rounded) hammer will still create a beautiful texture.
21 minutes long, 10 lessons
Course Curriculum
"Great class, Jo explains everything clearly and it's great to be able to watch what she is doing close up. Lots of options for adapting this design."
Diana H.
"Another top-notch class, with more top tips from Joanne Tinley. Really timely for me recently bought a cheap disc cutter. I also thought that this was an excellent demonstration of the change in the silver shape through hammering"
Dawn G.
"So cool to see how hammering can change the shape of the metal!"
Alex J.
Joanne Tinley
Tutor and Founder of The Jeweller's Bench
The Jeweller's Bench is run by Joanne Tinley. She has been making her own jewellery for as long as she can remember and left her first career as a school teacher to set up business as a jewellery designer and tutor nealy 20 years ago. She is
self-taught and like many people started with wire and beads. Learning how to solder, however, opened up a whole new world of jewellery making, one that she is keen to share!
Legal Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to show safe working practices and to discuss health and safety aspects of jewellery making, but in the end I cannot take responsibility for how the tutorial information is used and how safely you work. Take the effort to set up your work area safely right from the start!
All Rights Reserved. No part of this course may be reproduced or shared without express, written consent from the author.
Reviews