The Art of Keum Boo - Hammered Gold Drop Earrings

Learn how to add beautiful 24k gold to your silver jewellery - with tips for soldering Keum Boo Jewellery

About the Class

This class continues my series on Keum Boo, an ancient Korean technique that literally translates as “attached gold”. It's one of my absolute favourite techniques and I can't wait to share it with you!

In the first class I taught you how the technique works and kept the design fairly simple so that we could concentrate on process of attaching the gold - this time we're adding in soldering and hammering! Soldering has to be carried out carefully on Keum Boo pieces so that you do not overheat the design and encourage the gold to bond too much to the gold as this can allow it to "sink in" to the silver, losing it's bright golden yellow. Most importantly, you have to give the gold some after care once the soldering is done - and this class will teach you how to do whilst creating a gorgeous pair of earrings.

I've also added a hammered texture to the class project to show you that the gold is thick enough to take a texture beautifully without splitting. Keum Boo bonds 24k gold and fine silver together, with no solder involved, just heat and pressure. It is a strong permanent bond, hundreds of times thicker than gold plating. As you can see from the class project a little gold goes a long way, making this a great way of adding the richness of gold to your jewellery without breaking the bank.

An understanding of the information in the first class in this series, the Golden Butterfly Pendant class, is useful. All of the Keum Boo classes can be found in The Art of Keum Boo course bundle

BUY THE ART OF KEUM BOO COURSE BUNDLE FOR £150, SAVING £25!

You will need:

Materials:
* approx 0.8mm sterling silver sheet, enough for two 16mm diameter discs
*​​​ 24k gold Keum Boo foil, enough to cover both discs
* 12cm 0.8mm sterling silver round wire for the earwires

Equipment: (all the jewellery making kit listed here can be used for many different projects)
* Soldering kit - see here for more details
* Ultralite kiln or hot plate
* Steel or agate burnisher
* Wooden coffee stirrer (or similar) and small pot of water
* Disc cutter
* Leather cushion
* Doming block and wooden or nylon punches
* Steel block
* Old hammer for hitting tools, Cross pein hammer and rounded hammer
* Ruler, sharpie and scissors
* Needle files
* Very fine sanding pad or medium radial disc and pendant drill
* Small mandrel
* Flat nose pliers and wire cutters

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.

These earrings would be just as lovely as smaller studs, and would make fantastic presents!

1 hour 11 minutes long, 16 lessons


Course Curriculum

"Loved the class!!"
Sue C.
"Love the luxurious look of these earrings - and love that I've now been able to make my own pair!"
Alex J.
"Joanne has again explained every stage of this process, clearly and with insight. Well worth watching, even if you already practice keum-boo"
Dawn G.

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 nearly 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.

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