Hollow Lentil Beads

Learn how to create beautiful beads from silver sheet

About the Class

Take your soldering skills to the next level and learn how to make beautifully textured and tactile hollow beads! These lovely beads can then be used in bracelets, earrings or even as their own as pendants.

The Hollow Lentil Beads start off as sheet metal, and we can use relatively thin when compared to the size of the finished beads as the bead shape adds a lot of strength. This means that the project is very cost-effective. The class will teach you everything you need to know, from texturing, cutting and shaping the metal to soldering and ideas for using the beads. As a bonus, the class also gives extra tips for getting the best results from texturing sheet metal with a rolling mill.  

A safety note: please do watch all of the soldering information before soldering the beads closed.

This class is part of the Intermediate Silversmithing series of classes, building on the basics taught in the Silversmithing for Beginners series. Enrol on the whole series, save money and learn great skills!

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:
sheet metal large enough to cut two discs per bead, 0.5mm to 0.7mm thick

Equipment: (all the jewellery making kit listed here can be used for many different projects) Soldering kit - see here for more details
Disc cutter
Doming block and punches (wooden punches if you are texturing the sheet)
Heavy hammer for disc cutter and doming block
Texturing tool - possibilities are rolling mill, hammers, texture punches
Steel bench block and leather cushion (or folded tea towel!)
Needle files
6" flat files
Bench drill
Sharpie
For polishing - pendant drill/flexishaft attachments or a silver polishing cloth. Best not to put in a tumbler as the shot could get inside the beads!

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.

I've used the Scattered Daisies and Barcelona Beads 1 rolling mill patterns found here on the example beads, but they are just as beautiful left smooth, hammered or decorated with texture punches.

2 hours 11 minutes long, 16 lessons


Course Curriculum

"Another excellent class from Joanne Tinley. Hollow forms have been on my  list for a while, and this has given me the incentive (and the knowledge) to get cracking."
Dawn G.
"I love these beads! Much easier to make than I thought they'd be. Like the rolling mill tips too."
Sara P.
"Great class with very clear instructions."
Diana H.

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 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!

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