Findings oral - Jenna

Findings
What are findings?
Findings are often overlooked in the jewellery industry. Most people don’t notice findings and the important purpose they serve, however as trained goldsmiths it is very imoprtant for us to understand exactly how useful and important findings are to our work. Findings are small items, manufactured to become one of the most important parts of a jewellery piece. Although findings are small, most items of jewellery could not function without them. They are used to hold something in place and can sometimes form a dual purpose, by looking pretty and being intergrated into the jewellery piece too.
One very imoprtant point to remember about findings is that form follows function- So for example a butterfly (or backing of an earring) is light in weight to make sure it is comfortable to wear. A bail is another example – they needed to design something that went through a jumpring, to attach to a necklace… yet still look nice and feel comfortable.
_____________________________________ LUCE
HINGES
Hinges are often used in jewelley, they allow items to move and open and close (like lockets.) Hinges are gennerally used on lockets, trinket boxes and bangels… but can be used on any item of jewellery to allow movement. TYPES
BAILS
Bails are generally used on pendants. They loop through the jumpring and the chain goes through the bail (Like this PIC) They look more professional than jumprings and can often be decorated to add to the pendants design. TYPES
COLLETS
Collets can be conical shaped and just a solid piece of metal (Like this PIC) or they can have claws which fold over to hold the stone in place. Often with a claw setting galleries are added to allow light in, this brightens the stone up and makes it look more lively. A collet is a place for a stone setting. So once a stone is chosen to set. The metal/ claws on the collet will be pushed over to hold the stone tightly in place.
CRIMP BEADS
These simple, silver beads are used to cover knots in thread or to secure a loop in a necklace or bracelet string, which makes it possible to complete a clasp. These silver beads are made from soft metal, which once in the correct place can be squashed with flat nose pliers (it is important to apply pressure to the bead evenly, inorder not to distort it.) (pass crimp beads arround)
________________________________________ LUCE
JUMP RINGS
I would say the most important, yet most humble finding is the jump ring. We use them all the time, and are so easy to make… We mainly use them to attatch a pendant to a necklace, or to secure a clasp, but they are used for many other things too, such as fake tension settings, earrings, anything that needs a little bit of manoverabilty really.
__________________________________________LUCE
_____________________ROBS
SHEPHERD HOOKS
Shephard hooks must be one of the most well knowen findings.They are a type of earring hook that looks nice, are light, comfortable to wear, practical, don’t require any earring backings and are so easy to make. They are usually made out of sterling silver as many people have allergic reactions to nickel coated wires.
When you buy earring wires, you have a choice between the wire with either a loop on the end, allowing you to do a teardrop design or you can use wire with the flat head ends which support the bead – or string of beads on the length of wire.
_____________________ROBS
We have spoken all about the most common findings, the things we use a lot and make, but I thought I would add this slide in, just to show you how wide the range of findings really is. Here we have Shoe clips, these work off hinges and you close them over a shoe if you want to add decorations to your shoes. Then we have beadable pen, we have suspender clips (also working off hinges) and last but not least we have cufflinks – Lucinda is going to tell you more about those.
________________________________________________LUCE