Making Gold Nugget Nose Studs

Oh I had fun with these! I've been wanting to make nugget nose studs for a long while, and time and opportunity met the other day. I was working at my jewelry bench, soldering this and that, making my pieces, and suddenly had an urge to give one a try.

I brought out some small pieces of 14 karat yellow gold and put them on the soldering block. When I melted one into a glowing, molten ball, I pushed my stainless steel tweezers (with wooden handles) into the flame and the gold; moving and shaping until I got the look I was going for - a little nugget of gold.

I let it cool a bit and then cut a piece of gold wire to make a stem for the nose stud. I cut it to length - my straight shaft lengths are 17mm long - and soldered it to the nugget. I couldn't wait to check out the way it would look all shiny, so I hand polished it with my little buffer and some jewelers rouge. Since it was pleasing when it was all shiny, I cleaned it off and pickled it to remove any firescale before polishing overnight. I liked it so much I made a couple more - I have my eye on one of them!

Voila! Thanks for checking it out.

 ~Darcey Lyn