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Hi everybody, this is Jessica from JewelryTutorialHQ.com.
Today I'm going to show you how to make these really cool bullet shell pendants.
Starting with an empty brass bullet casing - this is from a .223 Remington
and you're going to need a jeweler's saw
like this - with a tiny fine blade.
I'll have a link to where you can find the complete list of tools and materials needed
for this project in the notes section.
Before you start please make sure you're wearing eye protection because if these little blades
or drill bits snap
they can fly up and hit you in the eye and that's kinda scary.
What I'm going to do is instead of cutting all the way through the metal at any one point I'm going
to turn the bullet as I saw gently
so that I can just score a line all the way around and make that groove so that when I
finally cut through
I can be sure that the line where I started is going to connect with the line on the other
side so we get a nice straight cut.
Just keep turning and sawing slowly until you cut through the metal
and now we're just going to sand down the rough edge quickly
This is 120 grit sandpaper.
Just move it in a circle gently
and get rid of any rough edges.
Now we're ready to drill.
I'm just using a regular power drill here with a 1/16" bit
or you could actually use a dremel as well with a smaller bit, maybe a size 67 or 68 even.
It takes a minute - I sped up the video but you just hold the drill steady and drill right
into the dimple
until you get through the metal.
Now we're ready to add the bead.
You're going to want to find a bead that will fit snugly but there needs to be enough room
so that your wire can fit
and I've got about 6 inches of brass wire, 24 gauge,
and I just bend up both sides of the wire - this is a traditional triangle wrap -
or the way that you would wrap a briolette drop or any other top drilled bead.
You bend one end over until it forms an 'L' and then twist that end around the vertical
one a few times
to secure it in place
and then you just trim off the excess as close to the work as you can with your flush cutters.
Feed the wire through the hole you just made in the top of the bullet
and push it in there to get it as tight as you can and try to hide the wire inside the
shell if at all possible
so that it's not peeking out on the sides.
Now we're going to grab your round nosed pliers
and bend the wire away from you at a right angle
leaving a couple of millimeters of space above the top of the bead or the bullet
and again with your round nosed pliers grab that bend you just made
and fold the wire over and make a loop so that you're back at 90˚ again
now grab your chain nosed pliers and hold the loop steady with those pliers while you
wrap the tail around the base in the space that you left above the bead.
Wrap it around a few times so that it's pretty snug
and then trim off the excess with the flush cutters
And you are done!
I hope you had tons of fun with this project and that you'll come back and see me soon.
Again, you can find me at
JewelryTutorialHQ.com for more free jewelry tutorials,
or visit my blog, bespangledjewelry.blogspot.com for more craft tutorials.
Thanks for watching!