I've had all sorts of good things going on this year and in the midst of it all, I made a lovely sentimental necklace using a coin…
When visiting a friend, she asked if I could make her little sixpence into a necklace for her to wear. I think it had been part of a collection of coins from her mum, so I like to imagine it evokes good memories and has become a wearable reminder of her dear loved one.
It took me a while to decide out how to set it into a necklace – I could have simply drilled a hole but to be honest, I didn’t want to cause any damage to the coin and still wanted both sides to be visible.
A claw setting seemed a good solution.
Back when I was working on my diploma, one of the projects was a claw-set ring but I hadn’t revisited that technique very much since. A coin is bigger than the stones I set back then, so I was hopeful I could make a neat job of it.
I began with a length of square wire to fit the circumference of the coin. I shaped a ring which allowed the coin to sit snugly inside before cutting four evenly spaced notches partway into the outside of the circle where the claws would sit. Four thin lengths of silver wire formed the claws, which were held in place for soldering in a nice soft soldering block. A small diamond shape was cut from a sheet of silver and formed into a bail for the chain to hang from. I soldered this through a small jump ring (which in hindsight I wish had been even smaller) and then proceeded to polish both this and the coin itself, which came up beautifully.
By now, it was ready to slot the sixpence into the circle and trim/round off each claw to the same length, just long enough to hold the coin in place when bent round. My nylon pliers are ideal for bending the wire as they don’t mark the silver.
Just a chain to add and ta daa, it was all finished! Such a lovely project to be asked to work on. It’s a joy and a privilege when someone asks for something so special.
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