I had made a dove necklace with a lovely Bahama blue swarovski crystal heart and decided to make a pair of matching earrings. The problem was, the earring doves were itty bitty and my 1/16 drill bit was too big. I have some tiny drills ( from harbor freight) and my drill press drilled the tail holes easily using a drill that said 66 or 99 on it. Not sure if that is the number size of the drill bit or not. Anyway, the hole thru the neck was another matter. i needed something that would hold my bird, wing side down, straight and firm. My solution was a hockey puck. yes, a HOCKEY PUCK! My nephew gave me 5 used ones from his team (new they are about a dollar or two a piece).
So here;s what i did and how you can do it too:
You will need a carving tool (i used a utility knife), a center punch, and a rotary tool (love my dremel stylus), a hockey pick and a small drill bit.
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| tiny drill bits, utility knife, rotary tool, hockey puck |
Take the knife and cut out a small section from the hockey puck. make it deep and wide enough for whatever you need to hold. Do it in several passes, checking your progress with the object each time, until the part is held level and supported. I used a drill to help me with it too. Then decide where you want your hole to be, and center punch a starting divot - this is IMPORTANT! Otherwise, your drill bit will wander all over the place and scratch up your object....and it won't drill where you want it. OK.
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| Carve the hole...use a larger drill bit to help if necessary |
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| Drill! Keep your rotary tool/drill bit straight and be sure your object is level |
I used my baby finger to give me solid and steady support while I drilled. The drill bit was so tiny that once it went all the way thru it was stuck in the bird. This is ok. Carefully I unwound the bird off of the drill bit. If you try to pull the object off of the drill bit, you will break the bit...it is very fragile. Also, don't push hard on the drill bit when drilling.....let the drill do the work.
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| Bird stuck on drill bit...temporatily, LOL! |
And VOILA! Tiny holes made, Earrings finished!
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| Tiny dove earrings |
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| large dove pendant with 28mm crystal heart |
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4 comments:
Long ago, when the girls figure skated, we used to find hockey pucks all over the seating section of the rink and we just threw them into a bin. I'm always in awe of your ingenuity. The earrings and pendant are beautiful.
Your work simply amazes me. Perefection!
Amazing! Love how you came up with this and your dove creations are beautiful!
YOU are very resourceful! Really beautiful earrings :)
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