The cork I bought last year to make hollow beads has started drying up. Any ideas on how to re-constitute it?  I tried misting it but it seems to fall apart when I try to form it into a ball.    Thanks,   Diane 

Hi, I've been using an Olympic kiln, that was designed for clay firing, for PMC and some enameling. It isn't programmable so I have to sit by it and wait until it gets up to temperature and then play with the dial to get it to hold the desired temperature for the time I want - it does have a thermostat so I can see what temperature ...

Thanks for the tip - I was going to wait until it dried out since I used to do woodworking and that's intuitively what I would do if I were making furniture.  I'll post a pic when I finish.   I love this forum! Diane         

When I was in metalsmithing school, my instructor taught us how to make copper bowls out of sheet metal using a tree stump.  A round bowl-shape was carved out of the stump and then we used planishing hammers to form the sheet inside the bowl-shape.  I just got a nice 3 foot high by 2 foot wide maple tree stump so that I can start making ...

Hey! I'm sure glad Mike was finally able to synthesize what all of us were trying to say but in a more understandable language.  I solder gold to silver all the time and have no problems so just go for it.  The best and only way to learn is by doing it.   Diane 

Hey thanks very much!  Of course most people don't put pictures of their dogs up but since they're my alter egos and much prettier than me I figure it's ok.  Avatar? - I learned something new today.   Diane 

 Great tutorial - thanks!  Can I use the same diamond drill bit technique when trying to enlarge holes on fine beads such as carnelian and amethyst.  I often find that they aren't large enough to accommodate whatever I'm stringing them on.  I tried to use a bit on a delicate bead the other day and I blew it apart into a ...

I noticed all the great pics of the artists posting on this forum but I can't find a place to do that.  I looked over the options in the profile section for a few minutes but nothing looked right.  Can someone tell me how to do this?  I just want to put a pic with my Forum Name on the left of my posts.  Posting to the ...

I'm sure it cam lubricated but if you want to check for with Foredom just go to their website.  Whenever I've e-mailed them with tech questions they've gotten right back to me.

After I got the Harbor Freight tumbler home, I changed my mind and returned it.  It didn't look very sturdy and there were a lot of black rubber tabs and other bits sticking out of the tumbler.  Also I have read that a rotary tumbler should have sides inside of it so I'm glad I returned it.  Now that I've used my ...