Art and Design A comprehensive guide for creative artists - Aaltodoc

Equally, in places of worship, we find various kinds of
ornaments used as accessories of worship such as a
goblet, chalice or wine cups, the altar table and sacred
vessels. These are also referred to as antique ornaments for
aesthetic decorations and adornment.
The uses of ornaments and jewellery are endless to the
extent that everyone will always find a sincere reason of
owning them and make beneficial uses from them. Apart
from that, jewellery and ornaments can be produced from
extremely plenty of materials. And certainly, the process of
making ornaments involves using different tools, materials
and equipment.
Materials and tools for making ornaments
As Njoroge-Kamau (1988, 158) has remarked, “Any beautiful
bits of scrap paper, sisal or cotton string, soft copper wire,
beads, soft seeds, bottle tops, bones, horns, strong glue
or paste, scissors, hammer, nails, knives, razor blades” can
beneficially be used as tools and materials necessary for
producing ornaments and jewellery.
Let us learn more about some well-defined tools and
materials, which may be necessary for making ornaments
and jewellery:
a. Closing pliers is used for finishing by locking a
jewellery artwork. It has also got a smooth side for
protecting wires from becoming dented during the
course of making closing loops. Sometimes jewellers
use closing clippers to make link rings or loops.
b. A wire rounder is a tool used to eliminate sharp points
on jewellery. It makes rough edges of cut wire ends soft
and smooth, by inserting a wire through its cup end.
And then, a wire is carefully rotated backwards and
forwards—for a smooth round finish.
c. Round nose pliers can be easily confused with
chain-nose pliers by reason of their concise similarities.
One at a time; a round nose pliers has got smooth
round jaws used for bending and they can be used to
form loops on a wire.
And, chain nose pliers have got flat jaws used for gentle
narrowing of wire points. It is also used to keep a firm
hold at a stage of bending wires.
d. Flat nose pliers use a smooth side to hold beads. It can
also open jump rings as well as assisting to make wires
straight. A creative jeweller can accurately use flat nose
pliers to bend wires by using its flat top.
e. Stoppers as it sounds—are accessory tools used for
stopping beads from slipping out of a necklace thread
during constructions. Types of stoppers and their
abundant uses are numerous. Another simple way of
making a stopper is by tying knots. Surely, all this is
sometimes determined by the nature of materials used
to support a necklace for the time of construction. For
instance, a string does not behave in the same way as a
wire—for the time of operating as a stopper.
136 137