Packing Jewelry Tools for Travel: Helen Driggs’ Tips | Jewelry

Applications are an crucial part of jewelry building. No subject what degree maker you are—from occasional jewelry maker to entire-fledged bench jeweler—you’ve possibly invested a compact fortune in buying jewellery tools. And, if you are intrigued in learning extra techniques, you will possibly just take a course or workshop. In that situation, you are going to close up carting your equipment across city or, in my circumstance, across the nation.

When I shot many sessions for my video, Metalsmith Necessities: Standard Fabrication, I wound up transport my instruments 1,500 miles each way to the studio. As I seemed out the window of the plane, I knew my infants ended up traveling as easily as I was, simply because I had guarded them for their very long journey.

Since I’d packed hand instruments, I knew they would have a fantastic prospect of not staying damaged or weakened. My video footage bundled procedure basics—sawing, submitting, sanding and hammering—requiring rather substantially the standard instrument kit each individual metalsmith carries with them to workshops or courses. I followed my usual method for packing: guard the functioning finishes of the equipment, bind them tightly collectively with cloth or bubble wrap, and pack them so they never move all around in the carton. I have designed quite a few resource carrying kits around the a long time, so I known as them into service as very well.

Right here are a several guidelines for transporting your jewelry equipment in comfort and security.

Prepare for the Worst, Hope for the Most effective

You can in no way predict what will happen, even with insured and hyper-documented delivery products and services. I as soon as mailed myself a box of instruments and slicing tough employing just about every doable shipping defense feasible: insurance, tracking, and anything else. Then, the package went missing for almost four months in any case. It did at some point present up on my porch, wrapped in large shrink plastic and on the lookout like it had used various weeks in a dirty puddle and then baking in the sunlight. Inside the tattered box, the tools ended up high-quality and all the things was intact—because I experienced geared up for as lots of shipping and delivery disasters as feasible.

My jeweler’s file wallet ran in a column in the December 2010 challenge of Lapidary Journal Jewellery Artist. For directions to make your very own, print and use my jewelry-file wallet sample. It calls for only rudimentary sewing abilities, and it’s a terrific way to keep jewellery data files from abrading against every single other all through shipping and delivery.

Pack Jewellery Resources Like A Pro

These are the 7 fatal sins for jeweler’s applications being transported: drop, crush, damp, damp, bend, spill, open. Hold them in your thoughts as you put together your jewellery-creating applications for their journey. If you do, your instruments will vacation intact and arrive prepared to use at the time you unpack.

The most essential points to do when transport is to guard the performing surfaces, avert shifting in the transport carton, and stop publicity to any form of humidity. You really don’t will need to shell out a large amount of dollars:

• Previous, orphaned socks make completely wonderful hammer handles.
• Plastic deli containers with snap-on lids work properly for pliers, heart punches, scissors, scribes, stamps, and other limited, stout resources.
• Make a “jellyroll” out of bubble wrap, roll equipment up in it, and put the roll in a container with the lid snapped on tight.
• Help save individuals silica-gel packets that arrive in footwear, electronics, and other consumer items. They are wonderful to drop in plastic baggage and containers as a minor insurance plan towards dampness when shipping and delivery.

Use strapping tape with fiberglass filaments to protected the carton, due to the fact steel is genuinely significant and cardboard is no match for it.

If you are traveling, you cannot just take resources in your have-on bag(s). Remember, it is virtually guaranteed that TSA will open up your checked bag(s) and hand examine them when the X-ray machine detects steel in there. Do them and by yourself a favor:

• Pack the tools in see-via plastic bags and set them on major of the apparel for uncomplicated inspection.
• Place your small business playing cards in the baggage with the jewellery equipment so your factors remain with each other. I set my Jewelry Artist enterprise card ideal on the exterior of the apparent box with a layer of see-by means of tape so it is clear why I’m carrying jewellery equipment and odd minimal bits of metal in my bag.
• Clear snap-leading plastic image containers function good for steel and compact applications.

If you can afford it, and if you vacation a great deal, get a specified set of journey jewellery resources. That way, if they do go lacking, you have a backup at property.

Very well, I’m off to pack—I’ve obtained to get my jewelry tools completely ready for their future journey. In the meantime, whether or not you are new to metalwork or are a additional knowledgeable jewelry maker fascinated in boosting your metalsmithing techniques, there are two full hours of ought to-know recommendations in my Metalsmith Essentials video clip. It’s the top resource to support you learn or improve your expertise in sawing, hammering, filing and sanding, metals. Talking of sawing, here’s a no cost sawing apply sample sheet to support you boost your sawing techniques.

Do you have tips for traveling with jewelry applications? Please share them in the remarks underneath.

—Helen

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At first published December 6, 2010. Updated 8/4/2022. 

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