[Illustration]
Cuff links may be made of gold, silver, copper, or brass. Often the
design is worked out in the metal alone, again engraving is added, or
enamel or stones. The designs given here are merely suggestions. Any
one of them works out well in the metal. You will notice that some
have a ball on one end of the link and a plate on the other, while
some have the double plates. Again, some are made with loose links
joining the two heads. The link is loosened and pushed through the hole
in the cuff and then hooked on to the plate. One must be careful to
make the plates on a pair of cuff links small enough to go through the
buttonhole of a cuff.
_Material:_ For plain oval pair of cuff links. Two pieces of No. 20
silver, 7/8 × 1/2 in. Two pieces of silver wire, No. 14, 3/4 in.
_Directions:_ Mark the design by drawing an oval on the two plates of
silver. Keep length and diameter of both the same. Clip off the sides
and shape to design. Save the small pieces of silver clipped off, as
they will be used to make the balls at the other end of the cuff link.
With the file, bevel the edge and smooth all down. Place the plates
on a wooden block and curve them a little. Take the scraps of silver
you cut from the plates, place them in two separate groups on a piece
of charcoal, and heat it until they melt. When the pieces melt they
form themselves into balls. When these silver balls are cool enough to
handle with a pair of pincers, cool them off in water. File away any
part of the ball a little flat and solder the silver rod to the ball.
Solder the other end of the silver rod to the curved side of the oval
piece. Bend the connecting rod, like the picture. This forms the link.
Do the same with the other link. Then file, polish, and finish. If
stones are to be set, the bezels are made and put on the flat plates
and soldered on at the same time the plate is soldered to the link. The
stone is placed in position after it is all finished.