Are you just starting out with metal jewelry making? The first thing to do is to get comfortable with handling metal. Once you understand how the metal behaves under pressure and heat, it’s time to start practicing. Start with a little piece of copper or brass and practice filing until you feel comfortable handling the file. To begin, take a strip of copper and practice filing a straight edge. Once you have a straight edge, flip the metal over and file another edge. You can do this for about 15 minutes a day to start.
Try to take a piece of metal and file a straight edge, then flip the piece over and file another edge. After a few sessions, compare the first attempt with the most recent one. I’ll bet that the most recent day’s filing is more even, and the edges are straighter. Practice like this will make your hands steadier. You will soon be able to feel how much pressure to apply to the file. The most common mistake that you will make as a beginner is that you will be in a hurry.
This will result in filing gullies in the metal, or rounding off the corners of your metal shape. Soldering is also a place where beginners tend to rush. When you solder, make sure you are giving the metal time to heat up. Pause and observe how heat spreads across the metal. Allow the entire surface to warm gradually before expecting the join to form. If you are getting frustrated, go back to the basics, and practice filing and sanding.
Your joints are only as good as your edges. Another good exercise to practice is shaping simple wire loops. Take some dead soft copper wire, and practice forming ten loops in a row without cutting the wire apart. The idea is not to have perfect loops, but consistent loops. Take notice of which loops lie on their side and which loops are closed properly. Adjust your wrist as you make each loop. After a week or so of practicing loops, they should be lining up better, and your hand should be remembering how to do this without much thought from you.
The thing to remember about learning to make jewelry is that you need to go back to the beginning and practice the basics. Filing, bending, sanding, and heating the metal are the basics of metalworking. At first they seem easy, but there are a lot of nuances that you will learn as you practice. If your tools feel awkward and your results look rough, slow down and focus on every movement. Soon it will all become second nature to you.