Alright, let’s dive into this little adventure I had – messing around with a solid gold nipple barbell. Yeah, you heard right.
It all started when I saw one online, and I thought, “Damn, that’s fancy.” But also, “Damn, that’s expensive.” So, naturally, my brain went into DIY mode. I figured, “How hard can it be?” Famous last words, right?
First, I needed gold. Not like, Fort Knox gold, but enough to make a tiny barbell. I hit up a local jewelry supply place. Explained what I wanted to do (leaving out the nipple part, obviously). Got some 14k gold wire. Looked about right.
Next, the tools. I already had some basic jewelry-making stuff – pliers, cutters, a torch (for soldering), and some files. Crucially, I needed something to shape the gold. Found some small mandrels (little metal rods) online that were the right diameter.
Okay, so here’s where the fun began. Heating the gold to make it pliable. Shaping the barbell shaft around the mandrel. Bending the ends. Sounds simple, right? Wrong. Gold is soft, but it’s also springy. Getting those curves consistent was a pain. I ended up re-heating and re-bending like, a million times.
Then came the beads. I wanted these to be solid gold too. Tried melting tiny bits of gold into little balls with the torch. Let me tell you, getting uniform spheres is an art. I ended up with a bunch of weird, molten blobs. Eventually, after a lot of cursing, I got two that were halfway decent.
Soldering those beads onto the ends of the barbell. This was tricky. Too much heat, and the whole thing would melt into a puddle. Too little, and the beads wouldn’t stick. I practiced on some scrap wire first. Managed to get it without completely destroying everything.
After that, it was all about polishing. Filing down any rough edges, sanding it smooth, and then using a polishing wheel to make it shine. Took a while, but it actually started to look like something you’d buy in a store. Almost.
The moment of truth. I sterilized the whole thing (important!), and… well, let’s just say it’s in place. Looks pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. Was it worth the effort? Probably not. Could I have just bought one for less hassle? Definitely. But hey, now I can say I made my own solid gold nipple barbell. That’s gotta be worth something, right?
- Finding the gold wire
- Shaping the barbell
- Making the beads
- Soldering everything together
- Polishing to a shine
Would I do it again? Maybe. Maybe not. But it was a good learning experience. And now I have a pretty unique piece of jewelry.
Final Thoughts
This project was way harder than I thought. Gold is a finicky material to work with. But hey, I learned a lot, and now I have a custom nipple barbell. Pretty baller, right?
