I have made mosaic pins before and it is not that difficult but just plain messy! I suggest that before you do, buy some latex gloves at a drugstore. This will keep the epoxy off of your hands.
I live in Houston and if you live in a warm climate, do this in your house during the summertime, in this area, from March to late October. I used Devcon 2 Ton epoxy and if it is warm, it will set up in about 15 - 20 minutes. Not quite long enough for the "pin making" session. If you need to, you can chill the expoxy in your refrigerator to prolong the set up time a little.
You can buy all of the material needed from K&G in Arizona,their number is 520-537-8877. They also sell the completed pins as well. So does Texas Knifemaker's Suppy in Houston. Their number is 1-888-461-8632. The smallest micarta pin that Texas Knifemaker's Supply carries is 1/8 inch according to their catalog. Call and see if they carry have anything smaller. They are pretty nice folks.
I have never made a 5/32 inch pin but I did make some 1/8 inch pins. I found all of the material needed at a local hardware store. This was like an Ace Hardware or one of the small ones like that. I was only able to find brass, copper or aluminum tubing, round or square and only music wire, which is a carbon steel. I only used the brass tubing and of course the music wire. You can fit what you need for construction right there in the store if you need to. I must admit, that is what I did.
As far as construction went, what I dd was this. I had one large wire for the center inside of a square tube. The square tube was slid inside of a round tube. Both tubes were 12 inches long. The center wire was 24 inches long. I also put four very small wires between the square tube (one on each of the flat sides) and the outer round tube. These were 24 inches long as well. I dyed the epoxy black. You can get this from Brownell's or from one the places mentioned above. I assembled the whole works together. Now remember, I have 12 inches of wire left over. Put the epoxy on the wires and on the square tubing. A third hand would be handy. In other words, slide the square tube out about 6 inches or so and put epoxy on it and all the wires. Slide the round tube over the epoxied wires and square tubing by about 6 inches or so and epoxy that side. Slide it back over a few inches the other way and epoxy again if needed. Leave about 6 inches of the wire out on both side until it sets up and hardens somewhat. I usually leave it a couple of hours any way. When you go to cut the excess wires off, I used a dremel tool with a cut off wheel. I also used this to cut the actual mosaic pin later as well. This way I am sure not crack the epoxy or distort the mosaic pattern.
I have never had a problem with bubbles doing it this way. Granted, I waste about a foot of wire this way but it worked very well for me.
The other suggestion that I have is if you are going to do this, make as many pins at a time that you can. While you are doing it, you might as well make it worth your time. Just making one pin at a sitting is barely worth it and while you are set up to do it, you might as well make a few. It actually doesn't take that long once you are set up.
CLWilkins
