Friction produces heat???

Well, as you might guess from the title of the post, I've injured myself through a brief memory lapse on the laws of physics. I was working on the dual ball ring that I found the tutorial for on "A Metalsmith's Journey" http://www.doxallodesigns.blogspot.com/ . It's really cool, but I had trouble from the get-go. First, we didn't have the right guage of wire, and so I had to settle for 14-guage square wire instead of 12-guage round wire. Then, when time came to drill the hole for the 20-guage ring, it was nigh on impossible to find a drill bit that hadn't been broken by some of the other punk jewelry making students (it's okay, that's said in complete love and respect for them), and most of the ones that weren't broken were dull. So, drilling through the two wires took an inordinately long amount of time. Then, disaster struck. The drill got away from me, and my ring started spinning uncontrollably. I turned off the drill (once I got some sense back), and reached to pick up my ring in progress. Now, let me remind you that when friction is applied, energy (heat) is produced. Let me also remind you that silver is a very good conductor of heat and heats up quickly. So, I reached to pick up my ring in progress, and recieved a burn instead. If you look closely, you can see the circle on my index (on the right) and middle fingers. I am an idiot. Then, I tried multiple times to produce the "second ball" on the wire, but could not get the technique to work. I tried fireproof fabric that had been soaking in water, then manila envelopes soaked in water, but I only succeeded in discovering that the first bead I wanted to use was plastic (because it melted) and nearly setting the paper and fabric on fire (well, the fireproof fabric smoldered an glowed a bit). So I modified it a bit and ended up wrapping the leftover wire around the shank. This was the best photo I could produce (I'm sure I'm just not using the cameras to their fullest potential), and hopefully it fits the person I made it for! She said size 8 and I pretty much abused it on the mandrel until it got there.
Sadly, I also attempted my rose ring in gold. Failing to measure the amount of gold I had and the amount needed, I only cast part of the ring (thankfully, part of it was the flower) and had to order gold wire and gold solder to finish it. My tax refund is officially gone (I think). Hopefully it will all be worth it and I will have a piece that I will wear for the rest of my life and pass down from generation to generation. Pictures will be posted soon, after I've gotten over my shame.
One more week of jewelry making class. That makes me very sad. But then, only one more week of my other classes, too. That kind of makes me happy.