Working on a New Design

Every once in a while an idea strikes and we must drop everything and work on it RIGHT NOW. That exact thing happened one day last week. I was literally in the middle of making a pair of earrings when an image of this pendant popped into my brain. I had to try and make it.

I planned it all out: used a Sharpie to mark where to drill the holes, made 3 copper headpins with the torch (quench them in ice water to get that pretty pink color), cut the lengths of sterling and brass wire. Of course, the last hole I drilled didn't go so well and I scratched the sterling disc very badly. That's OK, this is only the prototype.

The part I didn't plan at all was how to finish the piece. In other words, the back is a mess! The copper headpins became rivets and they are neatly hammered flat on the back. The other wires? They're just there. I'm thinking I need another disc, a bit larger and made from copper, for contrast, that I can rivet to this main piece. I will do it with a spacer of some sort so the wires on the back have a place to hide.

If you have a more creative and artistic idea for how to finish this, I would love to hear it!

Cold Connections

No, I'm not talking about dating in the Far North.  I'm talking about using rivets to connect metals.  It was one of the primary things I learned during my last class at Volcano Arts (almost a year ago now!)

When I returned from that class, I did a series of blog posts here, here, here and here.  And I also created some pieces last summer using the skills I learned and posted them here.  Now that my General Earring Inventory is close to where I like it to be (~200 pairs ready for either wholesale or consignment), I decided to tackle some new projects using rivets. 

The first few things I made turned out ok, but not awesome.  I think I was trying too hard to come up with interesting designs and not planning enough.  One of the most important things I learned in that class was to plan your piece from start to finish.  Otherwise, you can get yourself stuck in a corner, with no way out.  Not good.

This oak leaf pendant is well executed, but it doesn't excite me.  It's too flat ... or something! 

My dissatisfaction with this helped me make the decision to go back to a familiar design that DOES excite me.  Basically, I'm moving forward with "variations on a theme", an approach that has served me well with almost all of my jewelry making for the past 16 years.  With each piece I make, I learn something new and my technique improves.  Yes, the pieces are similar, but there's nothing wrong with that.  It lets me hone my skills, without the added pressure of coming up with new designs.

Better, right?

Even better yet!

(well, except for the stupid ding just to the left of the top rivet... grrr)

I'll be at it for the next few days, making more of these 3 dimensional pendants with copper, brass, pearls, gemstones and who knows what else!

A Snippet of a Map....

It's been quite a while since I listed a mixed media piece in my etsy shop, so I decided to do so yesterday. The techniques for this piece (and all of the mixed media pieces in my shop) were inspired by a class I took with Linda and Opie O'Brien at Artfest 2007. That class was an eye-opener for me. I learned that I didn't need a whole studio full of new and expensive tools to do some basic metal work. Just a few simple tools would work just fine.

I have a pile of patterned papers that I constantly scan for interesting segments. I use the small piece of acrylic as a "lens" for viewing these patterned papers. The colors found in this little snippet of a map appealed to me and I thought they would look good on a brass background.

Using some skeleton leaves, I textured the brass in my rolling mill. I then patinated and sanded the brass to accentuate the pattern. After gluing the image to the back of the acrylic panel, I used tiny eyelets to attach the acrylic panel to the brass. Add a few beaded dangles and some lovely brass chain and voila! A fun and whimsical necklace.

By the way, Kingsbridge is in Devon, in the southern part of the UK.

This necklace is for sale in my etsy shop. You can click on the image to go directly to the listing.