A Bunch of Dragonflies

Trying to work efficiently, I decided to make a bunch of these similarly designed dragonfly necklaces.  There are actually two distinct styles of necklaces.  One batch has the brass dragonflies wired to carved bone buttons.  The other batch uses textured copper as the backdrop.

I found the bone buttons at one of the gem shows in Tucson.  I was looking for more abalone buttons, but did not find any of decent quality.  These bone buttons are interesting and the neutral coloration should make them good sellers.  I suspended them on dyed silk ribbons.

I textured the copper with a combination of real, dried leaves and skeleton leaves (the kind you find in the scrapbooking section of the craft store).  I had better luck with the skeleton leaves, but this is a destructive process.  I went through quite a few leaves.  Oxidizing the copper highlights the texture.

I used rivets in the holes I drilled to attach the chain.  It gives the pendants a more finished look.

These will be for my shows later in the year, not for the etsy market.

Pearl Mixes

Yesterday was a very productive day for me (imagine that!). Last weekend, I was in Fairbanks for the Bad Girls of the North craft show. When I finish a show, I take a look at my sales and remaining inventory to help determine where I should focus my efforts. I sold 4 of my pearl mix necklaces in Fairbanks. That tells me that that particular style continues to be a perennial favorite with my customers. Today, I replenished that stock for my next show by making 3 more. My plan was to make 4, but I ran out of time.

Clockwise from top left: copper/beige/cream mix, shades of green mix, shades of blue mix. these monotone colorways seem to be quite popular. I also make these in more varied color mixes.


In my etsy shop, I have 3 of these necklaces available for sale:

Pearl Necklace . A Study in Blue

The Elegance of Mixed Pearls . Necklace

Winter White . Pearl Necklace

New Letter & Number Stamps

I purchased a new set of letter and number stamps for metal stamping from Evies Tool Emporium. I already had a 4mm set, and those were fine for my metal book covers. But I found them to be too large for my jewelry designs. The set I purchased from Michelle at Evie's is 2.5mm -- just right!


These pendants are copper. I cut the pieces of metal using my new brake and sheer combo tool that I scored at a yard sale a few weeks ago. The cuts made by the sheer are so much cleaner than I was getting from my handheld scissor-like shears. This made the finishing of the edges much less labor intensive. It's all about the right tools.

I also used my texture hammers that Rick made for some of these pendants. I used a metal oxidized liquid to tone down the super shiny bright copper finish on the raw metal. After sanding with 400 grit paper, the results are a mellow, slightly rosy copper color. Again, just right!

A Series of Textured Metal Pendants

I completed a good sized batch of metal pendants last week. Starting with copper and brass sheet, I set up a little assembly line type operation: cut shapes, file, sand w/280, sand w/360, sand w/600, texture, patina, assemble. See, I really can work efficiently when I put my mind to it!

The only really fun parts were the texture and assemble steps of the above list. The remainder of the process was quite tedious.



I used two different patinas: liver of sulfur and an antiquing solution which works only on base metals like copper and brass. Lightly sanding with 400 grit polishing paper after applying a patina provides a great contrast, as it leaves the low spots dark, while effectively erasing the patina from the high spots.


It was interesting to see how the antiquing solution gave such different results on the copper and brass. I also practiced my letter stamping on a few pieces. I think I need much more practice with that stop.




Assembling and adding beads was quite a bit of fun. Trying to match the mood of the metal pendant to appropriate beads and charms took quite a bit of time.


And my favorite piece is the brass panel embossed (with the rolling mill) with a leaf pattern, and embellished with a brass dragonfly element. I may just keep this one.