Happy New Year

Welcome 2011!

My New Years wish for you is that you step confidently along the path of your life, in good health, strong spirit, and clear mind.

Happy New Year, and Best wishes to you and your family!

Five Days To Go…

Or… 2010, Tying up Loose Ends at StudioDax!

Well… it’s the end of the December, and no matter how I plan for the end of the year, it always seems to sneak up on me.  I like to spend a little time thinking about what I’ve done over the past 12 months – the pieces I’ve created, the classes I’ve taught, and the techniques I learned. Taking stock of the past helps me decide the direction I want to go in the future.

Bead Crochet Starter Jig - Patent Pending!

In 2010, I also made a real effort to finesse the design and tutorial for my Bead Crochet Jig (which I sell in my Etsy store), and in April, I filed the papers starting the process for a patent. I’ve been teaching classes with it, selling it online and at shows, and I’ve started wholesaling it to stores. This has been a great learning exercise, and I am looking forward to expanding my wholesale to more stores and distributors.

Like other artisan jewelers, 2010 has been a real wake up call to factors that we can’t control. I’ve been watching the silver market, and getting anxious about how I’ll be able to continue working with quality materials when the prices keep spiraling. Since I buy my sheet and wire in bulk 2-3x a year, it hasn’t had a great impact on me yet, but my next purchase will probably be double what I paid for it last time around.

About 2 Years of Scraps!

The only upside to the rising silver cost – it’s time to turn in the scraps! I usually turn it in when I get about a pound, and this shows a little more than that. So at least I’ll have the ability to buy some more without feeling the pain so much…

My final “end of year” activity is always the same – it’s clean up time in the Studio! I get very accustomed to working in my own chaos, and this year is waaaaaay worse than any previous years, so it will take me a lot longer to organize, clean, and trash my work closet. Usually my workspace isn’t nearly so bad , but take a look at what I need to get thru this week!

What a Mess!

There is absolutely NO surface space at all – I have to remove storage items and plates with works in progress in order to make room to work…. very much a PITA! I can’t even think of doing any soldering with spending 20 minutes to remove the piles first….

The mess at the back - Part I!

The pickle pot is totally surrounded by bits and pieces of silver and copper. Small things I’ve played around with and put down, not quite sure if they should be discarded or left for future play.

The mess at the back - Part II!

I seem to always have plastic ziplock bags with a few things in them – beads, and threads, and things from the hardware store…. fun things that have no home yet. I pile them onto plates, then pile the plates up, to make it easy to move them around. And sometimes when I start a project, I put all the pieces on one plate, so that I can stack it up instead of trying to put the pieces back…. it’s gonna take a real  long time to make this space usable again!

Within a week – this should be nice and clean, ready to start the New Year off with space that will inspire – rather than hinder – creativity. I promise to post a few pics once it’s done!

And until then – have a great New Year!

 

 

 

 

Mistakes Happen

I enjoy doing custom work – but I hate when I mess it up! A few months ago, I made a simple heart pendant with the name of a friends daughter stamped into the surface. I started in the middle to center the name, and worked outward, but unfortunately, I messed up the next to last letter by stamping it too far away, and not leaving me room for the last letter – so poor “MERCEDES” wound up “ERCEDES” on my first try!

Almost MERCEDES!

I eventually created another one (which came out just fine!), and just threw this into my recycle pile. But I’d much rather reuse, than recycle, so in the back of my mind, I had the idea to rework it with a copper heart, but I wasn’t too sure what to do.

Heart on Heart...

The first thing I realized is that I had to reshape the copper heart to be closer to the shape of the silver one. So I traced the heart, and did a bit of grinding and sanding to make the heart more rounded, like the silver shape.

Shaping My Heart

You can see how I reshaped the bottom to make the sides a bit rounder, and I filed the separation at the top, to exaggerate the shape a little. Once I got the copper done, I needed to do something to the silver, and I decided to do a simple texture using a polished ball pien hammer, working on the back, Once the texture looked good, I laid it on the copper heart, to see how I wanted to proceed.

Two Hearts are Better than One

Not bad…! I really like how the copper base highlights the textured silver, and although I originally thought I’d drill some holes on each side and add jumprings, instead, I think I’ll make a bail in the center. I was also going to rivet the 2 hearts with some brass rod, but I like the solid look of the silver, so I’m going to just solder it up instead.

My Messy Heart!

I did a simple sweat solder join between the 2 pieces by just soldering the back of the silver heart, then laying it over the copper heart, and reheating. Unfortunately, I was concerned that I wasn’t making contact across the whole disk, and I reheated it a bit too much – you can see how the solder flowed out the edges on the sides (sorry I didn’t take a photo before I antiqued it!). I also curved the hearts before soldering them together, so that I didn’t warp the top silver disc, and added a center bail. Then I did a little clean up, oxidized the pendant, and buffed it up with a satin finish.

The Back Counts Too...

When possible, I try to keep the back clean and in the same style as the front – this shows the curve, the patina, and the clean solder of the bail. I only wish the silver heart was as cleanly soldered onto the copper as the bail!

My Heart Belongs to..... Me?

Well… this is not sell quality, but I love the look. So I’m not sure if it’s mine (feels a little strange giving myself a heart!), or if I’ll gift it to a friend. And lucky for me, I’ve got another mis-stamped silver heart in my recycle bin, so I can make another one, which I hope will come out a bit better!!

Getting Hammered…. Again!

A few months back, I wrote a post about hammering, showing the differences between hammers and mallets (read post HERE). Today’s post is provide more detail about chasing hammers, and the two distinct purposes they have: to “chase” a tool into metal (such as stamping, or repousse work), or, to flatten wire. They are lightweight hammers made with a springy wood, which reduces hand fatigue whed doing repetitive striking. Personally, I like a heavier hammer for stamping, but it is an excellent hammer for repousse (a technique sorta like embossing on thin metal), which requires a lighter touch.

Domed Face vs. Flat Face Chasing Hammers

Chasing hammers are also a great shape/weight for hammering wire… which is how many jewelry artisans use them. The faces come in two different “flavors” – the domed face, and the flat face. In the photo above, you can clearly see how they different as they rest on a steel block… but do you know when to use each one??

Domed Face vs. Flat Face: Hammering Wire

Look at how the hammers are positioned above, on a piece of wire. The domed face hammer (left) strikes the wire with only the center part of the face, but the edges don’t strike the wire at all. The flat face hammer (right) strikes the wire with more surface, but the sharp edge of the hammer can easily mar the wire.

"Not so Pretty" vs. "Pretty Nice"

On the left, you can see the markes made from repeated strikes when the edge of the flat face hammer hits the wire.. On the right, the wire is paddled flat and is mar free – no sharp edges hit the wire when properly using a domed face hammer. In addition, the force is focused at the center, rather than across the entire face, so you have more power when striking.

Tapered Hammered Link

This link is a great example of how useful a domed face hammer is – you can see how it was possible to hammer just the bottom part of the link, to taper the wire on each side, providing an even, gradual change from round to flat. If I tried to use the flat face hammer on this link, it would be very difficult to create this smooth transition. and it would be difficult to avoid hitting the top of the link, where the wire is doubled over.

Round and round we go....

Although I loooove my domed face hammer, and it is my favorite hammer to use with wire, the flat face hammer has it’s place too! In the photo above, you can see how the domed face hammer leaves the surface of Spiral “A” a bit less consistent than the surface of Spiral “B,” which was hit with the flat face. Because the domed face has a curve, the hammer strikes with a bit more force at the exact center, which can leave slight differences in the pressure placed on the surface. A flat face hammer is a good choice when flattening an item that is smaller than it’s face diameter, because the force is displaced evenly across the head.

This week, I decided to start selling my favorite domed face hammer in my Etsy shop. I looked around at the other hammers being offered, and realized that there was no info being posted on using the hammers, which is why I decided to write this post. Hopefully, it will be helpful – for someone new to hammering, a flat face hammer can be very very frustrating, because it is so difficult to obtain mar-free results!

Oxidizing With LOS

If you like to create mixed metal jewelry like I do, you’ll soon discover that oxidizing the pieces really give them some depth and enhance the texture. Last week I got an order for a a bangle bracelet that a customer liked, but needed made smaller, so I figured it would be a good time to write up a tutorial on how to use liver of sulpher (LOS) for oxidizing. LOS is great for creating an antiqued look on copper and silver  – it works on brass too, but has a weaker affect.

One Oxidized, One Shiny!

Here is the original bangle, oxidized and “aged” to a beautiful warm patina, shown with the “brand spaking new” bangle I just finished. You can clearly see the difference in the finish – the oxidized bangle (top) has the detailed texture and stamping highlighted, whereas the new one I made doesn’t show the depth.

In Rock Form

I use the solid LOS – I’ve been using it for years, and I’m pretty used to it, but you can also buy liquid form and gel form, which is easier to use, but has a shorter life span. Solid LOS comes in rocks, and the container is cloudy to protect from direct light. It is very, very, very important to keep LOS stored in a way to keep moisture from getting into the container – moisture will make LOS useless. I always tighten my container, put it in a ziplock bag, and place that into a brown bag – protecting it from light, and moisture. To use, I take a small rock, and put it into a glass bowl, then add very hot water.

Dissolved...

Make sure not to use a metal bowl or it will contaminate the solution, and mess up the bowl too!  The LOS will dissolve in the hot water, becoming a greenish yellow color. Please note – LOS is a chemical – it STINKS like sulpher (duh…), and some folks are sensitive to it. I don’t have any issues, but I try to keep it off my skin, and use a piece of copper wire as a hook to dip items into the LOS.

Like Magic!

I just drop the bangle in, and very quickly, the bangle turns black. It only takes a few seconds (really!) to completely change the copper and silver. I always make sure that I use a copper hook, so I don’t need to fish it out with my fingers!

...And 10 Seconds Later...!

Once I get the coverage I want, I remove the piece and rinse it in cold water. You want to be sure that you don’t leave it in the LOS too long, because if you “over” oxidize, the black will actually solidify, and flake off. The LOS will continue to work in heat, so it is important to rinse in cold water, and dry completely.

Yuck!!

You can really see how black it gets when you compare the bangles! It’s hard to believe, but in just 15 minutes, these bangles will look like twins! But to get there, we need to get down and dirty…

Take it off, take it off, take it all off!!

There are several different ways to remove the excess surface black. Basically, you need to gently scratch it off, to expose the surface underneath. These are the three products I used for this bangle: 3M Scotch-Bright green scrubbies (for some reson, generic scrubbies just don’t work!), a fine sanding sponge block (you can get these from the hardware store), and 3M Crocus Cloth, which I get from jewelry suppliers. First I use the green scrubbie  and rub it over the surface, getting as much black off as I can. The sanding block can be a bit scratchy on the surface, so make sure to practice using this on scrap metal to get used to it. I also use the green scrubbie to get the inside cleaned up, and then I use a strip of the crocus cloth to buff it up and soften any scratches. Crocus cloth is a denim material with a fine sandpaper paint on one side. It will dissolve and make a big mess if it gets wet, so make sure your piece is dry.

Just like the other one!

And here’s the final “twin bangles” – the original is on the bottom (you can see the word “DREAM” on the inside back), and the new one is up top. It is still a little bright – it will take a few days for the copper “pink” to age and take on a beautiful warm color. I will rub a little oil onto the surface, which protects the piece a bit, and adds to the patina. Over time, the new owner will need to occasionally rub  the piece clean with a green scrubbie, because the copper will continue to oxidize naturally.

I rarely make 2 items like this EXACTLY the same. I usually stamp a different phrase or texture, so this was a great chance to compare all the steps in the process with the final bangle. I hope this helped to show folks that using LOS is pretty easy, and the results are great!

First Show of the Season

Please excuse this blog interruption for a brief advertising announcement!

I love meeting people and talking about my work and my teaching – the best place to do that is at shows, because part of the reason people come to shows is to meet the artist/artisan. On the other hand…. I absolutely HATE setting up and tearing down the booth, so I only do a few shows every year. Tomorrow, I’m doing a new show that is only a few miles from my house – I hope to introduce my classes to some potential new students, and make a few sales too!

Holiday Boutique - Sunday 11/14/10

If you’re local, I’d love for you to stop by and say hi!! Since I have now pulled all my consignment from shops, I’ll have quite a full stock of items out!

In My Previous Life

In Honor of Veteran’s Day

Today, I am a jewelry designer – I create and sell my jewelry, I teach classes in a variety of jewelry techniques, and I’m even the inventor of a specialty jewelry tool. But like most folks, I’ve changed directions a bit in my life. I’ve mentioned before in my blog that I came from a corporate background – I was a marketing manager, a program manager, a product launch manager, even an engineering and communications technician. But what I haven’t shared online yet is the path I was on BEFORE I joined the corporate world…

Introducing..... Airman Randi!

Yes – that’s me! I found a few photos from my days in the military, and scanned this in, to honor Veteran’s Day. Despite the “oh where did she get that perm” hair, and those HUGE glasses (really, at the time, they were very fashionable!), I swear, it’s me… a very young me! I’m not in costume for Halloween, but in full combat ready gear – flak jacket and helmet, ready for “war games” activities while stationed overseas. I may not look it now, but I was a proud member of the Air Force, and so much of what I am today, I attribute to what I learned back then.

On Veteran’s Day, I always think back to that time, and I remember the people I knew, and the places I traveled, and the values I learned.

To those that have served, and those that still serve, I am honored to be counted among you. And to those that have sacrificed, and those who have lost loved ones, my heart goes out to you, with humble thanks.