Get Coppered?

No it doesn't have the same ring to it as "Get Silvered" does it? But lately I've been playing around a bit with copper and Brass.  What about "Brassed off"? Lol - no I think I'll stick with Get Silvered.

M. came in from the shed the other day and gave me a stack of nice thick copper wire. Each wire almost 3mm thick in 30cm lengths! Score! He salvaged it from work - it was a sample piece of Industrial cable that was going to be chucked out! There I was, thinking he was hiding in the shed playing with his fishing lures and reels when all the time he was stripping wire for me :)

We've had days and days of heatwaves lately with temperatures in the high 30s and even getting as high as 42 degrees (that's 107.6 degrees farenheit for the Celsius challenged!) Obviously, that's not the weather for soldering in a tin shed, especially when there are total fire bans.  So I waited patiently and courtesy of Cyclone Iggy out to sea further north we've had rain and even cloud cover and cooler temps in the last day or two. Of course I seized the opportunity to light up the torch -Here's the before and after shots. It's nice and chunky - The largest shape is around 8 x 4cm.

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Tiny Treasure Pendant

Before:

After:

This pendant was inspired by those gorgeous cylinder shaped Bali Silver Prayer Boxes. I've admired them for a long time.
For my pendant I used some copper pipe from the Hardware store, and used the same techniques that I used with my trinket boxes. I've plenty of spare pipe leftover - it was a 1.5 metre length and the pendant is only about 4 cm long. Overkill?? HaHa maybe! Anyway, I hope to experiment some more with the leftovers! I may try etching the next one, and I want to try out some kind of safety catch...and... if I get really adventurous I may try out a hinged version and....Oh well .....we'll see how I go.........     :) Pin It

Not for the lonely Cuff!

Really pleased how this turned out. I made a wide copper chainmaille cuff & decorated it with Swarovski TM crystals. Copper findings are a bit scarce, especially wide clasps, so I made my own closure from sheet copper. The cuff will lace up like a shoelace. I may try and look for a better colour ribbon for the tie - The brown looks fine but if I can get a copper coloured ribbon then that would be even better.
This cuff is not for the lonely - I think it will need a friend to help tie it up or failing that a third hand!
In the first photo I've lined up the crystals neatly but in reality when worn the crystals will bounce all over the place randomly.
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Another 3D tri-metal pendant

I had so much fun making the rectangle 3D pendant the other day, that I made another one. This time in a circle shape which I die cut... a little faster than the hand sawing. I used a silver bead instead of the pearl this time. I've got this one up in my Etsy Shop.


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Week 24 - Copper & Brass Earrings

I've been making lots of jewellery lately. The four pairs of earrings above are part of the stock that's gone down to my sister's shop mentioned in my previous post.
I've used my disc cutter to cut the discs but the earrings took ages to finish as I handpolished them all. I must start using my dremel for the polishing, but that would mean heading out into the shed and at least if I'm handpolishing it's not as messy and I can stay inside near the heater and watch TV as I go. Pin It

Fishin' YOJ Week 17

Back to chainmaille for this weeks piece of jewellery. Although my fish hasn't been caught - he's just swimming past the net. The Bracelet is Sterling & Copper Euro 4 in 1 weave with the fish charm wired on, as are the Freshwater pearl studs. Pin It

New Copper & Carnelian piece

Haven't posted for a week - been catching up on that ironing and housework.
Did manage to fiind time to have a little play though. This time with copper and I teamed it with a little sterling silver and some gorgeous natural carnelian. I just love carnelian :) Pin It

Mixed Metal

Well I haven't done much creating since the crafts shows but I had a sudden urge to do something and I'd just got some sheet copper so I thought I'd have a play.
I've cut out squares of about 3cm, gently given them a light hammered finish, very slightly domed them and suspended them from Sterling soldered hammered rings with a bit of chain.
These are nice and chunky - not for the faint hearted! Pin It