When snow turns to sludge!

I bought some fabulous Agate Drusy cabs and decided to set one in a ring. I didn't want anything fancy - just a nice simple bezel type setting.
As you can see below, that's what I made - all went well with the metal work, making the bezel setting and all that - here's the finished ring.......


Actually though, it all went pear shaped at the last minute.
The stone started off as a lovely snow white, frosty, sugary WHITE stone. By the time I finished it was a GRAY! My snow had turned to sludge!



Here's what happened - The stone was straight sided so I couldn't set the bezel in the traditional way of pushing it over the stone. I decided to use 2 part epoxy. I had done some research (um, web surfing) and discovered that the use of glue to set stones is frowned upon in many jewellery circles -Warning: please turn away now if that's you ;) - but as I didn't want to do other fancy settings, it was my only option.
So, I carefully selected a top of the range Ultra clear epoxy - (8 mls for $9.40 - hey, that's only the equivalent of $1175 a litre - it should do the job - argh!!)

Meanwhile, the white stone against the polished silver looked a little bland, so I oxidised the ring with Liver of Sulfur to get a bit of contrast. I did this before setting the stone so I wouldn't discolour it (Ha Ha - that's ironic!). I gave the inside of the setting a quick sand to remove the oxidisation there and later on I glued the stone in and set it aside.
On checking it later, I was shocked to find my white stone had turned gray.

I'm thinking that I mustn't have removed all the oxidisation properly inside the setting and a chemical reaction of some kind occurred that caused the remaining oxidisation & the epoxy to be absorbed into the porous stone. Any metalworkers or lapidary people out there who can shed some light on it? All suggestions and theories welcome as I still want to make myself one of these rings with my remaining stones and I'd like the stone to stay white next time!

The story does have a happy ending though. My stockist liked the monochromatic purple/gray shades of the finished ring anyway and happily took it to put in her shop. Pin It

Dieing to Press

Last year we bought home a hydraulic press that my late Dad in Law made. It's a heavy, rusty, oil leaking contraption that looks like it's more suited to a torture chamber but I'm excited that it's going to help create some things of beauty...!


At the time, I managed to get a small Acrylic offcut from a Shop fitting Laser Place and sawed out my own die. My piercing went a bit wonky - I don't think I had the right saw blade for Acrylic - yes I know - Excuses Excuses, but it did the job and I managed to Die Press this elongated oval shape. You pretty much sandwich the metal between the acrylic die and a piece of polyurethane and press away. The pressure pushes the flexible polyurethane into the metal which in turn pushes the metal into the void of the die to make a domed shape. Very cool!
Here's my first attempt...you can see that my die isn't symmetrical or smooth but I was happy enough with the resulting metal piece.


Today the postie bought me these super duper laser cut dies below. I couldn't decide which shape to get, so I got the lot. Designed by Nanz Aalund, see how smooth and symmetrical they are...and in asst sizes and great shapes too!


I hope to introduce my new dies to the hydraulic press and give them a workout this weekend! I'll report back......... Pin It

2010 - Happy New Year!!

The Tardy Blogger is dropping in to say Happy New Year!

I haven't made any resolutions for this year. The pressure of keeping them is too hard. Instead I have my "Perpetual To Do List" to work my way through.

I'm going to mention a couple of things on the list publicly because somehow I feel that makes me accountable and they may actually get done!

First, Personally - Just the usual one - keep fit, eat healthily etc etc. (Ho Hum - I hear you say!) So far so good,my first mini goal is to lose the Xmas weight, We (Murray & I) are actually calorie counting and exercising and I'm spending way too much time on this website. It's a mine of info - did you know that a mini candy cane has 16 calories/67kilojoules? Armed with this vital info, I've been able to eat many a day and still stay within my daily calorie allowance ;)
Hopefully they'll be finished soon.......


Second is to organise the photos (yes, I can hear you rolling around the floor laughing at this one) I have 25 years worth, since we madly started snapping when the firstborn came along - not doing anything fancy - no scrap-booking - just going to get them in date order and scan them - if I can identify the dates that is.
Murray heard this one and bought me this handy little gadget above for scanning in negatives. Looks promising but we're still experimenting with it.

I won't bore you with the details of the other personal goals, they generally involve, cupboards/cleaning/de cluttering. All words that strike fear into the hearts of my family members.

Creatively though - I've already completed one task I set my self which was to list some stock on Etsy.
I went one better and listed the items on Made It too for those who prefer to shop in our local currency. Tick!


Secondly, I also intend to do some more enamelling. After the fuss I made waiting for my kiln, I'm ashamed to say I've done nothing much with it since the initial rush of enthusiasm some 6 months ago. I plan to rectify that this year.....so stay tuned....

PS: a Ferrero Roche chocolate has a mere 72 calories! Pin It

Where does the time go?

Well, I know it's a cliche but today I'm reflecting on where the last 31 years have gone!!
They've certainly gone quickly. Today is our wedding anniversary and there's no excuses for either Murray or I to ever forget the date, given that we were married on Remembrance Day.
As I look back, I certainly hope Murray's been as happy as I've been. We have two gorgeous kids to show for it and lots to look forward to together in the future.

Here's a pic of two younger, slimmer, less wrinkled people who have yet to acquire double chins, on their happy day. Oh, hang on - that's us! Note Murray's beard, well I actually liked it at the time but it didn't last that long after the wedding. Mind you, I have never seen my husband with out his moustache and I'm not sure I want to! Who knows, maybe that's one of the things I have to look forward as our journey continues - seeing my husbands top lip for the first time ever!

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The Results

Well, all the stock was prepared and the display all organised - here's how it looked on the coffee table the night before:


Here's how it looked on the day:


And here's the lovely (but shy) Miss Dot in front of her display :)



I ended up with a trestle table to my self which we arranged in an L shape with Planet Lime's awesome resin creations on the the other table. It was a lovely day, in a gorgeous setting with good company topped off with good sales. Lotta, and her husband, Warwick were on the stall next door and Annie was across from us, Ali J & Renee from Cocoapod were a few stalls down. These are all people I've met via the on line Etsy community.
It was also great to catch up with my Friend Jane (a different Jane!) who I haven't seen all year, we'd done 3 Fremantle Bazaars together, the last one being in 2007.

While, I don't have plans for any more Craft Fairs at the moment, all of the above lovely people can be found locally at various shows around Perth in the Christmas Lead up, particularly the Made On The Left Fair at The Hyde Park Hotel on 14th & 15th November. Perth Locals - please check it out :) Pin It

Knowing when to stop!!

OK, enough's enough! Yes, I know it seems like I'm overdoing it with this pattern but I do like it. Even so, I realize that my display is going to get a bit busy looking if I don't show some restraint, so I promise these are the last thing I'll make with the damask patterned paper roll.

These are empty straight sided tin cans (baked beans & beetroot!), covered with the paper and topped with black felt. I wanted a few risers to add a bit of interest to break up the flatness of table surface.

I've pretty much got most things organised with my display,packaging and pricing now. Going to spend tomorrow making a few more pieces. I've got my mock up display on the coffee table and when all my pieces are finished I'll take a pic and you can judge for yourselves if I've overdone the pattern or stopped in time :) Pin It

Display Directions 2 or can you tell I love Double Sided Tape?

I'm still working on my display for the Craft fair I'm doing that I mentioned in my last post, - my friend is giving me a corner of her table to sell my work.
Because Jane's done many craft shows, her table always looks marvellous, with eye catching, innovative displays to attract people to her wonderful wares. So I thought I'd better make an effort to have a half decent display myself so as not to drag down the high standard on the day!

I've always loved double sided tape - it is just so useful on so many occasions, and in so many crafts and activities, not to mention gift wrapping!
Well despite this, even I thought I was going a bit overboard when I picked up about 12 rolls of the stuff for about two bucks at one of those discount stores, pretty sure I'd never have to buy any again in this lifetime!

Today I used a whole roll, I cut a piece of gift wrap that fits in with my theme to A4 size. I completely covered the back with the double sided tape and applied a piece of white card stock to it. I punched out heart shapes with a paper punch I had and hey presto - 36 heart tags. Only took about 20 minutes.


These hearts are going to do double duty. I'm going to have a little bowl of earrings all going out at the same cheap price. I'll attach each pair to one heart so they stay together and on the back on the white card side I can write what stone I've used. Then I thought I'd use the rest as seals for my paper bags. Of course to make them into seals, I'll have to put more D/S tape on the back - gosh that stuff is so handy ;)

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Display Directions

As most of my creations go down to Behind the Monkey I haven't done any craft fairs since the FAC bazaars. My friend Jane is doing the Subiaco Rotary Fair late October and has generously offered a corner of her stall to display and sell my work.
This has got me thinking about displays etc. Sometimes I think more time is spent on this sort of thing rather than actually producing the work!
I bought this vendor apron a few months ago from Yoopers, just the thing for stall holders, with nifty pockets for pens, keys etc and a hidden pocket for takings (hopefully that'll get some use!) and I really love the black and white damask design:


With this as a starting point to my "theme", I spent today messing around in Publisher and Photoshop and made these custom earring cards to fit a second hand rotating stand that I picked up a while back.



I was able to fit 3 earring cards onto a 17.5 x 12.5cm print (5x7")size template and had a couple printed out at Big W as test prints to see if it all worked.
Well, I declare it a success :)



I have no idea of commercial printing costs for a limited short run but at 12cents each these cards will do the job just fine. I was thrilled with the glossy professional finish.
I still need to tweak the design (the text is a bit pixilated) but hopefully a quick ( I wish!) play in Photoshop when I get the chance and I'll get that sorted. I'll also try out a matte finish too as although the glossy finish looks great - it's attracting fingerprints and dust.

Now I just have to make some earrings to put on them! Pin It

When good rings go bad.....

I like to make rings but getting the sizing right seems to be a hit & miss affair most of the time. Occasionally I manage to finish one that actually fits me!
When I started this one, the three wires were to form the ring shape and pass over each other at the top in the same way as when you first link your fingers if you're going to pray.........Did you just try that?
That idea came to an abrupt halt when I was joining the wires at the base of the ring and the solder ran all along the seam lines and joined the wires together at the point where they should have been separate and intersecting. Darn!
After playing with the pliers I formed the ends into little scroll shapes instead and salvaged my disaster.
The ring reminds me of a water spout but I'll call it my "fountain" ring 'because that sounds so much more elegant. And it fits me - Yay! Pin It

Meanderings in wire.....

Not sure why, but I had an urge to play with wire yesterday, and that urge was a lot stronger than the urge to vacuum dust etc. which is what I should have been doing!

Fortunately it was a productive day creatively and I made these pendants. I used a heavy gauge Sterling Silver wire which I hand formed with pliers free form style and finished with a hammered texture. Soldered in places to give structural strength.

I did end up wasting a lot of wire in designs that didn't work though so I've plenty of silver scraps to melt down later.
These are the ones that I was happy with, and they're quite large, the triangle is about 8 cm (3inches) long. The Rose is the smallest with a diameter of about 4.5cm (1 1/4 inches)

While I was playing around I got a nice idea for a ring which I hope to attempt this week too.



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