Certificate 2 - Yay!

I finally applied for my certificate and now I have something to show for my time attending Tech College last year. And yes, I am going to frame it and hang it on a wall! 

This was a big deal for me, I left school the first time 40 years ago! (oops showing my age now!) so going back into a formal learning environment definately challenged me and I was often out of my comfort zone. 

I'm so glad I did it though :) 

 

We're heading off to Queensland this week for our 4 wheel Drive holiday that I wrote about earlier.

As it's a charity drive they'll be some fundraising auctions along the way. I'm donating the jewellery below - hope it gets some bids ;)

We'll be in some remote areas so I doubt I'll be blogging - I'll update when we return.

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Irregular Pendant

I've been meaning to make a silver version of the chunky copper pendant from my last post and I finally had a chance to do it.
This time I've used Sterling Silver Wire and it's on a smaller scale - The largest link is around 5cm x 3.5cm at it's widest points. (2 inches x 1 1.2 inches) Still, thats a pretty decent size for a silver pendant.

I like that you can rotate the shapes around in the jump ring bail to give it a different look. The top pic shows it in a uniform order then underneath it's pictured in a more haphazard arrangement.

 

My current quest is to create from the supplies I already have rather than buy in more materials. I've plenty of this Sterling Wire, so I can see some more of these coming on, maybe even earrings too!


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Mixed Metal Challenge

In the Metalwork Section at the Beading Forum  we've just had a mixed metal challenge.

I spent a month procrastinating about a design and finally on the second last day, I posted in the forum that I was dropping out of the challenge because I'd run out of time. Hmmm...weird, but dropping out took the pressure off me (as it does!) and kick started me into action with a brand new idea! 
I finished this little fella that evening (within the deadline!) and I'm really chuffed with the result - the sawing, filing and soldering exercises we're doing at my TAFE course have given me a bit more confidence and all the steps went smoothly :)

Oh and here's my inspiration for this little fella. A greeting card that I bought for an friend's birthday last week. Cute huh?

My next task - I'm going to make a slightly smaller all Sterling version....stay tuned :) Pin It

JAW - Week 4

Busy week with other things so to make up for the lack of creativity - I've gone for multiples!

Some simple single bead earrings with square & rectangle beads and Rectangular ear wires.

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JAW Week 3

This week I tackled an unfinished object. I have very many UFO's and I look at them periodically to see if they move me to finish them! Mostly they don't - but this week I saw this disc that I'd "bumped" texture wise and decided to make a pendant with it.

I'd  textured the metal previously with my Automatic Centre Punch - a neat tool that is designed for making a mark in metal where you want to drill a hole - it stops the drill bit from slipping.  I had more fun with my less boring use for it though. I loved the bumpy texture it made which I discovered when I was doing the holes in my button pendants.


Even though this is my personal challenge and I make the rules, I thought I'd better not cheat, so I made another piece of jewellery from scratch as well: the "(less)Bumpy" Earrings!

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A time for reflection - where the heck did 2010 go??

As 2010 comes to an end and I reflect on the year - all I can think of is - heck - that went fast!   It may have dragged for others but I'll bet they are young - Pretty much  for anyone my age ( I'll be coy!) I expect that it flew by!
Creatively 2010 has been a 'so so' year for me.  I've had many great ideas for designs but in reality many pieces have bombed - Firescale - how I hate thee! I've unintentionally melted a few great ideas and I somehow wonder how I managed to solder anything successfully sometimes.  My enameling has been a bit hit and miss but I loved the class I took earlier this year and am looking forward to experimenting more with powdered glass!

On a positive note, I redid my button pendant in 2 sizes. It's evolved very subtlety - but I think they work as well as the original which is currently with my daughter on her backpacking adventures around Europe and the UK and is apparently collecting the occasional compliment when she wears it. .

I was chuffed when, after sending some work to my retail stockist the other week  that  these pieces and another piece sold immediately :)  So, all in all maybe 2010 wasn't too bad after all :)

Anyway, I've decided that for 2011 that I'm going back to basics. I'm going to revisit the techniques I learned as a beginner - piercing, hammering, riveting and yes even soldering, maybe re do a few pieces that were successful, maybe reinvent them a little, but generally hone in on technique. I might even do a few step by step projects from the magazines I subscribe to consolidate the re learning process.

And to finish off the year creatively I made these two pendants. The simple clean lines that I love - no soldering just simple metal forming. I was playing around  to see if I could make a mobius ring  inspired by my friend Annie's love of all things mobius. The ring bit didn't work for me but I loved twisting the metal and these were the happy result.

I'm feeling very positive about it all.........Roll on 2011 ...Happy New Year to you all........ Pin It

Pickle Break out!

The other day I made up some pickle with a mix of vinegar & salt in a little container. I had a copper piece to pickle and I didn't want to use the same solution that I use for my silver jewellery.

I used the satay stick to stir the solution and the plastic forks to get my jewellery piece in and out and when I'd finished I just rested them across the container and walked away. Today I walked past and noticed this rather disturbing but none the less pretty scene.

Little did I know the pickle had aspirations to be a science experiment and would use these implements to transform and attempt an escape  :)

PS: for non  jewellery makers -  I'm not talking about the yummy crunchy green things we eat  but a solution to remove fire scale after soldering! Pin It

Button It Up!

I've had rather a constructive Sunday Morning today. I got up early with the intention of wasting it reading the Sunday Papers. But alas, it was not to be. The delivery people had thrown the paper under my son's car and there was no way I could reach it without getting on my hands and knees and crawling under the car. Given that I've got a dodgy knee  at the moment that wasn't going to happen, so I retreated back into the house for a sulk and a cuppa.
Instead of sulking though, after my cuppa, I got started on an idea I had been toying with for a jewellery piece. A few hours later this was the result - A Sterling Silver Faux Button Pendant! Hand fabricated and Hand sewn!

Of course, now i have lots of  other ideas for haberdashery related jewellery items, but they'll have to wait as Murray retrieved the paper and I've been catching up on all the non news instead.
Don't know about any one else, but in our house we spend a couple of hours reading the Sunday Paper and when we're finished we announce "There's nothing in this Paper - I don't know why we get it!!  Pin It

All Fired Up!

Happy to finally put up a blog post to show something I've made. Creatively this year has been a bit of a non event for me, so it's great to be back into it again.
This term I enrolled at an enamelling class down at my favourite place of learning The Fremantle Arts Centre.
I've done 3 classes so far and I'm just loving it. Great teacher (Jacquie Sprogoe), great classmates and a relaxed, informative and enjoyable class.
I've nothing to show off from the class just yet - I'm doing a cloisonne piece at the moment and it's a work in progress but today, inspired by my lessons,  I fired up my kiln at home, (yes that poor neglected piece of equipment I purchased last year!) and had a play.
Just did a couple of simple sifted pieces but it gave me a bit of a feel for the firing times, how thick to put the layers on etc,  so all in all a good afternoons work and I realized I don't have to be scared of my kiln - it's actually quite user friendly! Using the kiln in class has given me a bit of confidence I think.

Here's the results - first one opaque white over copper and the second one was an unintentional but pleasant surprise with opaque white over opaque black. I've oxidised the edges of the copper too as I love the look of the blackish border around the pieces.

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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

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

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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Branching out......

In casting class I've had the most success with my twigs that I turned into little bird necklaces.

Last week instead of the single twig, I cast a twig with multiple little branches. I was really happy with how it turned out and I've made it into another necklace. I've attached it to a long chain which just slips over my head with no clasp. I've resisted the temptation to add a bird or other forest creatures -I did contemplate a squirrel, but decided the tree shape was impressive enough on its own.
Soldering the rings on for the chain was a pain that's taken the best part of the morning and I did a bit of a dodgy job on it, but undeterred I'm going to try casting another "tree" at next week's class and incorporate the jump rings into the casting. Hopefully that will work better :)

I don't always cast twigs though. I've also got a little aeroplane and a dinosaur head which turned out well enough to make into something......watch this space.........

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Productive Few Days

It's been pretty hot and humid here but I did manage to drag myself out into the shed and do some soldering. I finished another one of the cast twigs that I made at my casting class a few weeks back. I made it into another necklace but this time I've laid it out vertically instead of horizontally like my first twig necklace.



Also, played with a heavy gauge wire to make these swirl earrings. No soldering involved - just forming, hammering & polishing.



I have to be a little considerate these days with my hammering. Our house is surrounded on 3 sides by houses that have babies. I shut my self in the spare room and close the doors, hoping it's not too loud for the neighbours! I haven't had any complaints so far! Pin It

Turning a negative into a positive!

First I pierced (hand sawed) a rabbit design from a sterling disc to make this pendant:



Then I soldered the little cut out rabbit onto another Sterling disc to make a second pendant here:



The negative space in the first pendant makes the rabbit look slightly fatter than the actual cut out on the second, that's because I domed the first pendant which enlarged the space. Pin It

Post Christmas - pre New Year........

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We did, it was only a small gathering at my sister's but great company and wonderful food. I did miss my daughter though who has flown the nest to live in Melbourne - it was our first Christmas that our little family of four was only three! The phone companies did well out of us though!

Now the left over ham is dwindling and I'm starting to think about the New Year and all the self - improvement that is about to happen.....Ha Ha! ;)

I'm on holidays from work until the 6th so I've spent some of my downtime playing with my chainmaille. This time using the rubber rings with sterling, I've gone oversized - much like I feel after the Christmas feast!
These earrings are pretty huge but the good thing is they are super lightweight.

Just added a couple of photos here, but there's more on my Flicker Photostream.



Happy New Year everyone :) Pin It

Where's the day gone........

Day off today and this morning I felt a sudden urge to get creative. Anything to avoid doing the house work and washing!
I've had it in the back of my mind to make a ring for myself and simply never got around to it so today it happened!

It wasn't all smooth sailing though - the silver got the dreaded fire scale when I soldered it which meant lots of extra filing and sanding - for a pretty simple design I've spent the best part of the day on it! It's not perfect but I'm not going to point out the other faults - can't see 'em when I'm wearing it anyway, so I'm happy with the day's efforts. Pin It

Industrial Floral - Is that an Oxymoron?

I've been playing with rubber rings in my chainmaille for a while. I love the industrial look of the rubber contrasting against the sterling silver.
But these are a departure for me - I'm not usually the flowery type, but I liked how these turned out.

I'm going to give these a quick tumble polish and they are heading down to Behind The Monkey

My favourite is the cross - it's a whopping 8.5cm long, not for the faint hearted :)

More pictures on my flickr photostream. Pin It

Not a bad afternoon's work

Well the Australian Rules Football Grand Final was on this afternoon.

I'm only vaguely interested in footy but I did watch it while I made some jewellery. Nothing like multi-tasking. I was happy with the afternoon's result.

Here's a brand new design I created using rubber rings with Sterling Silver ....

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