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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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

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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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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YOJ - Weeks 25 & 26

Playing catch up on the Year Of Jewellery this week. Top pair of earrings is Sterling Corrugated Squares. I really love making this stuff - it's so much fun and has been getting a good reaction and happily a few sales down at my sister's shop.

Bottom pair are a simple die cut brass pair teamed with black rubber and black rivets. Pin It

Year of Jewellery Week 21

Well I'm behind on the YOJ, but well, never mind!

Used one of my newer tools again for Week 21's offerings. I'm really addicted to tools ;)
I got an Industrial tube wringer and it corrugates thin metal sheet. It wasn't designed for that but some bright spark started using it for metal instead of toothpaste tubes. Who'd 'av thought it?! I already posted the silver earrings at the front on the YOJ blog but I've made the copper one's since then. I had lots of fun with this and hope to do some more.

These pieces are going into a new shop opening locally in a couple of weeks called "Behind the Monkey". For local Perthites keep an eye out for it in Beaufort Street - it will feature some of the work of local artisans. Very cool...... Pin It

YOJ - Week 20 Bow Necklace

Not on theme again this week and I'm late as well. I had a play with the jewellery saw again this week. I really enjoy cutting out shapes from sheet metal and this week I went with a ribbon bow.
This is Mark 2. With the first one, I soldered a tube on the back and was going hang it on neoprene as I like the effect of the unseen bails. Unfortunately the soldering annealed the brass and made it too soft. Then when I was polishing it up I bent it. I managed to bend it back with out it being noticable but decided to work harden it with my rawhide mallet on the bench block to prevent it happening again.
What a pain! The tube on the back was getting in the way so I had it half off and half on the bench block. Then the edge of the bench block left a nice mark in the metal. That's when I gave up on that one and decided to start again!
This time round I took the easy way out suspended it from chain through a hole either side of the bow.
I'm pretty over ribbons and bows at the moment though ;) Pin It

Van Gogh Earring - YOJ Week 19

Well I've been busy making jewellery this week but not on theme. I'm still messing around with the Japanese weave chainmaille. I decided to have a go with some stainless steel rings I bought ages ago.
Stainless Steel is a whole different ball game from sterling. It is tough! My pliers kept slipping, my wrists ached, and generally, I decided it is not going to be my material of choice. So back in the drawer all those Stainless Steel jumprings go....
The result from my efforts was one earring, and no it's not going to get a mate. I may convert it into a pendant one of these days though. Pin It

YOJ - Week 18 Japanese Maille

This week's Year of Jewellery theme was Myths & Gods. I spent the whole week thinking about it but the creative Gods deserted me and I had to settle for a creation that was off theme. I'd been meaning to try some Japanese weave chainmaille ever since I got the Dylon Whyte Chainmaille book which was months ago. I used Sterling and teensy rubber rings for the earrings above. I love the industrial looking combo of metal & rubber - not that my little flowers turned out too industrial looking...........but well, you get the idea. :)

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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

Ripples, Depths & Shallows.

Week 16 of the YOJ is Ripples Depths & Shallows. I had a creative block with this one plus I was in a hurry to get it finished before I go away for a long weekend. I'm heading off to sunny Queensland (across the other side of the country!) for a flying visit to help celebrate my niece's 21st Birthday.
I wanted to try some etching but that will have to wait. Instead, I hammered some pre cut sterling oval discs, lightly domed them, put the holes in (I've got some cool hole-making pliers that make that job easy) and joined them with jumprings to make this bracelet. As luck would have it - it fits me perfectly!
It was a first for me as I used Liver of Sulphur for the first time to oxidise the piece to represent the depths & shallows. Wow, was this fun or what! I had dabbled with oxidising metal with an egg but this was so quick in comparison! I was chucking every bit of scrap metal I could find in to the LOS to blacken it just so i could scrub it back with the steel wool. Yes, I need to get a life - I know! Pin It

Seafoam & Rolling Waves YOJ Week15

Week 15 of the YOJ is Drifting, Seafoam & Rolling waves. I decided to ignore the Drifting and concentrate on the rolling waves and the seafoam.
I had these fabulous amazonite rondelles which were the perfect colour to represent seafoam. I put them in clusters hanging from the pendant. I couldn't work out how to represent waves at first . I would have loved to texture the metal to get that feel but in the end decided that I would saw the pendant in half in a wavy pattern. I'm happy, the little seafoam rondelles dance around from the bottom of the pendant just like ........well...... seafoam!

Next week's theme is " Ripples, Depths and Shallows" so I'm already thinking texture.........What did I do with that etching fluid?! 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