Feeling a little schizophrenic . . .

Ocean Jasper + enamel on copper

I know, I know.  Can you not just settle on one thing already?

Here's the skinny, Minnie.

You've seen some of my watercolor lately and I'm not giving that up.

I need a bit of stimulation to get my creativity flowing.

Watercolor is doing that so that's not going away anytime soon.

Then I discover enamel and fall in love all over again.

I am reclaiming the artist I always thought I was.

I am.

Working toward the weekend . . .

Still piling up the new work for my next show at the Visiting Nurse Association benefit Art&Soup show in Omaha this coming Sunday, as you can see.  Loving the new direction and working with enamels, torch-firing, and my stash of enamel jars continues to grow.  


It's addicting but I think it may really be the color splash that I am enjoying so much.  

It would be easy to re-create with others have done and I see much of that as I cruise through etsy and other selling sites but my own hand is starting to shine through now. I'm using all of the same techniques that I use in silverwork.  Lots of pinning, simple embellishing, punching and hammering shapes so it becomes mine and not just a stamped piece.

I am super-anxious to see how the new work direction is received and I can always count on good and honest feedback from this particular show.  Add to that the fact that shows are so saturated with silver and strung pieces that this is simply different from an art and craft show standpoint.

SPRING!

Post a little positive affirmation, okay?  I'll let you know how it goes.

A little articulation, please . . .

Necklace

Orchid enamel

Pinned and articulated

Nearer horizons and open possibilities

Happy Valentine's Day . . .

Happy Valentine's Day!

Simple : sweet : everyday Valentine

I've been slowly collecting different little jars of enamels, absolutely fascinated.  I have been doing my own lapidary work and amassing beautiful stones for such a long time and now this colorful addition has me oohing and ahhing at the sweet, soft combinations.  I'm using both copper and silver and playing with some success that has even me excited to combine enamels with metalwork and stones.  

I am finding that different gases produce different subtle effects - wanted and unwanted!  I particularly like the sugar phase of the sifted enamel powders transforming and the two pair of earrings here show exactly that.  Rough texture and deep, deep color.  Fun to watch the enamels as they transform and a trick to get them to stop just where you want.  Practice practice.

This pink and white pair of earrings shows that colors are not blended like paint.  Rather, combining two or more colors of enamel will give you speckles and another dimension to pieces.

I have a wonderful show on the schedule for 23 Feb in Omaha - Art & Soup - and I've been creating piles of earrings and pendants in the last month.  Gotta admit, I'm pretty excited to see if everyone else is as enamored with enamel as I am.

Fingers crossed.

Montana Agate . . .

Ahem.  Now that I've gotten over my 'pique.ed.ness' from the last post, I'm ready to move on.  You must be so grateful.

Back to the bench!

Instead of doing a wholesale clean up of the whole mess that taunts greets me every day, I decided to simply work myself through it.  Sure, my little space to work gets smaller and smaller but as I turn out lovely work like this, space increases day by day.

I'm in love with Montana Agate, have I told you?

I cut and polished some for a friend last year and this slivver was part of an edge that didn't have much promise as a primo piece but see?  A little lovin' and it turned out great.

Certainly on the milky side, the inclusions and explosions tend to the rusty color and accenting it with copper rings just seemed right.

Sports a pierced and cut out back for no other reason than I love it that way.

Beautiful.

Slowly learning that lesson . . .

Oh yes.  When last we visited I had taken an awful, absolutely horrible group shot of a collection of pieces going to a local gallery for sale there.  I take these pictures for reference only so that when something sells, I have that visual reminder.  My lesson?  Take better pictures.  One sold that I had not reeaaalllly planned on letting go of right yet.  My bad.

This time before it heads to Omaha - I present the Jasper I cut and polished Monday evening.  Set in sterling with a copper bail and copper ball chain.  The true name of the stone escapes me so I named the pendant "Unusual Attitude".

About me - I fly.  I judge competition aerobatics.  Unusual attitudes is typically anything 45 degrees bank angle, 25 degrees pitch up or 10 degrees pitch down.  As you can see in this stone, the ground is slightly banked, not quite to those degrees, but no matter.  The green earth is tilted and the purple skies are easing into sundown, a low bank of clouds on the horizon.  It's a gorgeous weighty stone and it will soon be for sale at the Dundee Gallery in Omaha.

Love it.

Off to Omaha.

I should take a lesson . . .

I need to work smarter.

Here is the one and only and obviously the best picture I have of a piece I finished last week and decided at the last minute to take to a one evening trunk show at a local gallery.  

A gorgeous slice of Rocky Butte Jasper that I cut and polished and a stone I thought had a beautiful plains scene in it - grassy foreground, low Western Nebraska sandy buttes and a brooding spring sky.  I set it simply in sterling silver and accented it with a copper set loop and two copper rings, and finally pierced the Big Dipper on the back.  No picture of that because what happened was a surprise to me although my friends will tell you that it was no surprise to them.

It sold.

First buyer in the door made a bee line.
And hardly an inexpensive piece.

Lesson #1 - take better pictures of everything

Lesson #2 - I should be working on lapidary and more impressive pieces

I know.

duh.

Copper love . . .

Okay, this was pure fun.  I started out not entirely sure where I was headed but with a 3"x6" piece of 20ga copper and lots of heat, I created this monster cuff that I love.  This sweet, edgy cuff is my very first attempt at fold.forming and I'm quite pleased with myself.

With a little more practice, more trials and more errors, and a lot more fire, this will translate nicely into sterling silver.  More.

Bench cleaning . . .

This should look vaguely familiar to at least one of you out there.  Well, the fish fossil embedded in limestone should, anyway.

I've been so remiss in not posting anything here for, oh, I don't know . . . months? that it feels strange to post anything at all.  Like out of sight out of mind, helloooooooo, does anyone out there remember me?  (Well THAT sounds self-absorbed!)  So let's begin again.

Doing some serious bench-clearing by using the pieces I have laying on top of sketchbooks and miscellaneous pieces of paper with rough ideas drawn on them.  One of many projects trapped in my brain, now oozing out like Elmer's Glue.

This bit of limestone with the fishy fossil is something my friend Lisa sent me last winter (I think).  It was to be a test piece for a larger piece that I already finished and sent but when I came across this in a little box, it happened to fall out onto the piece of Picture Jasper that perfectly matched it.  Add to that that I wanted to try some wire backing and simple prong settings, copper in abundance on the bench and voila - a winter brooch.

Completely handformed, I cut the copper for a bezel strip, wire from a house project (I shouldn't tell you it was scrap) and a bit of Picture Jasper that I cut and polished some time ago.  This piece measures about 3" long, has wonderful movement and will look great on said friend's winter coat.  Sent Priority Mail on 24 October - can't wait for her to get the box.  (Please love it.)

Copperlicious . . .

I'm seriously hooked on copper right now.  Maybe it's the way it accents the stones I've been working with or maybe it's the warmth of the metal.  Either way, it's been fun to make my own bezel strips with copper flashing and use up some of the copper wire I've had leftover from the building of our house.  (I just couldn't resist following the electrician around and picking up pieces of coated wire.  He thought I was nuts).

This is the second piece going to Lil Fish Lisa for her niece who found the Lake Superior agates on her trip to Lisa's this summer.  I pierced the Loon on the Lake on the back of the piece as the loon is the State Bird of Minnesota - and you thought it was the mosquito.

Lovely mementos.

Back to the bench . . .

I dusted the cobwebs off the Genie and the trim saw yesterday and became inspired all over again - reminded of how much fun it is to take a little nugget of red rock and coax a lovely little polished cabochon out of it.  It is indescribably rewarding to make a piece of jewelry that I have taken from rough rock through to the finished product, set it and admire it.  Better yet, have others admire it.

This time, my friend Lisa sent me two little nuggets of Lake Superior Agate that her niece had found on her visit to Lisa's home in Minnesota this summer.  She wanted them set as a keepsake to remind her of her trip.

I sliced, polished and set the first one completely in copper and I must say - I really like the way this bracelet turned out.  From beginning to end, completely handmade.  I made the bezel strip from 26ga sheet copper flashing and the raised edge from copper wire left from an electrical project in my drafting room and a length of copper wire chain.  A little carnelian dangles from the end where the hook holds it all together.

I am well pleased with myself.

Bye.bye little birdhouse . . .

Yay for me, I hardly get a chance to post things on my blog before the sell anymore.  I should be so lucky all of the time!

Anyhoo, this is a little copper birdhouse I enameled with several siftings of vitreous enamel in white as the base and raspberry pink for the top layer.  On the final firing I randomly placed a few copper dots for a bit of interest and forged a bail to pin on top so the little birdhouse swings.

Pretty cute.  May have to do a series in sweet Springy colors?

Sunday enamel play . . .

Such a great day!  I carved out a few hours this Sunday afternoon to play with my enamels and see what developed?  My goal is to keep at it until I know what to expect each time - I guess that's called consistency - and I'm slowly figuring out my technique issues as I go.

I took a few old pairs of copper earrings and here's what came from my playtime.

I love the orange dangly pair - what a wonderful color and I so like the way it darkened on the edges.

The sky blue pair turned out lumpy and I've got to figure that one out.  I think I need to leave the fire on it for a little while longer.  Not sure. Hmmm . . . . 

The flower pendant was turquoise with tangerine sprinkles on the edges.  I can see that I had a little bit of contaminant on one of the petals so next time I'll remember to clean a bit longer before I sift the enamel powder onto the piece.  The three silver balls are attached by first drilling holes where you want the decor, enameling and then threading the balled wire through and torch-pinning on the backside.  This one I'll keep for myself because it's got a boo-boo.

Overall, happy.  Happy and successful day.

Copper Captured Agate . . .

Different but the same. A gorgeously sweet little cylinder of agate captured in a copper cap with a copper swinging bale.

Completely handmade by me from raw materials here on my bench, I took sheet copper and cut a strip to fit around the top of the cylinder bead. After making sure it was a good, tight fit, I soldered the seam and cut a bit of copper for the cap and soldered that on, too. I 'eyeballed' the bead holes and drilled two holes on either side of the cap through which the silver wire would be threaded and torch balled with the lightly hammered strip on either side to make a sweet swingy bale. Like a basket handle.

I thoroughly enjoy hand fabricating these pieces and there is nothing more fun than forging a piece from beginning to end with nothing but fire and force. Honestly, what could be more satisfying?

Copperlicious . . .

I am just having 'way too much fun with this copper stuff lately. Clearly I'm hooked on this material and I cannot believe how warm and cool it can appear all at once. When paired with sterling silver, the pink tones really stand out.

This is a pendant that I made for my friend Connie - that is, if she likes it.

Completely fabricated in copper, it has an off-center punched hole, is oxidized inside the hollowform bead and is accented with a copper-capped rondelle of sweet aquamarine. It measures 3/4" and is about 1/4" deep.

I love it. How could you not?

Copper box pendant . . .

Special orders are an intimidating challenge and, as I've said before, I do not challenge myself enough so this project I took on after the customer and I exchanged emails and drawings until we came up with something I felt comfortable attempting. I've made lift-off box lids before and since she wanted this to open, it was the best and most logical choice. So here we go.

The idea begins as a sketch - lots of ideas get tossed out at this point and, quite frankly, some I'll just file away to use later.

Beginning with sheet copper, I first cut the sides 1/4" tall in one long strip in the total length and bent them to the basic box shape and I soldered the ends. This rectangle shape is filed and sanded until the 'bezel' sides are perfectly flat when laid on top of the copper sheet to become the front and back of the pendant.

You can see in the photo with fire that the box obviously has to be closed and this can get tricky on several levels. One, I didn't want the silver solder to flow on the outside of the copper box and show on the copper sides so I scratched the outline of the box on the backside of the pendant and placed the solder inside that line so I could fit the box on top with the solder inside the box during the soldering process. The second issue is that there must be a vent in the box so that the gas can escape - otherwise you run the risk of the box exploding. Not good.

Another note of caution here: if you're trying to photograph your soldering process, have someone else take the photos. If you try to hold both the torch and your camera, you may burn your camera . . . like I did. With a little sanding, the lens once again retracts into the camera. And that's all I'm sayin'.

Whew! Soldered!

Now comes lots of cleaning, sanding, filing. Not exactly the fun part but it is satisfying to hold this little box in your hand and turn it as you sand and love on it.

The top gets cut off very carefully around the scribed line so that it's as even as possible. A thin strip of sterling silver bezel wire is formed to fit exactly inside the rim of the cut off top so that when it is filed and sanded smooth, it will make a sweet fitting lid for the box.

Copper tubing is soldered onto the sides for the loop that will hold the chain. Everything is cleaned and sanded smooth and all file marks removed with the finest sandpaper. A sterling silver chain is oxidized and added to the loops through the tubing on the sides.

I like to finish oxidized sterling silver with a coat of Renaissance Wax just to give the black silver a bit of sheen. I buff it with an old shoe brush and I think it's ready to go. I give it the 'wear test' and wear it around my neck for a few hours to make sure the top is going to stay on and it feels nice and sturdy. I think I love it.

I email my customer with the pictures. She likes it. I'm happy and relieved. *whew*

copper love . . .

I got all my chores done for the day, cut grass, watered the dry stuff and even trimmed the rogue saplings and overhanging Bur Oak branches in the hedgerow with my 'chainsaw on a stick' so I think I deserved to spend a couple of hours in the shop creating some new things. I do have a few special orders waiting and now I'm energized, ready to tackle the week.

So here you go:

* copper love *