New Toys Part 2

I've been having fun using another new tool I got for Christmas. It's a nifty riveting tool that pierces a hole in your component on one side and rivets it on the other. It works great! It can be put in a vise which I'm going to try next time because you really need three hands to hold several pieces of metal together and then turn the handle.

The hole is just a tiny 1/16 in so you need a small decorative rivet if your component has a bigger hole like the flowers I used. Originally I planned to rivet my enameled flowers but I realized I would need long rivets and I haven't bought those yet. So little money and so many supplies!!

I used a copper blank for the base and hammered it or stamped a pattern on it. Then I colored it with alcohol inks for a subtle touch of color. Then I riveted the flowers to the pierced base.
I love how these came out!!

New Toys

I've been having a hard time getting motivated to refill  my Etsy supplies shop with the enameled clasps that have been my best sellers. Every day after work I go for a walk, try to make a healthy dinner, clean up, and then I'm done for the day. The walking has been great for me and my focus on healthier foods and cooking has resulted in 20 lbs gone!! But my creative time seems limited. I'm sure many of you can relate. Anyway, enough whining. I spent this afternoon playing with my new toy, a Swanstrom disc cutter. 

it's a thing of beauty!!

It was surprisingly easy to learn how to use. It required more muscle with the brass hammer than I thought it would, but I was cutting through 18 gauge copper.

looks like something John Henry used

 This tool will make the blanks for my pendants and toggle clasps in a snap and also makes washers, stamping components, etc. Tomorrow, no excuses, I'm doing some enameling!! After I go to church, pay the bills, take a walk, vacuum.........see what I mean?

here is what I made today and it was easy!

Base Colors Under Transparents

As I mentioned in my last post I became intrigued by a challenge from the people who write the ArtBeadScene blog. Their newest challenge is to use a beautiful Impressionistic painting as inspiration to create a piece of jewelry using art beads. You can click on the link to see the painting. The colors in this painting are gorgeous and vibrant but also muted. Since my newest interest is enameled art beads, I wanted to create beads in the same colors of the painting. I don't usually make muted colors! I decided to try using a darker opaque color as the base color instead of white, something I've never really tried before.

After I fired on the first coat of clear flux, I sifted on a coat of opaque Nude Gray. I didn't put it on too thick because I like to create a speckled effect.

I don't like this color all by itself! I then used transparent colors I thought were the same color tones as in the painting: yellows, blues, and pinks. I also made a green set. Some beads were made with just one color, some two.

I fired them and a few needed another coat. Although these colors are not what I usually gravitate to, I love how they came out. I think using a light brown or other neutral would work, too. If I manage to finish this challenge and design a piece a jewelry using some of these beads, I will post it.

Sgraffito

I found these great leaf shaped blanks at Schlaifers Enamels. I made summery earrings from the smaller leaves but I knew the larger leaves would be perfect for a technique called Sgraffito. It's an easy technique with great results!

First I used an awl type of tool to put a dent where I wanted the hole to be and then drilled a hole. I used a chisel I found at a yard sale to make the spine of the leaf and used my dapping block to hammer it into a curved leaf shape.                               

I checked out some actual leaves and discovered the veins were both lighter and darker depending on the plant. For this technique, it's better to use enamels with a contrast of dark to light colors.

                Clean the shaped blanks well and fire one or two coats of your base color which should be light or dark.  Make sure you counter enamel the backs in the same color as the fronts. I did fire one with a medium green and the results were good but the veins did not show up as much as the others. The colors I used were Mistletoe Green, Harvest Green, Lichen Green, Melon Yellow, and Pine Yellow.

             Then sift the contrasting color or colors over the top. Wait for the adhesive to dry completely. Next using a toothpick, scratch off the top layer where you want the leaf veins to be. It will look messy but that's OK.

     Fire again and that's it!

                                                 

Muffin Tin Challenge

I came across an intriguing challenge from the folks at the Art Bead Scene blog. The idea is to fill each section of a muffin tin with the beads and components to create a piece of jewelry. Since the picking and choosing is often the sticky part, this would be a way to have 12 projects already chosen ready to put together. That was the theory anyway. The catch is that all 12 pieces had to be done in a week! But a great bead filled prize was offered so I gave it a try. I admit it took me 3 days just to fill my tin but once I got busy, the jewelry came together fast. I finished all except one bead weaving project and one pendant that I just didn't like. Fortunately they changed the challenge to 6 pieces of jewelry so I can still enter. Wish me luck!

Giveaway Winner!

Many Thanks for all my new followers who commented on my blog and facebook page. I put all the names in one of my favorite yard sale finds, mixed them up, closed my eyes and picked.

Congratulations to Nicole!!

Giveaway!

One of my customers to my supplies shop ordered extra long head pins from me and then asked for advice on making earrings using bead with holes in the center. I experimented and liked the earring I made and decided to pass the tutorial on to you. And I'm giving these earrings away! Entering this giveaway is easy, you can become a follower of this blog an leave a comment with your email so I can contact you if you're the winner! Or you can like my facebook page and leave a comment there, too. If you do both, you'll get two chances to enter.
       The enameled flowers were made with copper blanks and first enameled with a clear coat. I then put a layer of white, not too heavy, and fired it again. Then came two coats of transparent purple. I seemed to be obsessed with purple lately! The speckled layer of white causes the purple to be mottled and a bit rustic looking. 
       The next step is to make the head pins. I use 20 ga. argentium sterling wire and cut it to 2 1/2 in. long. I then lit my small butane torch. Put the wire into the flame at the edge of blue flame. If you can see a yellow flame behind the wire, you've hit the sweet spot! As the wire melts and balls up, move the wire down into the flame until you've got a 2mm. ball and slowly take it out.

Make two of these. Let the wire cool, then put it into the pickle solution for a few minutes.  Scrub it with the Penny Brite and then polish it by hand or put it into a tumbler.

      Put your head pin through your bead and put a seed bead or small bead behind it. Then bend the head pin at a right angle and down over the seed and focal bead. This will keep the focal bead upright. You may have to fiddle with it to get it just right.

Then create the ear wire above that. I use wire forming tools but you can also bend the wire over mandrel such as a pen. Snip off the ends of the wire until you like the length and smooth the edges. You've got gorgeous hand crafted earrings!

 This giveaway ends on May 1st and the winner will be contacted by email. Good luck!!