Thursday, January 24, 2008

Earrings, a Pendant and a Ring...

Carnelian 'stamens' in a copper flower. I had made the copper domed, shiney flowers a few days ago and didn't know what to do with them...until tonight. These are fun and hang just a little down, like a droopy flower.

And this is how they hang. I love these earrings!

Valentine's day is on the way, so I thought I would make something heartlike.

I have been loving reticulation. The textures are amazing, I don't know if they come off so nice in photos (and it is late, so my photos suck), but really it is such fun to melt metal!
This ring is a reticulated flower which has been riveted using a copper rivet to add some interest. The flower actually twists around freely. It needs a little extra filing, sanding and polishing, but I couldn't wait to post it. 'Petal Ring 2' and this one actually turns around!

I would like to make more rings that have movement, it is fun to play with them when you are thinking, or just bored.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Some new bracelets

I have discovered the joy of reticulation.
The reticulation makes great texture, I made some bracelets out of the pieces.
Please enjoy! I do!
Silver.

Copper and silver.

Silver.

Copper and silver.


And a picture of the bracelet open, so you can easily see how it closes.


These were really fun to make, I may have to make more.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

The Adventures of Mr Wonky

Mr Wonky and I enjoyed a lovely drive into Boston yesterday.
It was just beautiful after the storm!

Mr Wonky likes the Jamaica Pond, he and Marge had a nice view as we drove by


Mr Wonky knows that the beauty of fresh snow doesn't last too long in these parts, so Mr Wonky was relishing in it


Traffic didn't even seem to upset Mr Wonky at all, he just marvelled at the white lace canopies as we moved about a foot at a time.


Mr Wonky was a happy whatchamacallit, I think he had fun even tho he couldn't tell me himself...I could just sense it.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

The Bead Exchange lives on...

After a lull of more than 7 months, the box finally came to me today.
I quickly ripped the box open, scoured through the mess and took some out and put some in. It will be on its way to Pennsylvania tomorrow.

Miracles do happen!

Pennsylvania is the last trip for the box before it goes onto its journey home to Rowena in Vancouver.

Friday, January 04, 2008

Riveting tutorial

With these basic techniques you can make any layered design.
I chose a simple 4 petal design. I used 18ga sterling silver sheet, 20ga copper sheet and copper wire 1/16"thick (I don't know what gauge it is).

First, draw a design on your silver sheet then drill a hole somewhere in the design that looks good to insert the saw blade. Pierce out your design. Saw any extra silver away.




Clean up the surface of your pierced design and file and sand the edges making sure to round the corners slightly (if there are corners).
Decide where you would like your rivets, and using a spring loaded punch or an awl with a hammer, make small indents where you are going to drill. This step is crucial because the drill bit will just skate across the metal if there is no guide for it.



Drill out all the holes in the top piece, and only one hole in the bottom piece.



Using wire that is the exact same size in diameter to the hole you drilled, cut the rivets to a length that will only allow a small amount to poke out each side of the rivet. If you have too much wire coming out the top and bottom, you will have a sloppy rivet that will most likely distort your design.



Clean up both ends of the wire rivet. I accomplish this by grasping the rivet in my flat nose pliers and rubbing the cut end on sandpaper.

Insert the wire rivet into the drilled holes of both top and bottom. Use the business end of your riveting hammer to gently make a bunch of cross hatched notches in the top (or a star pattern will work). Be careful, you don't want to mar the surface of your design, you only want to stretch the rivet out. Turn the piece over and do the same to the back of the rivet. You will still see a small bit of length on either side. Now turn the hammer over to the square flat side and hammer gently to flatten the metal, turning the piece over a couple of times to keep it even.



Now drill out the other hole. If your design had more than one rivet left to do, you could drill out the rest now. That first rivet is tight enough to hold it together. We waited until the first rivet was done so we could be assured of nicely lined up drilled holes. The rivet wire is exactly the same size as the hole, so any variance would make it impossible to insert the wire had it shifted.



Perfect hole for riveting.



Rivet the next holes the same way as the first.



Now finish sawing out your design then file and sand the edges. Sand the face to remove a bit more material to make it flush. I do this by turning the piece upside down on a piece of sandpaper 240 grit, then 320 grit, and so on until I reach the finish I desire, always sanding in the same direction.

Now you can either solder a bail onto the pendant, or since we are doing a cold connection, just drill a hole for a jumpring.



Hope you enjoyed.

Riveted pendants

Sterling silver, pierced, drilled and riveted onto copper.
These were a pleasure to make. I started piercing the little shapes out thinking I would make a ring out of the piece, but when I finished the two small 'pictures' I decided that they needed a background. I sawed them off the piece, and filed and sanded them smooth, then riveted them to copper.
They are a bit sloppy, I made the 'droopy bud' first and it shows. The 'bird' looks so much better.

'Bird on a chain'


'Droopy Bud'