These earrings are corrugated copper with sterling silver wire wrap and findings. The wrapped beads are garnet, and the earrings are about 2" long. ** These earrings are a giveaway choice** Check my March 1 post for details about the giveaway, and how you can enter. So far, the giveaway choices are days 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 14, 17, and 21; possibly with more to come. Gotta run, my family is downstairs ready to start watching The Muppets... Time to make some popcorn and kick back!
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Wow, life has been getting in the way of jewelry making this week. A lot going on. I didn't get my piece posted yesterday until almost 10pm ET so if you missed it, please take a look.
This one is a sterling silver, copper, and garnet pendant. Still just scratching the surface, but I am feeling more confident about setting stones now. See why I love this March challenge? It's been a real growth spurt. This is a sterling silver ring with 14k accents and a Mexican matrix opal. The top of the ring is about 1 1/8" lengthwise. I love this type of opal. It looks a little wild and almost prehistoric to me. The photo doesn't do justice to the depth and color play in the opal; it's full of sparkly reds and golds but the camera just couldn't figure out how to focus on it. I made the band last year but never put a top on it. I made the top and put it all together today. The silver for the main part of the top was recycled from my own scrap silver, and I cut the shape out this morning. Then I melted a tiny gold chain to make the gold accent pieces. So about half the ring is recycled metal :-)
I haven't set many stones before. This is the first one I've done with no supervision, thanks to an awesome video by Lexi Erickson called Metalsmith Essentials: Setting Stones with Bezels. Just what I needed -- a teacher in my home that I could rewind and pause! Hope you like the ring. Come back tomorrow for another new piece. Well we just finally came back upstairs after over an hour in the basement with a funnel cloud spotted nearby. At least I had today's bracelet finished before the weather rolled in. It's a half inch wide copper strip with a sterling silver loop to fit into the hand-cut copper hook connector. The color blend and scattered silver patina is made by selectively melting metal in the torch flame. The bracelet is small, comfortable, and super easy to get on and off. In other news, right after the big storm our neighborhood ducks stopped by for a visit. It's still raining and clearly they're enjoying the puddles. This male and female pair of ducks have been spending spring and summers in our neighborhood for 4-5 years. They leave for the winter but they always come back to our street. We have no pond and it's a most unlikely duck habitat if you ask me, but we enjoy them!
Short and sweet today... a copper, sterling silver, and Australian jasper pendant with a botanical theme. It's just over an inch long including the bale. ** This pendant is a giveaway choice** Everyone have a fun and happy St. Patrick's Day!
Day 16 means that I'm officially halfway through the One-a-day challenge now. I hope you're having fun with it, because I am. Thanks to all the wonderful people who have been checking in on me. I really appreciate your visits and your comments, and I hope you'll stick with me. The copper portion of today's piece is both corrugated and foldformed. The accents and bale are of sterling silver. And a big thanks to those who advised me to patina the piece from Day 13. Here it is with an antique patina on it. The hammer marks stand out better, and I think it has a lot more depth and character this way. Time to make dinner and check out what's left of this pretty day. Go and have some fun this weekend!
I've started taking a great jewelry class at the Cultural Arts Center here in Columbus. I LOVE this class. I've gone off in a bunch of crazy directions with my jewelry, and this is a chance to get some of those basic skills / best practices I missed along the way. Yesterday's assigned project was to make a 3-piece rolling ring, often known as a Russian Wedding Ring. Three interconnected rings roll up and down the finger, over/under each other. I had a little time challenge today because I was scheduled to babysit my 3 month old grandson Brendan 8-5:30. So I got up at 4 a.m. and made this ring before he got here!
Anyway, bottom line, this isn't my design but it was a great learning project. I soldered all three rings closed individually, sized and shaped them, then cut two of them back apart, fit them together properly, and re-soldered. All three rings must be exactly the same size and perfectly round for the ring to roll properly along the finger. And it does! I have been playing with it all day :-) Very full and fun day. I am dead tired now. Early to bed and see you tomorrow! Thanks to those who gave me advice yesterday. Based on your ideas, I will use an antique patina on yesterday's piece and re-post it soon. Today I worked a little bit on combining corrugation with foldforming and came up with this new pattern. The copper is paired with jade tubes and sterling silver findings. I'd like to make a second version of these earrings with another piece of copper as backing and an attached ear wire. Maybe I'll do it during the March series; not sure yet. ** These earrings are a giveaway choice**
My goal today was to make a large, bold statement piece that could also be elegant and feminine. Ideally, it would be equally appropriate with jeans & sweater or with a little black evening dress. That in mind, I came up with this large foldformed copper curl on a semi-rigid neck wire. The focal piece is generous, about 2 3/4" wide and 2.5" high. There are two sterling silver bales on the back holding the neck wires. It was really hard making this foldformed shape without opening it up. It would have curled nicely, but for this I needed it flat. Here are a few more shots... 1. the whole thing, 2. me (yikes where is my beautiful daughter Kathy when I need her?) and 3. a look at the back. I planned to make the neck wire from sterling silver, so this copper one was meant as a dry run. Now that it's finished, I might like it as-is. Can you help me with a couple of decisions?
In other news... It is a completely beautiful, warm, sunny day here. Today's piece is finished and I'm in a great mood. Things didn't start out so rosy, though. This is how it went... I wake up, drop my daughter off at school, make a great cup of flavored coffee, and start to clean up the kitchen (yes, still messy from dinner last night.) The sink is full of dirty dishes and the dishwasher needs unloading. I put a clean glass in the cupboard, top shelf, and guess what? One of the pegs holding up the shelf is broken. Glasses start tumbling out... I push them all back but miss at least two. They go crashing down, break in gazillion pieces all over the counter, in the sink all over the dirty dishes, inside the garbage disposal, into the dishwasher full of clean dishes, and onto the floor 4 feet in all directions. Oh. My. <expletive deleted> In fact, quite a few expletives if truth be known. It took me a good couple hours to get that mess all cleaned up. And one of the casualties was a pretty little punch glass circa 1963 :-( So when I picked up my daughter from school this afternoon, we headed straight to Bad Frog, the new top-your-own yogurt place here in town. Yum. Misery loves dessert ;-) And look at this weather forecast! I mean, can I really stay in a bad mood? Don't forget, please give your opinions on today's piece. See you tomorrow!
Here is one more spring inspired submission, an up-cycled spring bouquet. It's about 1.25" long including the bale. The flowers are actually some sterling silver spacer beads I've had sitting in a drawer since my bead-stringing days. They are hammered and placed in a ruffled copper basket like a Mother's Day bouquet. **This pendant is a giveaway choice** Now we have the six choices I promised for the giveaway, so the drawing winner will be able to choose from a variety of styles. I will probably add a couple more choices, but now there is no pressure :-) If you haven't entered the drawing yet, think about Mother's Day. One of these might be the perfect gift for your mom. I'll ship it in plenty of time. Good idea? Check my March 1 post for details about the giveaway, and how you can enter. So far, the giveaway choices are days 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12; possibly with more to come. Let's get back to foldforming tomorrow. I'm starting to have withdrawal symptoms!! |
Sue Lacy WiredThis began as a hobbyist's blog. Over time it became a quest to support & connect metalsmiths around the globe who use foldforming techniques in their work. See how it all turned out: www.foldforming.org Archives
July 2016
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