There is this fun app for Etsy that shows you where in the world you have sold items to. Here is my map! Apparently I have sold to 39 countries and 47 US states.
Fun!
Wanna try it too? Find the app here.
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
lost wax casting
I recently took a class in lost wax casting. The basic technique has been around for thousands of years (!) but I expect it is a bit different now compared to then. You make pieces in wax that are to be cast afterwards. You build a tree of the wax pieces (this is called sprueing) and fasten it on the lid of a metal cylinder. When that is done, you fill the cylinder with some kind of plaster and let it harden. You melt away the wax in a kiln, and then fill the empty space with molten metal.
Note that there are different methods and varying equipment that can be used for casting. This is just one way, and not a comprehensive guide!
Working with wax
Wax work has so many possibilities that it is a bit overwhelming. There are different types of wax, some are stiff and hard, some of soft and easy to shape with your fingers, but attract dust and other particles because of their stickiness. You can melt, carve, saw and file wax. You can melt it and pour it into silicone molds. In the picture below there are some blue wax pieces, for instance the flowers and the small cedar branches, that have been made with wax that is molten and then poured into a mold. When set, this wax is very bendy and plasticky. The smooth looking blue rings are the blue type of wax used for making rings. They are sold as tubes; I sawed a number of rings from the tube and then carefully melted them with a torch. If you heat them too long, everything will melt into a puddle, so take a break sometimes and let everything cool down.
Sprueing
Notice the sticks that make all the wax shapes look like weird lollipops. This is a different type of wax that is used to build the tree (aka sprueing). Below you can see the start of a tree and the finished tree on the lid of the cylinder. Building a tree is tricky. I had many pieces, and two trees to build, so I wanted my trees to be as tight as possible. If you look at the very first picture again, you see I have some of my smallest pieces on their own little tree, which can then be set on the top of the big tree. You need about 1 mm of space between pieces, so it can be built pretty tightly. But if pieces fall off during handling, it can be difficult to repair a tight tree.
Note that I cut down all the pink wax sticks as far as possible so save both space and material. Every sprue you add is a piece of silver, so it adds to the weight and cost. Cutting down sticks of wax is always best done with a heated scalpel. Keep a small candle on your work surface to heat the knife, and paper to dry off the wax that accumulates on the blade.
Before fastening the tree on the lid of the cylinder, you have to cut it to its final length (again with a heated scalpel). Then lift it carefully and weigh it to determine how much silver you need for casting. A rule of thumb is the weight of silver = 10x the weight of wax.
Once you have weighed your tree you can fasten it to the lid, again by melting the areas that are going to be in contact, both on the wax that is on the lid of the cylinder and on the bottom of the tree. Hold the tree steady while it hardens, and then it is done. If you're experienced, you might want to put the tree at a slight angle if you have bulky items that come a little too close to the wall of the cylinder. This way you can cheat a little and gain a little extra space.
After fastening the tree, the cylinder is put in place and filled with plaster. We used something gypsum-based, but it was especially meant for casting - meaning it can withstand extreme heat without breaking. The plaster had to dry for about 15 minutes.
Removal of wax and preparation for casting
The wax is removed (burnt out) from the cylinder in a kiln at about 600C for 3-6 hours. My teacher had the cylinders standing at 600C just before casting, so they are hot and the heat will help the silver stay molten.
Sterling silver scrap is cut into approximately equal parts, to help with melting. If a piece is not molten it will stay in the crucible, so it's not the end of the world, but you don't want that to happen to too many pieces.
Casting
The crucible is filled with the silver scrap and the cylinder is put in place in the centrifugal casting machine. And then the hot phase starts!
When the silver is completely liquid, the security pin holding the rotational device of the centrifugal caster is dropped down and it starts to spin. At that moment the flame is removed.
After casting
The silver tree with all your items on it can now be inspected. Did you melt enough silver? In my case I had one tree where we had slightly too much silver, and the tree had a big foot of silver, and the other tree had slightly too little silver, and some of my pieces were not attached to the tree. With too little silver, there is a risk that not all cavities get filled, and the pieces lowest on the tree might end up being incomplete.
The plaster sits in all the nooks and crannies of your tree. You can try to remove it as well as possible with tweezers, brushes and water, before submerging the whole tree in pickle. As you can see in the pictures, there is a lot of oxidation that needs to be removed.
You can see that I have started finishing the pieces in the background. First you saw off all the pieces from the tree. After that I had to do quite a bit of finishing work, like sanding, filing and polishing. As soon as I have finished some pieces entirely I will show the result.
Note that there are different methods and varying equipment that can be used for casting. This is just one way, and not a comprehensive guide!
Working with wax
Wax work has so many possibilities that it is a bit overwhelming. There are different types of wax, some are stiff and hard, some of soft and easy to shape with your fingers, but attract dust and other particles because of their stickiness. You can melt, carve, saw and file wax. You can melt it and pour it into silicone molds. In the picture below there are some blue wax pieces, for instance the flowers and the small cedar branches, that have been made with wax that is molten and then poured into a mold. When set, this wax is very bendy and plasticky. The smooth looking blue rings are the blue type of wax used for making rings. They are sold as tubes; I sawed a number of rings from the tube and then carefully melted them with a torch. If you heat them too long, everything will melt into a puddle, so take a break sometimes and let everything cool down.
 |
| Wax shapes: the red in the back is soft, sticky wax, the blue is harder. |
Notice the sticks that make all the wax shapes look like weird lollipops. This is a different type of wax that is used to build the tree (aka sprueing). Below you can see the start of a tree and the finished tree on the lid of the cylinder. Building a tree is tricky. I had many pieces, and two trees to build, so I wanted my trees to be as tight as possible. If you look at the very first picture again, you see I have some of my smallest pieces on their own little tree, which can then be set on the top of the big tree. You need about 1 mm of space between pieces, so it can be built pretty tightly. But if pieces fall off during handling, it can be difficult to repair a tight tree.
Note that I cut down all the pink wax sticks as far as possible so save both space and material. Every sprue you add is a piece of silver, so it adds to the weight and cost. Cutting down sticks of wax is always best done with a heated scalpel. Keep a small candle on your work surface to heat the knife, and paper to dry off the wax that accumulates on the blade.
 |
| This is precision work. It's helpful to hold the tree in tweezers and fix it as well as possible while working |
Once you have weighed your tree you can fasten it to the lid, again by melting the areas that are going to be in contact, both on the wax that is on the lid of the cylinder and on the bottom of the tree. Hold the tree steady while it hardens, and then it is done. If you're experienced, you might want to put the tree at a slight angle if you have bulky items that come a little too close to the wall of the cylinder. This way you can cheat a little and gain a little extra space.
 |
| A finished tree. Note that the trunk is very short now. You only have as much room as your cylinder is high (a little less actually) |
 |
| Finished tree seen from above |
 |
| Tree inside the cylinder |
Removal of wax and preparation for casting
The wax is removed (burnt out) from the cylinder in a kiln at about 600C for 3-6 hours. My teacher had the cylinders standing at 600C just before casting, so they are hot and the heat will help the silver stay molten.
Sterling silver scrap is cut into approximately equal parts, to help with melting. If a piece is not molten it will stay in the crucible, so it's not the end of the world, but you don't want that to happen to too many pieces.
Casting
The crucible is filled with the silver scrap and the cylinder is put in place in the centrifugal casting machine. And then the hot phase starts!
 |
| A big-ass torch, so loud that we needed ear protection |
 |
| Heating the crucible; the cylinder is directly behind it |
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| Getting hot. The silver is probed from time to time to check if everything has melted. |
 |
| Almost ready to let the centrifuge force the metal into the mold. |
After casting
The rotation stops and now we can remove the cylinder with big tweezers. It is placed on a heat-tolerant surface for about 10 minutes to let it cool off slightly. At this moment the silver is still hot and orange in colour. After 10 minutes the cylinder is lifted from the surface, again with tweezers and gloves (still hot!) and quenched in a big bucket of water. The plaster will crumble and dissolve in the water, and your silver tree can be found in a now almost empty cylinder.
 |
| The hot cylinders cooling off before a water bath |
The plaster sits in all the nooks and crannies of your tree. You can try to remove it as well as possible with tweezers, brushes and water, before submerging the whole tree in pickle. As you can see in the pictures, there is a lot of oxidation that needs to be removed.
 |
| The silver tree right after casting and quenching. It's black! |
 |
| The oxidised tree, some loose pieces (too little silver, so they are not attached to the tree, and some pickled pieces in the background) |
This is how it looks after pickling:
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Milestones
A few days ago I sat in a meeting with a boss at my job, and I noticed how this person sometimes looked at my necklace, which happened to be my honeycomb necklace. I sort of drifted off with my mind then (I hope I didn't miss anything vital), and thought about my sales on Etsy, and how many people spread over the whole world have bought my things, and could be wearing them right at that moment. Maybe other people would also glance at them, and wonder where they had bought their jewelry.
And just today, I hit 1,000 sales in my Etsy shop, which is amazing in so many ways. One amazing thing is that I have actually made over 1,000 items. And then I have made some more that have ended up on the scrap pile, but we're not talking about those. ;) The other amazing thing is that people have found my things nice enough to buy, and for that I want to thank everyone who has bought from me so far!
Customers have also helped me in others ways. For instance my needle ring is the product of a custom order request, and I loved it so much that I continued to make it.
And just today, I hit 1,000 sales in my Etsy shop, which is amazing in so many ways. One amazing thing is that I have actually made over 1,000 items. And then I have made some more that have ended up on the scrap pile, but we're not talking about those. ;) The other amazing thing is that people have found my things nice enough to buy, and for that I want to thank everyone who has bought from me so far!
Customers have also helped me in others ways. For instance my needle ring is the product of a custom order request, and I loved it so much that I continued to make it.
So, thank you everyone! :)
Saturday, June 8, 2013
My ring on Etsy's Front Page
The day I thought of my honeycomb design has turned out to be a happy day for me. I had no idea it would give my shop so many views and favourites!
Yesterday a beautiful treasury including my honeycomb ring made it to the front page of Etsy - yay!
Here it is:
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| The honeycomb ring can be found here on Etsy |
Yesterday a beautiful treasury including my honeycomb ring made it to the front page of Etsy - yay!
Here it is:
Sunday, March 10, 2013
What got me into metalsmithing?
This is the topic of the team blog roll from the Etsy Aspiring Metalsmiths Team. The thing that came to mind first is that I can't leave things alone that I don't understand.
For instance, I remember when I was a Biology student, first year at University, and I was at my first lecture on molecular genetics. I know it sounds nerdy, but I could hardly wait to hear what the professor had to say. I wanted to understand so badly how it all worked that I sat on the tip of my chair, willing him to speak faster and say more.
Then the veil is opened and all of the sudden you have stepped into that world. Sometimes I tire quickly of the thing I was so curious about, but with molecular genetics I didn't, and not with metalsmithing either.
Metalsmithing is not like some other crafts. Most you have tried out in kindergarten, and you've moved on, or not. Metalsmithing is mysterious, and may lure you in through an excessive love of jewelry that one day makes you think: what if I could make this myself... I had never really felt motivated enough to paint or draw but it turned out metalsmithing was different.
I started out with a metal clay class. Metal clay seemed to be relatively easy to get started with, and it quickly gives nice results. This is one of my first pieces:
After a while metal clay wasn't enough and I wanted to hammer, forge, solder and set stones. So I started taking a class in silversmithing. Here is my first metalsmithed ring. It took me quite long to make it...
And that was that. I was hooked! So I bought tools, and books, and stones, and set up an ever expanding area at home where I now make my things.
Check out what other team members have to say about this subject:
SerpentsDance www.dancetothedoor.blogspot.com/
Marcus Berkner Jewelry berknerdesigns.blogspot.com/
Valerie @ LilyEmme Jewelry blog.lilyemmejewelry.com
All Wired Up Jewelry Designs www.allwiredupjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com
Kalicat Jewelry Designs kalicatdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/
Kim Bell www.kimberlybelldesigns.blogspot.com
Beatriz Fortes www.beatrizfortes.blogspot.com
For instance, I remember when I was a Biology student, first year at University, and I was at my first lecture on molecular genetics. I know it sounds nerdy, but I could hardly wait to hear what the professor had to say. I wanted to understand so badly how it all worked that I sat on the tip of my chair, willing him to speak faster and say more.
Then the veil is opened and all of the sudden you have stepped into that world. Sometimes I tire quickly of the thing I was so curious about, but with molecular genetics I didn't, and not with metalsmithing either.
Metalsmithing is not like some other crafts. Most you have tried out in kindergarten, and you've moved on, or not. Metalsmithing is mysterious, and may lure you in through an excessive love of jewelry that one day makes you think: what if I could make this myself... I had never really felt motivated enough to paint or draw but it turned out metalsmithing was different.
I started out with a metal clay class. Metal clay seemed to be relatively easy to get started with, and it quickly gives nice results. This is one of my first pieces:
 |
| One of the pieces from my first metal clay class |
After a while metal clay wasn't enough and I wanted to hammer, forge, solder and set stones. So I started taking a class in silversmithing. Here is my first metalsmithed ring. It took me quite long to make it...
 |
| First piece I made in metalsmithing class |
And that was that. I was hooked! So I bought tools, and books, and stones, and set up an ever expanding area at home where I now make my things.
Check out what other team members have to say about this subject:
SerpentsDance www.dancetothedoor.blogspot.com/
Marcus Berkner Jewelry berknerdesigns.blogspot.com/
Valerie @ LilyEmme Jewelry blog.lilyemmejewelry.com
All Wired Up Jewelry Designs www.allwiredupjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com
Kalicat Jewelry Designs kalicatdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/
Kim Bell www.kimberlybelldesigns.blogspot.com
Beatriz Fortes www.beatrizfortes.blogspot.com
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Winter is coming
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| I had to take a picture when Yasmin made these pretty paw prints on the frozen bannister today. |
Yes, I am one of those (hooked on Game of Thrones). But winter IS coming and that means the end for my leaf jewelry until May next year. It's sort of nice - all summer long I am in search of perfect willow leaves and have in the back of my head that I should make some more fern rings or pendants before it's too late. But now it's too late, and I feel pretty good about it! Those of you who have gardens will recognize the feeling: spring and summer are glorious times in the garden but are filled with musts, shoulds and have to's.
Winter is the quiet time where nothing needs to be done (except shovelling snow, which I will ignore for now). Without winter, I wouldn't enjoy spring and summer as much.
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| The last of the green leaves are now on their way out. Here the raspberry leaves that give their pretty texture to my small post earrings with leaf texture. |
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| Little bird at the bowl of peanuts. Winter is high season for the birds. |
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Etsy front page!
My Henry the Hedgehog is in this beautiful grey-toned treasury on the front page of Etsy today!
Sunday, April 22, 2012
On the front page!
My honeycomb ring was featured on the front page of Etsy last night in this beautiful treasury:
:) yay!
:) yay!
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Signs of spring
For this month's blogroll of our Etsy Aspiring Metalsmiths team the topic is Spring, and how it affects our jewelry design and work.
Now, about spring. Having grown up in the Netherlands but living in Sweden, I have realized that my definition of spring is not like the Swedish definition of spring. My mother always lets me know when the first spring flowers come. Snowdrops in January, crocus in February-March, etc. Easter dinners often have fresh spring vegetables and you see lambs in the meadows and ducklings everywhere.
Here, we often have snow, ice and wintery weather well into April, the food you get at Easter is basically the same food you have at Christmas, and if you're lucky and the snow has melted, you can see one or two flowers carefully peeking out. When I hadn't been living in Sweden long, people would surprise me with their talk about spring (to me it felt and looked like winter) and 'springwinter' (vårvinter in Swedish). Now that I have lived here longer I can appreciate springwinter. It still looks like winter but it's lighter out. There is melting water running in the ditches besides the roads and there are definitely signs of spring. Dirty, melting snow, gravelly roads (annoying but a sign of spring!), and if it's sunny out you feel the warmth of the sun rays. The plants wait and wait, especially if April is cold, and then suddenly everything explodes.
This year we have been lucky with a warm March, and even though it's cold again now, we have some bold pioneers:
Now, about spring. Having grown up in the Netherlands but living in Sweden, I have realized that my definition of spring is not like the Swedish definition of spring. My mother always lets me know when the first spring flowers come. Snowdrops in January, crocus in February-March, etc. Easter dinners often have fresh spring vegetables and you see lambs in the meadows and ducklings everywhere.
Here, we often have snow, ice and wintery weather well into April, the food you get at Easter is basically the same food you have at Christmas, and if you're lucky and the snow has melted, you can see one or two flowers carefully peeking out. When I hadn't been living in Sweden long, people would surprise me with their talk about spring (to me it felt and looked like winter) and 'springwinter' (vårvinter in Swedish). Now that I have lived here longer I can appreciate springwinter. It still looks like winter but it's lighter out. There is melting water running in the ditches besides the roads and there are definitely signs of spring. Dirty, melting snow, gravelly roads (annoying but a sign of spring!), and if it's sunny out you feel the warmth of the sun rays. The plants wait and wait, especially if April is cold, and then suddenly everything explodes.
This year we have been lucky with a warm March, and even though it's cold again now, we have some bold pioneers:
For me and my jewelry, spring is a big deal. My stock of willow rings is declining now that we are at the end of winter, and I have to turn down people who inquire after fern rings in popular sizes. But once spring starts and the leaves are there, I have a couple of busy months. See here for instance. Many leaves need to be at a certain stage where they are the prettiest, usually when they are just unfolding and they are all crinkly. And right now I feel anxious like a farmer about his crop - will there be any frost just as the leaves are unfolding? Has my fern survived? Will my willow produce good leaves or will it be attacked by a moose? (you never know!)
Check out the posts on the same topic by my talented team members:
Steph Stargell stephstargell.com
Lilian girllovesglitter.blogspot.com
Pennee - All Wired Up Jewelry Designs allwiredupjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com
nancycreations nancysjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com
SerpentsDanceDesigns dancetothedoor.blogspot.com
Autumn Bradley autumnbradley.blogspot.com
Contemporary Jewelry by Beatriz Fortes cjbf.blogspot.com
Jessica @ Abella Blue abellabluestudio.com/blog
Sylvia Anderson sylviaanderson.blogspot.com
Gloria gloria-hemlockhollow.blogspot.com
Amy Estelle amyestellemetalworks.blogspot.com/2012/03/spring-has-sprung.html
Lilian girllovesglitter.blogspot.com
Pennee - All Wired Up Jewelry Designs allwiredupjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com
nancycreations nancysjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com
SerpentsDanceDesigns dancetothedoor.blogspot.com
Autumn Bradley autumnbradley.blogspot.com
Contemporary Jewelry by Beatriz Fortes cjbf.blogspot.com
Jessica @ Abella Blue abellabluestudio.com/blog
Sylvia Anderson sylviaanderson.blogspot.com
Gloria gloria-hemlockhollow.blogspot.com
Amy Estelle amyestellemetalworks.blogspot.com/2012/03/spring-has-sprung.html
Friday, February 3, 2012
Tutorial - fold formed earrings
It's been a while since I did a tutorial. In part it is that I don't feel my skills are on that level that I can tell other people how to make something. And when you see how these earrings are made you will see that it is actually very easy.
For the first pair of these earrings I made I used sterling silver sheet, pretty thin - 0.3-0.4 mm. For the pair in this tutorial I used 0.3 mm fine silver, and it's extremely easy to work with. You don't have to worry about firescale either, which is very handy since there are multiple heating (annealing) steps involved. If you use sterling silver, you have to pickle in between, which is not necessary with fine silver.
So I start with cutting two pieces of my fine silver sheet. It is not necessary that they are absolutely identical, but approximately the same size.
I usually order my silver sheet dead soft, so I can fold the pieces of sheet directly as shown in picture 1 below. I can't fold the corners flat with my fingers, so I use my plastic mallet (wooden or rawhide mallet can also be used) on a wood surface to flatten the folded piece of sheet (picture 2).
I then cut a halfround-ish shape out of the sheet with my metal sheers, and try to cut approximately the same shape of both pieces of folded sheet (pictures 3 and 4).
On picture 6 you can see the difference between having done one earring once on both sides, and the other earring twice on both sides. Sterling silver may need a little more hammering than fine silver.
When I am happy with the curvature of the croissants I will make room for an earring post on one side (picture 7) with round nose pliers. When you've hammered one side, the pattern on the other side will get smooshed by the steel block, so as a finishing step I hammer the smooshed side once more on a wood surface (picture 8).
VCArtisanOriginals - www.artisanoriginals.blogspot.com
Sylvia Anderson - www.sylviaanderson.blogspot.com/
Metals Addict - www.metalsaddict.com
Lilian Ginebra - girllovesglitter.blogspot.com/
Esmeralda - jewelry-by-silverblueberry.blogspot.com/
Amy Estelle – www.amyestellemetalworks.blogspot.com/2012/01/my-first-tutorial-bez....
Mary Anne Karren - silverpearlmetalworks.wordpress.com/
Stacy - formandfunktionaccessories.blogspot.com/2012/01/making-ring-band.html
Shannon of Gifted Designs - gifteddesigns.blogspot.com/
Pennee- All Wired Up Jewelry Designs - allwiredupjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
Jessica @ Abella Blue - www.abellablue.com/blog
Elizabeth Brown – www.resurrectionsilver.blogspot.com
Thursday, January 26, 2012
The sweat of the sun and the tears of the moon
Weird title? A few days ago I went to see the Inca gold exhibition in Stockholm and I wanted to remember this.
According to the Inca, gold was the sweat of the sun and silver the tears of the moon. Isn't that pretty? Of course it had implications - no regular people ever wore gold or silver, only royalty did, since they were believed to be the living descendants of the sun god, Inti.
Anyway, they showed the most amazing and delicate gold and silver work there. Some of the jewelry could be mistaken for modern art jewelry - big solid gold ear plugs, giant (giant!) ear pieces or neck pieces, forehead, chin or nose decorations.. Not your everyday jewelry.
I definitely got inspired - now I feel like making all kinds of nose jewelry :)
According to the Inca, gold was the sweat of the sun and silver the tears of the moon. Isn't that pretty? Of course it had implications - no regular people ever wore gold or silver, only royalty did, since they were believed to be the living descendants of the sun god, Inti.
Anyway, they showed the most amazing and delicate gold and silver work there. Some of the jewelry could be mistaken for modern art jewelry - big solid gold ear plugs, giant (giant!) ear pieces or neck pieces, forehead, chin or nose decorations.. Not your everyday jewelry.
I definitely got inspired - now I feel like making all kinds of nose jewelry :)
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Just married!
Last Thursday (Aug 4th) John and I got married. We had originally thought to have a simple ceremony in the city hall of Stockholm but it seemed nice to be away for a few days and in the end we settled on having the wedding on Gotland. We saw this little guy on our way to the wedding:
I'm sure he was a good omen. :)
We had the - very short! - ceremony in this pretty pavilion in the botanical garden of Visby:
The registrar read this poem by Nils Ferlin. Below are both the swedish version and an english translation.
I'm sure he was a good omen. :)
We had the - very short! - ceremony in this pretty pavilion in the botanical garden of Visby:
The registrar read this poem by Nils Ferlin. Below are both the swedish version and an english translation.
I folkviseton
Nils Ferlin
(1898-1961)
Kärleken kommer och kärleken går,
ingen kan tyda dess lagar.
Men dig vill jag följa i vinter och vår
och alla min levnads dagar.
Mitt hjärta är ditt,
ditt hjärta är mitt
och aldrig jag lämnar det åter.
Min lycka är din
din lycka är min,
och gråten är min när du gråter.
Kärleken är så förunderligt stark,
kuvas av intet i världen.
Rosor slår ut ur den hårdaste mark,
som sol över mörka gärden.
Mitt hjärta är ditt,
ditt hjärta är mitt
och aldrig jag lämnar det åter.
Min lycka är din
din lycka är min,
och gråten är min när du gråter.
In Folk-song Fashion
Love comes along, love drifts away
No-one can tell us the reasons.
But here by thy side, love, I know I shall stay
through all the passing seasons.
My heart, it is thine; thy heart, it is mine
and mine shall remain till I die.
My happiness, thine; thy happiness, mine
- thy tears, they are mine when thou cryest.
Love is so strong, so wondrously strong
- naught in the world makes it yield.
Roses spring up from the hardest of ground
as sunshine spreads over dark fields.
My heart, it is thine; thy heart, it is mine
and mine shall remain till I die.
My happiness, thine; thy happiness, mine
- thy tears, they are mine when thou cryest.
Monday, July 25, 2011
July Project Blogroll - What are you working on?
This month's blogroll of the Aspiring Metalsmiths Team we're showing what we are currently working on. And there is that word, currently. Are all the half-finished, half-started things on my bench included in this? Or just the items that I have actually touched recently?
I have no idea if my way of working is similar to that of others or not. I sometimes sketch but most often don't. Usually I have bits of silver and stones lying around on my bench and sometimes they align themselves in a pretty way and I have a new pendant. I start things, and then forget about them. I make metal clay findings and then they lie around for a while (a while being between a few days and a year) until I find a use for them.
So my bench looks very much like the two upper pictures below. One thing that I really do work on is of course my wedding jewelry. I finished all the segments of my necklace and I'm working on a way to attach the focal stone without it hanging wonky. Another thing I'm working on - just started today - are matching earrings, but I have no picture of those yet.
Below is PMC work in progress. I did a big batch of fern earrings and some other stuff yesterday. Today most of that has been fired and the two pendants in the lower pic are still in progress. I touch up some areas with slip, let it dry, forget about it, sand, touch up again, sand, etc. That goes on until I either finish a piece or my cat steps on it and it's ruined. ;)
Below is a spontaneous project that started after a few etching attempts that didn't really turn out great. I cut off the etched parts and two rectangles were left. Earrings of course! I decided to make a rough texture by banging them against a piece of granite and then I decided I would try and flush set two emeralds at the ends.
In the pictures below I am 1- about to solder on the posts; 2- about to throw them in the pickle after soldering; 3- showing off flushed set emerald #1 while I still struggle with #2. The match functions as a support while I try and flush set, since the stones stick out slightly at the back. I stick the earring post in a drill hole in my wooden block while I work on setting the stone.
Below are some miscellaneous things in progress. The blue slag has been on my bench for ages, and recently it's become more clear what I want to do with it. It's to be combined with garnet, a color combination which I love. I sawed out the back plate for the pendant and I'm going to try and set the bezel around it, so I need a perfect fit of back plate and stone.
The PMC leaf and boulder opal have also been on my bench for ages but only recently I started on the bezel. It's tricky to solder on the bezel because of the leaf vein structure. I'm cheating a little with PMC slip - I hope it works!
The pretty agua nueva agates have been set in step bezel wire from Rio, but I can't get the stones to stop wobbling and I'll have to take them apart again (I really don't wanna, so they're just sitting beside my bench right now).
And then there is the prong setting. I made this months ago from a piece of square wire. I intended it for a red spinel. Who knows, it may still end up in that setting!
Check out the blogs by my teamies to see what they're working on:
I have no idea if my way of working is similar to that of others or not. I sometimes sketch but most often don't. Usually I have bits of silver and stones lying around on my bench and sometimes they align themselves in a pretty way and I have a new pendant. I start things, and then forget about them. I make metal clay findings and then they lie around for a while (a while being between a few days and a year) until I find a use for them.
So my bench looks very much like the two upper pictures below. One thing that I really do work on is of course my wedding jewelry. I finished all the segments of my necklace and I'm working on a way to attach the focal stone without it hanging wonky. Another thing I'm working on - just started today - are matching earrings, but I have no picture of those yet.
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| Upper left: stones, half finished rings, and PMC stuff in progress Upper right: my dish with some scrap, findings, solder, small stones Center below: wedding jewelry in progress |
Below is a spontaneous project that started after a few etching attempts that didn't really turn out great. I cut off the etched parts and two rectangles were left. Earrings of course! I decided to make a rough texture by banging them against a piece of granite and then I decided I would try and flush set two emeralds at the ends.
In the pictures below I am 1- about to solder on the posts; 2- about to throw them in the pickle after soldering; 3- showing off flushed set emerald #1 while I still struggle with #2. The match functions as a support while I try and flush set, since the stones stick out slightly at the back. I stick the earring post in a drill hole in my wooden block while I work on setting the stone.
Below are some miscellaneous things in progress. The blue slag has been on my bench for ages, and recently it's become more clear what I want to do with it. It's to be combined with garnet, a color combination which I love. I sawed out the back plate for the pendant and I'm going to try and set the bezel around it, so I need a perfect fit of back plate and stone.
The PMC leaf and boulder opal have also been on my bench for ages but only recently I started on the bezel. It's tricky to solder on the bezel because of the leaf vein structure. I'm cheating a little with PMC slip - I hope it works!
The pretty agua nueva agates have been set in step bezel wire from Rio, but I can't get the stones to stop wobbling and I'll have to take them apart again (I really don't wanna, so they're just sitting beside my bench right now).
And then there is the prong setting. I made this months ago from a piece of square wire. I intended it for a red spinel. Who knows, it may still end up in that setting!
 |
| Upper left: blue slag necklace in progress Upper right: leaf with boulder opal Lower left: agua nueva agate earrings - paused Lower right: home made prong setting |
- Happy Tortoise Designs http://www.happytortoisedesigns.blogspot.com/
- Crow Steals Fire http://crowstealsfire.blogspot.com/
- Contemporary Jewelry by Beatriz Fortes http://cjbf.blogspot.com/
- steph http://stephstargell.com
- Jessica @ Abella Blue http://www.abellablue.com/blog
- Pennee- All Wired Up Jewelry Designs http://www.allwiredupjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
- Sylvia Anderson http://www.sylviaanderson.blogspot.com/
- Stacy http://www.formandfunktionaccessories.blogspot.com/
- Mary Anne Karren http://silverpearlmetalworks.wordpress.com/
- Brightstar109 www.brightstar109.blogspot.com
- Amy Nicole Artisan Jewelry Http://Rubymtnbeads.blogspot.com
- Resurrection Silver http://www.resurrectionsilver.blogspot.com
- Kwant Essentials http://kwantessentials.blogspot.com/2011/07/show-and-tell-from-start-to-finish.html
- Kit and Caboodle Shop http://thisartistsjourney.blogspot.com
- Julie http://jamauerer.blogspot.com
- Lilian http://www.girllovesglitter.blogspot.com/
- Autumn Bradley Jewelry Design http://www.autumnbradley.blogspot.com
Sunday, July 10, 2011
From berry to ring (and tummy)
The smultron. Or wild strawberry. I had found these occasionally in the Netherlands, where I'm from, but somehow they didn't have that smultron flavor. Only when I came to Sweden, and was prepared not to like them (as opposed to every body else here; saying you don't care for smultron is like blasphemy), I found out what they Could taste like. It's hard to describe the flavor if you haven't tasted it. It has hints of strawberry but is much more aromatic.
There is nothing like picking smultron on a warm summer's day. You stand there in the sun leaning forward and the warm sweet scent washes over you. They are tiny but even so I managed to fill an entire bowl the other day. Doesn't this look great:
John and I divided the harvest and had them with vanilla ice cream. Yummy.
For my jewelry I use a different part of the plant. When a strawberry plant sends out runners, the first leaves that come are these tiny tiny strawberry leaves. Here is a close-up:
I take these and paint several layers f metal clay paste on them, and after drying and firing they are silver leaves. I use them as details on for instance rings, like on this strawberry ring below:
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