Varying a multiple

The photopolymer process is often used to create multiples.  This makes it quicker and easier to repeat a design.  If I want to be able to tell people that a certain piece is one of a kind, I need to vary each piece a little.  Often that is changing the color of a CZ or firing the piece in a different generation of clay which creates different sizes due to the shrinkage of each generation.  It may also mean varying the kinds of beads that each piece utilizes in it's final design.  These are some of the things I did with my skulls.

Some finished pieces

Darn!  Sometimes finishing the pieces are more work than making them .  Sanding, firing, polishing, and adding findings can be tiring and hard on the fingers.

Here are some of those thirteen pieces all finished up.  (Please pardon my photography skills.)

Nautilus with moonstone

Double teardrop pendant with Swarovski crystal

One of my favorite leaves, the Ginko.  

I'm also trying something new by not offering a chain with the pendant pieces.  The chains really up the price of the piece and are often not the desired length.  This way people can use their own chain or if they want I can make them a chain in their preferred length.  Hoping this will make my pieces more accessible to more people.  

It's going to be small!

Every year I publish my blog in book form.  I just realized that my last post was on June 12th.  If I don't get busy, the book this year is going to be very, very, thin.

My newest direction is to keep it simple.  (At least keep the front of the piece simple.)

I've done draped pieces in bronze and copper, but not in silver.  So I finally did one in silver ....... and I like it.  I kept it for myself and have been wearing it a lot.

The Front

The Back (haven't worn this side out.  I like the other side too much.)

I have another simple piece that isn't finished yet as I have to figure out how I want to hang it.

So..... I may be posting a few grandchildren posts mixed in with the metal clay posts.  

Need to thicken that book somehow!

A follow up.

I'm finally following up on a post I did on March 2.  Finally finished the "beer cap" piece that I posted about.  Actually it's been done for a while now, but I've been in some kind of "funk" or "artistic drought" if you want to call it that.  (Although this funk has carried over into other aspects of my life.  Can't wait until it's over.)  Sorry but I've dropped off the social map for a while too!

So, here is my latest Beer cap piece. If I do it again, I'll place a CZ at the top.  (I kept wanting to turn this one and drill a new hole.)   

I did get some good news yesterday that I am hoping sparks my mood.  I finally am going to do Franklin's Applefest this year.  I've tried other years and did not get in.  I found out that bulk mailings are sent out every year when I'm in Florida.  And since bulk mailings are not forwarded, I wasn't getting the application forms.  

This year we gave them my cousin's address.  She contacted me the day she got the form and over the phone we filled out the application.  Then I emailed pictures of some of the pieces in progress and pictures of the finished pieces.  The Chamber told us to return the forms early as it was on a first come, first serve basis.  We were the very first form returned.  (Can't get any earlier than that!)  

So now I need to get my tent out to practice setting it up and get to work on some pieces for the show.  My beer cap earrings are one of my favorites so I think I'll focus on making a bunch of those with variations.  Hopefully that will get the creative juices flowing again.  (Lord knows I need something.)

Facing an Old Fear

Back when dinosaurs roamed I took a fabrication class with fine silver during my freshman year of college.  I loved it.  I tried it all.  We learned how to work with a jeweler's saw to cut out a shape and learned how to cut out an interior piece.  I actually took a piece of granite, used the wet saw to cut out a slab and shaped it into a cab on the grinder, then polished it.  After that I made a back piece, attached the cab to the back with a bezel and incorporated it into a body ornament.  (No need to go into all this, I think I've done that before.)

The point is, I did some major soldering back then and thought nothing of it.  Those days we used silver sheet solder and cut tiny pieces to be used between two shapes.  I do remember that solder will not fill in gaps, therefore the two pieces need to have a good connection.  What I can't remember is how does one know when the solder has melted and flowed when you can't see it.

Luckily for me, I use paste solder and only on places where I can see it flow, like earring backs and now jump rings.  The solder comes in a tube and has "flux" already in it.  Flux is what makes the solder flow.  When we soldered in class, we had to brush on the flux before placing the tiny piece of solder.  The paste solder is applied with a "pick", which is a pointed tool.

Up until today, I had only soldered earring backs (a piece of cake.)  Today I soldered jump rings closed.  (Also, a piece of cake.)  I have avoided doing it for so long out of fear I guess.  So, I went to YouTube and found a demonstration.  Geez...... how easy!

A lot of fancy tools are not needed; just a fire brick set on a cookie sheet, the solder and a torch.  (I used my kitchen torch.)  A very tiny bit of solder is needed for the seam of the jump ring.  Apply heat to the jump ring for just a few seconds until it turns red and you see the solder flow.  Then quench in a glass of water.  It's that easy.

  
Afterwards, the piece will need to be set in some kind of pickling solution to remove the fire scale.  But, that doesn't take much.  I finished off four delicate chains today with soldered jump rings. They are all ready now for the clasp and a focal point.

Originally, I was doing this so I could solder a cross that a friend commissioned.  I usually use "Snapeeze" jump rings in all my pieces as I really, really trust them to hold.  But the chain in this piece was so delicate that I couldn't get the 4mm Snapeeze through the link.  (Although, later on I was able to get it on the ends.)  In the end, I didn't solder this piece at all.

Soldering can be daunting at times.  But for what I do it is not.  Time to quit putting things off out of fear.  

Crosses for Flat Stanley

My granddaughter sent me "Flat Stanley" to take around for a couple of weeks.  Flat Stanley is a story book character who is flat and can be sent through the mail.  Her second grade class at Mother of Sorrow's school in Murrysville is doing this project.  Tomorrow I'm sending him on to the next person on the list.

Since I was away, Stanley mostly spent his time in my studio.  I was trying to make up for lost time.  He saw me working on crosses.  I had several commissions to do crosses, both male and female crosses.  For some reason I have continued to work on them

 Crosses are actually a little difficult to make because they are thin and delicate.  (I can't begin to tell
you how many I broke during the sanding process.)  Not so much the bigger crosses for the guys, but the smaller ones for the ladies.  I usually make my pendants three cards thick but I made these five to
six cards thick so they would be sturdier (in the dry clay state.)

I took pictures of several of the new crosses, but they didn't turn out. Here's one of the pictures that did.
If I can get some other acceptable pictures I'll post them too.

Some have stones and some don't.  But they all have textures.

A Labor Day Tradition

Another Labor Day has come and gone.  And another visit with my college roommate has passed.  I'm not sure how many Labor Days we've been doing this but it's a lot.  

I pick her up and we head to my camper on Lake Erie, spend a few days there, head to my house for a few days and then I take her back.  Usually it's a week or more that we spend together.  Of course we do the usual things like eating, shopping and running all over creation to visit interesting spots. 

We always stop In Findley Lake, NY at the Holiday craft show.  Lunch at the Blue Heron there is always a must as is buying our yearly bag of Kettle Korn.  (One for us and one for my husband.)

Not too far from the campground is The House of the Potter in North East, PA.  It's a nice little gallery with paintings, ceramics, woodcrafts, music, jewelry and stained glass among other things. 

We do some running around when we come home, but this year most of our time home was spent in the studio.  

Every year we make something.  One year we made polymer clay covered pens.  Another year we brought home our Erie Beach glass and combined it with metal clay.  Last year we did etching on copper sheet.   

At the camper this year we practiced making links with copper wire.  We made about ten different links (lots of practice.)  Then we put the links together to make a really pretty chain.  I took some really nice pictures of the finished chain....... but don't ask me where they went.  I think my computer ate them.  

Instead I have a picture of some of the piles of links we made...... so it will have to do.  But take my word for it the chain was nice.

Check my blog tomorrow to see pictures of what we made in metal clay this year.   Hopefully my computer doesn't eat those before I get to post them.  

 

One, Two , Three!

Why does one thing always lead to another?  Get a pair of knee socks..... have to buy a pair of shoes to go with them.  Get a new purse...... need a new coat to wear with it.  Make a body ornament...... make a dress to wear it with.  (Actually there are times I feel like I need to make just the right piece of clothing to wear with some of my jewelry.)

I did make a body ornament in college and had to make a long velvet dress to wear with it.  (Think I've mentioned that before.)  Unfortunately I don't have one single picture of the body ornament..... although I think I've still got the dress.  No place to wear such a thing so the body ornament was taken apart.

Using a PPP plate I made in my class in Florida, I made a long bronze piece for a pendant.  I combined that piece with beads from my  trip to Bead Paradise in Oberlin, OH, chain from the Bead Show in Pittsburgh and a really rockin' chain I bought from Artbeads.com.  The carnelian and jade beads just seemed made for the warmth of the bronze clay.

I really liked the way the necklace turned out.  It's a long one, about thirty inches.  But it just seemed like it needed some friends.  Hence, the second necklace was made from the "fluffy" looking chain from Art Beads.   That chain is twenty one inches long.  Still not enough to make the first chain look complete.

Yesterday I spent about three hours beading the third necklace with more carnelian and jade along with gold plated beads.  Some of the gold beads were rather small which is why it took so long.  That one is twenty four inches long.  But now it looks complete (to me.)

Last time I designed three necklaces to go together, I sold two of them together.  The third was left behind.  That will probably happen again.

Going Down!

The other design based on the steam elevator came from the left side of the elevator cage.

Again, it is a simple, very literal design and like the other designs seemed to lend itself to the silver clay.

(Although I can now see it in the brilliant bronze!)

Once again the photos do not do justice to the jewelry.  I've taken these photos all different ways and sad to say these are the best of them.  At least it gives you an idea of what they look like.

I made two photopolymer plates and reversed the image so the recessed areas in the first design are now the projected areas.

Color was added using the alcohol inks.  

Going UP!

The Transit Building is actually two buildings.  The original built in 1890 and the Annex built in 1896. They are connected with a walkway bridge on the second floor.  (My studio is at the beginning the main building side of the bridge.)

One of the most impressive pieces of architecture is in the annex and that is the steam elevator.  It is not in working order and probably never will be.  I've been told there are only two such elevators in the world; the other being in the Eiffel Tower.  This elevator went to the top floor and opened up into John D. Rockefeller's penthouse.  (Hard to imagine how plush that penthouse must have been when you see it now....... fit only for critters.)

It is a wrought iron masterpiece full of design inspiration.  I've done two designs from the elevator so far with more to come (there is just so much detail in it.)  

 The elevator design just seemed to lend itself to silver more than the other metals.  I made a variety of necklaces and earrings from this design.

This is one of the elevator pieces which was given as a prize for the scavenger hunt.  

National Transit Jewelry Series

As I've mentioned before, the National Transit Building in Oil City, Pa is an example of gorgeous architecture.  Anyone who has ever visited has noticed how amazing the building is, both inside and outside.

Inspiration for art most often comes from the artist's life..... what they see, experience, feel, hear and more.  So the designs that I pass everyday on the way to my studio is a natural inspiration for design.

The designs I used are basically literal.  How else will people who briefly pass through be able to associate with the jewelry.  What I have done is try to use them in a variety of ways to make them each different.

The ground floor is tiled and has a narrow tile border that reminds me of a celtic design.  (Not sure that it is.)

This is the design created from the original tile. (Couldn't find my photograph of the tile itself.)

I created a couple of very long necklaces using the floor tile design; one in copper and one in bronze.   The bronze piece took awhile to make as I incorporated some of the chain I bought at the bead show.  I really like the look of combining chain with beading (not to mention how much further the chain will go.  I have enough left to make another necklace.)

Now I want to create more necklaces to be worn with these.  (One thing always leads to another!)

It just keeps coming

I'm still trying to figure out the perks of being old..... besides retirement and grandchildren.

This past week I have been very productive.   In fact I think I've gotten more done this week than I did all summer.   I've been trying to get as many pieces done for my Transit Series as I can.  The four designs turned into eighteen pieces of jewelry.

I've been working my fingers to the bone every day.  Well, actually I've been working my fingers until they cramp (and I mean cramp!)  Yesterday I was doing some wire wrapping to finish off rubber cording.  That means holding on tightly and making small tight motions.  Last night I could hardly sleep as my right hand hurt so much and this morning I wasn't able to make a fist or hold a pencil.   It wasn't bad enough that my hand hurt but my inner thigh cramped up too last night at 4 AM.  (If you've never experienced that one..... you don't want too.  It's a killer pain like nothing I've ever experienced.)   Even though my hand hurt like hell today , I knew I had to keep trying to use it.  (Thank goodness for Aleve.)

Today I went to the studio again to finish up twelve silver pieces.   I wasn't sure how things were going to go (it even hurt to push the gear shift in the car) but eventually my hand loosened up and I was able to get all twelve pieces finished.

As I was polishing the liver of sulfur off the pieces I realized that I was using small tight  motions again.  (If I don't sleep again tonight....... I'll cry.  Oh wait.... I cried last night when my thigh cramped; so I'll cry again.)  Damn this never happened when I was young.  I'm afraid to find out what is going to cramp up next.  It just keeps coming.


Anyway,  here is a not so good picture of one of the finished silver pieces.  (For some reason photographing this one is giving me fits.)  It's a dainty necklace based on the architecture of the National Transit Building.  (Not going to tell you where the design inspiration is located until next week.)  At least my mind is still sharp enough (for the moment) to not slip up and give out the location.   The piece hangs from an  eighteen inch curb chain and sports a Swarovski crystal.  I made six of these pieces (each with different colors of crystals) as I think they will be well received.

Tomorrow night I'll post more pictures of some of the other jewelry.  (If I'm able to type after polishing today.)  

Relay for Life

This Saturday is Relay for Life   

This is the second year in a row that I've donated a piece of jewelry for the relay.  My daughter in law, who always takes part in the race is adding jewelry cleaner and a polishing cloth to our contribution.

I finished my piece yesterday.  Nothing fancy, but hopefully something that will remind the wearer to keep up the fight against cancer.  Something we all need to do.

(The crystal is actually purple, but it sure looks pink in this photo!)

Differing viewpoints

Another jewelry artist in the National Transit Studios is Swan Daashur.  Swan is an amazing artist and she and I are as different as night and day.  I'm more traditional in my designs and her pieces are definitely art pieces.  We've shown our work together for that very reason.

A while back I was working with copper clay which I rolled onto a bent wire to create my design.  I had done this with bronze and created a necklace that I really like. The copper clay I was working with was a brand that is not my favorite, but since I had it......... might as well use it up.

Well.....this technique was being very difficult in copper.  Every single piece I made broke when I was sanding it.  The first plan was to trash it all, then I decided to try pasting the pieces together and see what happened.  As I progressed it looked like a bunch of bananas.  Still wasn't sure I liked it, but maybe it would work out so I fired it, polished it and added a patina.  Still not sure I liked it.

It laid around a few weeks before I found some beads that complimented it.  At first I was going to just use the beads, but felt that it needed more.  Hence the "run-over" beads in yesterday's post.  They fired with a nice earthy color, so no polishing here.  Since wire was used in the design, I decided to also add a wire element.  Saturday I played around with making some ying-yang wire connectors.

Swan stopped by on Saturday and I was telling her about this piece.  She flipped the focal piece over and said.... "You know me, I like the unusual.  I like the back better." (Swan calls it as she sees it!)  After she left I kept taking a look at the piece, flipping it back and forth from front to back.  You know...... I think I do too.

Life is a circle

For 13 years I taught elementary art before I transferred to the high school level and finished out my last 22 years there.  Usually I had three elementary schools that I saw each week.  One of them was Oakland Elementary which consisted of K-6 classes.  Oakland was a rural school that sat in the middle of one of those weather centers.  There could be a major blizzard at Oakland, but in town the sun was shining (which meant that school would not be let out early.)  Often whoever had bus duty had to stay until after 5:00 because the buses couldn't get through.  Even though it made for longer days, Oakland was a wonderful school to work in.  The people I worked with were great and the students were great.

I saw about 300 children a week (and in those days I could remember every single child's name...... don't ask me about names now though.)  Surprisingly there are elementary students that I still remember.  One of them from Oakland works with my son.  In the mornings Dan use to carry boxes to all the classrooms for me (there wasn't an art room.)  Dan's wife, Angel was a student there also and I remember her crying when we got a letter back from Andrew Wyeth.  (He painted Christina's World.)

For Christmas this year, Dan wanted a necklace made for Angel that included a pearl they'd gotten at Sea World.  (The pearl was such a pretty teal color.)   How convenient that I had taken Gordon's class on a box ring with pearl.  I kept the design simple and made the necklace reversible but I had to work out a different method for setting the pearl, as it wasn't drilled.  (And I wasn't about to drill the pearl since there was only the one.)  Instead of setting the pearl on a post, I created a small dish to work as a well to hold lots of glue.   This would create more surface for maximum contact with the pearl.

This isn't something I would have done with a ring, but a necklace doesn't take the beating a ring does.  My biggest concern was getting the dish the right size for the pearl (which luckily worked out.)  I torch fired the little dish so I could check it's size and remake it if needed.  My next concern was that it would shift inside the box during firing (but it didn't.)  When Gordon fired our rings, he filled the box with vermiculite to keep them from slumping.  I wasn't able to do that since the dish enclosed the opening.  That was another concern but it all worked out.

At least for this piece, the Jewelry Gods were watching out for me.  I think they were on hiatus when I was doing my wrapped piece!

"A New Addition"

For some reason I'm fascinated with the ginkgo leaf; ever since I discovered a tree down by the river.

This week I added a new bronze addition to my ginkgo leaf jewelry.  I already had a silver gingko pendant and a copper gingko pendant.  All the leaves came from the same tree.

The silver pendant was made from a leaf when the tree was in full bloom.  The copper pendant was made from a leaf that was finding it's way out from a limb that was cut off and the latest addition was made from a leaf that was lying on the ground this fall.  (Interesting that the last leaf was yellow like the bronze clay.)

More "Kissin" Cousins

Here's more pieces made from some of my Photo Polymer Plates.  Again, it's interesting how different the pieces made from the same plates can be.  

Returning to my roots

When I was in high school (when dinosaurs walked the earth), I loved doing copper enameling. I have to say it was one of my favorite art projects. I still have a couple of pins I made and somewhere there is a bracelet.

Anyway, back then we used a piece of nylon hosiery stretched over the jar and held on by a rubber band, to sift the enamel onto the copper. It worked great! But, as usual I thought I had to have all the fancy tools and equipment available. (I'd have more money if I didn't think I had to have it all.) So, I bought a couple of sifters. It's not that they don't work well but they need to be cleaned between colors (and we all know how I like to clean.) Plus, they eventually come apart and they are more expensive than old pantyhose. (I do wash the pantyhose first; unlike my elementary students who use to bring them in dirty for a sculpture project. Gross!)

The two leaf pieces are wet packed enamel, not sifted.

More cleaning

What can be done with a broken piece and an unusable piece? Combine them to make something new!

Merry Christmas!

During my Open House, I offered one of my Pennsylvania Byways charm necklaces for a drawing. Well, we finally pulled a name and the winner is Heidi Stephens of Oil City, Pa. I almost forgot until my husband stopped by the studio today and wanted to know if I had drawn the name yet. So, he did.

Merry Christmas Heidi!