Now one would think that making a piece a second time would be easier, right? I have not always found that to be the case. The latest case in question is a spiral pair of earrings that have a swarovski crystal butterfly dangling off the bottom. They were tricky the first time. I had planned to wrap thin strips of clay around two straws, slide them off the straw, drill holes in both ends and that was all it would take. I figured I could just turn one spiral upside down to mirror the other one. Wrong! I found out that each straw has to be wrapped in a different direction from the beginning. (Got some extra pieces out of this project which are still waiting to be used in something...... that is if I can remember where I put them.) Then came the drilling. Let's just say the earrings are shorter than I planned.
Anyway they managed to get finished. I have an order to make another pair. This time I know to wrap them in opposite directions. For some reason, all but one of the earrings split when I went to drill them (and remember they each have two holes.) I was very, very careful (after the last time) and couldn't believe it when they split. I think it must have something to do with the slight curve at the ends. I ended up making three pairs of varying lengths and thicknesses. Figured I'd better make a few more while I was on a roll. They're out of the kiln now, in one piece and ready to be turned into earrings.
It was a successful day at the studio, but not an easy one.
My next project is to find a whole box of shiny metal clay pieces that I've somehow misplaced. (I hate it when I do that.) I'd better find it as there is a piece in there that I need to enamel before Christmas. Is it St. Christopher we pray to for lost things?
2 comments:
Alice, I know just what you mean! I had made some spirals too. (Brought mine to our Dec. Guild meeting, after having seen some in your studio, then you missed that one. Oh well.)
I did get that they had to spiral opposite directions, but then I used to teach Geometry... I played around with cutting the ends different ways, to get different effects. Had lots of fun there.
BUT, I had a major problem with cracking as I drilled holes too! My wider ones weren't too bad, but I was all excited about making some just a little bit narrower (a tad under 1/4"), and they split like crazy. I'd had no problem drilling pieces that narrow if I left them straight. But on the twists, one would be OK, but I'd drill and crack its mate. So I'd fix that, then go back and shorten first one to match, then split it drilling its new end hole there. Back and forth. Great long danglers ended up very petite, some even concluding with holes only at what became the top.
The only thing I could think of was that it might have been a bit harder to hold the twists with as much "support" as I usually try to give while drilling. I thought of a dozen other reasons, but none of them made any sense to me, while that seemed mildly plausible. If you come up with other theories, let's compare notes!
-cs
Carol, when I was working on the second batch I thought of you. I figured that you would know to twist them opposite directions with your math skills.
Interesting to hear that you had problems with the drilling too. Mine were all 1/4 " in width. I do think there must be some kind of torquing involved with the twist. I finally got them all drilled, but like you were saying.... they are much shorter than intended.
I did the same thing too. Would get one to work and crack it's mate, which meant redo the first one. Somewhat frustrating.
I finished up all three pairs tonight with the butterflies and all three look different. But, they all look good.
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