Hollow forms

Our first project at the Rebel Heartistry Retreat was to make a hollow form.   We could make a ring or a pendant and since I love, love, love rings....... guess what I made?

This was not my first time at making a hollow form but it was my first time making it out of sterling silver with traditional metal smithing tools.  Besides the fact that I don't use a jeweler's saw when working with metal clay (although I have in certain instances) there is one major difference that I noticed.

The fine silver clay is more porous than the sterling sheet.
(I wonder if that is true of sterling silver clay?)  Because it is, the hollow form does not have to have any holes to let the gases and fluids  escape.  We had to drill holes in the inner band for that purpose.


"Aquarius" was made by covering a rock with metal clay, cutting it in half when dry and pasting the halves back together.  Embellishment was added on after the hollow form dried.  As with lots of my jewelry, this piece told me what it wanted to be when I accidentally broke off a corner (which became the spout with a crystal drop.)

I wanted to show the construction method we used in construction of the ring, but for some reason I can't download it.  (Not sure why.)  But this is the basic form of my ring (embellishes will come later.)  We constructed the inner band and soldered it onto sheet metal.  Then the outer band was soldered on and the center and outside were sawed out.  (Sawing really wasn't that bad.)  The last step was to solder on the other side onto the rings and saw that side out too.  I was afraid of getting too close to my bands so I had some major filing to do.  (That is not fun.)






Of course the metal clay piece is constructed with the use of metal clay paste while the sterling silver is constructed with solder.   The finished metal clay piece can also be soldered.  It takes a little more solder since it is a porous material and sucks the solder in.

This metal clay necklace was formed somewhat like the ring but was constructed with paste rather than soldering


Soldering makes me nervous but I can do it.  I need to do it more often so I feel more comfortable with it.  I tend not to do it as the paste works great and is less stressful.  But, it's all relevant.  I will start to solder on my bezels now, rather than using the paste.


The last piece is metal clay and the bezel was added with metal clay paste.  I guess it's good to be able to do both processes, depending on the situation.  Which ever I use, I now have a soldering set up and bought myself some easy, medium and hard solder.

The Eye has it!

Commissions are always a challenge.  Often the challenge lies in what is the customer really looking for.  They have a general idea but the specifics are left up to me and I always worry if my vision will be what they are looking for.  I guess I shouldn't worry about that as the customer is familiar with my work and probably wouldn't hire me if they didn't like my work.

I had a request from another artist to make an "eye" ring for her daughter.  Being an artist herself, she sent me some drawings she had done of what she was thinking about.  (That helps a lot!)  She said I could use my own judgement on the final piece.

I kept pretty much to her idea while adding my own touch to the ring.  And of course the ring made some decisions in it's own design (as usual.)  The ring is large and turned sideways so it will cover three fingers at once.

Even though commissions can be very challenging, they are good because they make me stretch my knowledge and try new techniques.

How to impress your girlfriend!

This post should have taken place in 2013, but as I mentioned in my last post...... I fell behind.

If you've been reading my blog, you'll remember that this past summer I had a young man (Alex) who has muscular dystrophy come into the studio to make his mother a ring.  When he came to the studio his cousin (Brandon) came with him to help him out.

In late November Brandon texted me wanting to know if he could come into my studio and learn how to make a ring.  He needed to have it done by Christmas as he was making it as a Christmas present.

Alex made a by-pass ring which is made flat.  Brandon's ring was made to size on a ring mandrel.  (He had his girlfriend's roommate check her ring size when she was out.)  He wanted the ring to have an organic feel.  At first he was thinking branches and leaves but ended up making vines and leaves.

His mother stopped by to take pictures so he had proof that he did indeed make the ring.  (I figured that his girlfriend wouldn't believe it.  He did such a nice job.)

How much more a gift means when it's made from the heart.  

(One of the nicest things my husband ever did for me was take the money out of the church envelope and buy me a dress that I wanted.  Now I know that sounds bad, but he didn't have any money and I was certainly surprised........ Sorry Lord!)

Family Time

Sometimes a class will go and sometimes it won't.  Luckily this summer was one of the "will goes."

The Oil Valley Center for the Arts scheduled two classes for me this year.  In June I taught an Intro class and in August I taught an applique ring class.  Both classes were filled (plus one more in each) so they were taught in the Art Center's classroom.  

In June there was a mother and son who took the Intro Class.  They returned in August to take the ring class and this time the father and the daughter came too.  Quite often the classes become a family affair.  

The first time I had a family in class, each member got to pick an activity for the month and they all did it.  The father didn't seem too interested at the time, but he later told me that he wasn't a morning person and hadn't had his coffee yet.  All turned out well.

Then for Easter a mother gave her son and daughter a class instead of giving them candy.  She took the class too and they used stones in their pieces that she bought off QVC.

A friend of mine gave her daughter and son-in-law a class as a birthday gift.  Which is what Beth Orris did this summer for her daughters.  

This time I'm not sure what the occasion was, except that the mother and son really enjoyed their first class and wanted the family to share in the experience.  Dr. Brad Fell and family did a great job on their rings.  Having a doctor in the studio came in handy as he was able to use his expertise with tweezers to retrieve a piece from the Liver of Sulfur solution.  (Another lady and I must have tried twenty times.)  Dr. Fell got it out with one try.

Tina and her daughter both made two rings.

Julian appliqued fishbones to his ring.  It appears he has a theme going here as he did a radioactive symbol on his pendant in the Intro Class.

Brad liked the way the patina added a variety of colors to his ring and decided to leave it on, rather than polish the piece.  The colors will eventually turn dark and disappear but for awhile the ring will have a unique color to it.

The daughter carved words into her ring to compliment an existing ring she owned.  

It's fun to teach classes with families.  There is some interesting interactions going on that doesn't happen usually with people who don't know each other.  

The Big Honker

In an earlier post I pictured a ring that went awry. The band twisted badly as it fired and when I tried to hammer it back into shape, the top broke off and the band broke at the seam.

It was actually a good thing. The band had a texture and the top just didn't relate to the band in any way shape or form. So.... it was back to the drawing board. I've always wanted a big ring and this was my chance to get one. I already had rings for five of my fingers so what was one more.

This time I used the same band texture on the top of the ring and embellished the design with 1.5 mm fine silver balls (I'm on a ball kick) and a metal clay coil. The top of the ring was curved to add interest; but this also added another problem as it wouldn't touch the band when it laid on my finger.

So.... I had to build up a point on the band to go up into the curve. I succeeded at this, but it isn't a pretty sight. If the ring wasn't for me, I would have kept working on it. (The underbelly of the top is rather strange looking.)

The top is a little under one and one half inches long. It basically covers half of my index finger. It's one honking big ring. (I'd show how it looks on my finger, but my hands are the oldest looking part of my body....... at least I think they are. I certainly hope they are.)

Tomorrow I'll post the finished original piece that broke off the top.