Bottoms Up.

In a much earlier post I mentioned that the drugstore is near the beer distributor.   And that I found a couple of flattened beer bottle caps in the parking lot.   One is a Bud Light cap, the other is a Busch cap.  (I think I've already share the earrings I made from the caps....... but I'm going to share them again.)

Two part silicone mold is an amazing material.  One part is usually white and the other is a color.  Both parts come in their own containers and don't do anything until they are mixed.  Equal parts of each compound are mixed into a ball.  Then the item to be molded is pushed into the ball and left to firm up; which usually only takes a few minutes.  When the mold sets up, the item is removed and voila...... a mold of the piece.

When the mold is ready, it doesn't need to be oiled as the clay will not stick to it.  The clay can be taken out while wet and used, as it was for this ring.  This way it can be shaped around a piece.  Or it can be left to dry in the mold before it is removed.

The beer caps molds .........

The finished silver pieces.....

"Bud Light"

"Busch"

It's a mystery!

Today I fired five more pieces of fine silver, thinking I could make a few more pieces for the Oil Heritage Craft Sale this weekend.  The pieces were fired as usual, 1470 degrees for forty five minutes.  They came out of the kiln looking white  (as usual.)  I brushed the silver to let the shine show through (as usual.)  

Then I threw them in the magnetic tumbler (as usual.)    This is where "the usual" ends.  The first two pieces were in the tumbler about ten minutes before I tossed in the other three pieces.  Five minutes later I took out the first two pieces....... all shiny and silver.  Twenty minutes later I took out the other three pieces and saw something I've never seen before.  And, for which I have no explanation.  

The top left piece came out looking like a piece of copper.  The top right piece is a combination of dark copper, magenta and  blue.  The left bottom piece is a light gold color and the right bottom piece is the typical silver color (as was the other piece that went in first.)  

Most of the pieces are the colors I would expect after dipping them in Liver of Sulfur (not after taking them out of the tumbler.)  Somehow my shot has been contaminated but it is so strange that two of the five pieces in the same tumble batch are okay.  

So now I have to clean my tumbler with flat coca-cola and try it again.  I plan on re-firing the pieces to remove the coloring as they did not polish up well at all.  (Obviously they won't be ready for this weekend's sale.)  

This is a mystery to me and one I hope to solve.   

The Garden of Eden

One of the first pieces of jewelry I made from metal clay is what I call "The Garden of Eden."  Here I was working with creating a curved shape and using metal clay in the syringe.  (Using the syringe definitely takes practice.)   I started with no idea in mind (my usual mode of operation) and as I worked the piece reminded me of an apple tree with snakes around it, hence the title.  As stated in the last post, this is the only kind of snake I want to see.

But unfortunately, every few years I get to have a "snake episode."  My second encounter came when I went out to the car to go grocery shopping (damn we go through food.)  It was dark out and the garage light made me aware of a large, very jagged crack in the floor of the garage.  I hadn't ever noticed that crack before but thought nothing of it until I found I had the wrong car keys and had to go back into the house.  That's when I saw the crack MOVE and realized it wasn't a crack at all but a very agitated (very long) black snake.

Seeing as how my husband had a six foot boa constrictor in his classroom I thought he would be the man to call.  Obviously he only feels comfortable if he personally knows the snake.  His solution was to take a 2x4 and try to push the snake out of the way.  We found out that snakes don't like 2x4's as he raised up and kept trying to strike out at us.  (I'm getting chills just thinking about it.)   He did manage to get him out into the driveway but he just wouldn't leave.  My husband's next brilliant idea was for me to get in the car and back out.   "That ought to get him to leave."

Have you ever run over an already dead snake and have visions of it getting caught under your car?  I have (several times.)  If I think a dead snake can come up through the floor boards of the car, what would a live one do?  (Why didn't I refuse and have my husband back the car out?)  Anyway, I did it and lived to tell about it.  The snake did leave.  I don't know where he went and I don't care.

I'm just praying there isn't an episode three (although the Boa story could pass for number three.)  If there is indeed a snake living in the ceiling of my garage.........  I thank you all ahead of time for taking time to read my blog because I won't be making any more posts.  It's too hard to type when someone is  frozen in terror.