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Saturday, October 1, 2016

Autumn Jewelry and Recent Sales

 These are some pieces that have found new homes in recent weeks Late September has been a good time to sell.This first piece is a ceramic piece I made. A bit Boho with a fabric necklace.
 This a copper wire with a Raku bead
 Shoulder duster earrings
 A fall necklace
 A bit more romantic
 This combines my sense of whimsy with an antique doll.
 More whimsy skull dancer is one of my faves.
 This to me is dream like 3d hand made backing hammered to fit
 Finally some simple little earrings.  Each piece comes with a little bit of my heart, born from my imagination and built with my hands. And now going to enhance some ones life. That is what it is all for. Creating to create a smile.
 Today I made a set of Old Rose Copper leaf jewelry. The components mostly come from https://www.bsueboutiques.com my favorite supplier. The leaves are connected by jump rings so there is movement in the pendant

 The necklace is pure copper 24 inches with a magnetic closure
 Earrings are hung on Niobium hooks, lightweight strong and non allergenic.
 I made this ring riveted with a 3/32 rivet and covered that with a small green cab of Czech glass
 That is the only spot of color in the set.
 The shank is a cigar band style adjustable size.
The bracelet is simply chain and leaf with a magnetic catch. The chain is non soldered links so it attaches just by opening the link and closing it after inserting the links through the opening in the leaf.
This is the whole set and all the tools required were a punch and pliers. Plus a riveter. Some times the easy projects are good ones.    This link will take you to my shop.                 https://www.etsy.com/listing/469102050/handmade-old-rose-ox-antique-copper

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Creating a backing for a framed doll necklace Basic hammer work.

 This doll fragment is about 100 years old from Germany. When I saw her I knew that a frame would create a great necklace.
 After placing her into the opening and gluing her down with E-6000. The back protrudes about 1/2 of an inch.
Her arm is also proud of the surface about 1/4 inch.
 I cut out a piece of 28 gauge copper sheet for the backing. I could have made a box form but having too much depth behind the figure seemed clumsy.
 So I decided to hammer form a depression into the metal. This is 28 gauge which is about 1/2 mm and must be stretched slowly with a lot of annealing. First step is to locate the point that will be deepest and mark it with a single hammer blow.
 The metal is placed over a depression in the dapping block and light blows begin to form the cup.
 8-10 light blows or taps will result in a rough depression. Anneal the metal and repeat.
 The cup will form and the surrounding will wrinkle a bit. After more annealing and work on both top and bottom the metal will become close to what is needed.
 Next I outlined the area to accommodate the dolls arm with a pencil.
 More annealing and hammer work gives a good depth.
 Many light blows later and the form is complete.
 I placed the frame on the background and loosely traced the shape.
 More trimming and it is almost ready.
 I added a name stamp to the corner.
 The backing was trimmed more and pickled. Then heat was applied to make the color dull a bit. I spread E-6000 around the edges and clamped it together.
 The glue was left to set overnight.
 I added a rivet center top and a chain.
 The result is a pleasing and unique art necklace.
 The back is smooth and trademarked with the Oscarcrow label.  I used a tiny magnetic catch.
 Total time is about an hour of actual work. She will be listed in my Etsy shop for sale   https://www.etsy.com/listing/275461112/handmade-doll-emerging-from-a-frame
I hope you liked this simple tutorial .  It is easy to use sheet metal in you own pieces. Sometimes I find beating metal is just fun. Give it a try.