Category Archives: Earrings

Earrings, gifts, Metal Work, Pendants, Wire Work

Everything’s Comin’ Up . . .

January 8, 2011 Karen

. . . hearts! Many of us have struggled this week to get back in to some semblance of a routine post holiday. While pondering this difficulty, I realized that the stores are beginning to thinking Valentine’s Day. This always sneaks up on me because January is so full of family birthdays. Well, not this year! I’m going to be ready for Valentine’s Day.

I’ve spent some time the last several days making heart earrings. First they were quite plain, although I tried to give them slightly different shapes.

Next, I fancied a few pair by adding beads. Pearls, garnet chips and something red helped these get dressed up.

Finally, last night I got a bit carried away with the alcohol inks. (No! I wasn’t drinking them.) They adhere nicely to the copper and polka dots seemed to add a little twist here. I also did a pair with double hearts soldered to each other, but that photo refused to work. Now I’m thinking of all the shapes that could handle these polka dots in various colors. Let’s see there are butterflies and balls and . . .

Several of these could easily be turned into pendants or minified to become charms. I can see a necklace in particular out of the pair in the first picture that has pearl and garnet chips wired across the middle.

I enjoyed working these out in copper and am now considering going for it in sterling silver. We’ll just have to wait and see if anything hatches with that wire. Perhaps there’s more to come.

Earrings, Metal Work, selling, Torch Work

Trolling

October 28, 2010 Karen 5 Comments

We used to go trolling a good bit when we lived in the Dallas area and had a fishing boat. I never thought it was much fun, but then, I wasn’t the one driving the boat. I felt the best part about trolling for fish was in the heat of the summer when you felt so hot that you thought you would faint. At least trolling meant we kept the boat moving and that made a bit of welcome breeze on wet skin.

I went trolling yesterday . . . for bottle caps. I was reminded of the time when my son was in fourth or 5th grade and his gifted class was collecting bottle caps. As best I recall, they were trying to get to one million to see how much that actually was. When I picked up my son and his friend at the Social Studies Fair, I found that they had been outdoors picking up bottle caps in the parking lot. They weren’t nearly as clean (the boys) as when I first left them there, but they did have a few more bottle caps to add to the class collection. It seemed the bottle cap hunt was more interesting than the Social Studies Fair.

I’m not trying to get to a million bottle caps. I just needed a few more for making earrings. I’ve previously posted a number of pictures wherein these were used and you may recognize a few of those that follow.

Since we don’t drink anything that has bottle caps, the few that I have used previously have come from friends who remembered to bring them to me. I don’t know if I’ve run out of those friends, but yesterday, I was definitely out of bottle caps and set out to find them.

I’d been told I should just go to a bar and ask the bartender to save me some. I told the suggester that I’d feel strange in a bar and he said not to worry that I’d look better by closing time. (I think that was an insult!) At any rate, I chose not to visit a bar, but rather went searching as I ran my errands.

The first stop was a hit! I found one root beer cap when I stopped at the office supply store. Although I searched around the entire area where I found this treasure, there were no other caps around. Later I found another cap at the filling station, but obviously the people who go there are very careful about getting things in the trash can, because I couldn’t find any others. I searched around all the various filling stands and people probably thought I must be very poor and was looking for change. I guess I could have dug in the trash can, but I chose not to. That would have made me look really desperate!

I drove very slowly through the parking lots on my way home as I looked for bottle caps. Finally, I realized that it would be hard to explain that I had run into something or someone because I was looking for caps and I gave up. The sum of my trolling is in the next picture.

Oh well, don’t you think these are good ones? The exciting part of working with them was when I used the torch to anneal them. Either the plastic center in the cap or the cap finish created a beautiful little flame that I feared would set off the fire alarm. Luckily, it burnt out quickly and all peril was averted. Tonight these little jewels will become some sort of earrings. I sell these at a very low price, but after yesterday’s effort, I’m thinking that price may just have to go up. Trolling is hard work!

Earrings, Metal Work, Torch Work, Wire Work

Ah, The Sweet Smell of . . .

October 15, 2010 Karen

. . . metalwork! I never imagined that working with metal would produce so many different odors, or aromas, depending on whether or not you like the particular smell. Most days I’m not even aware of this, but on an unusually sensitive day, my nose took offense to one project.

I was making three pair of etched leaf earrings to fill an order. First, I used the torch and annealed the copper to make it easier to handle. Ah, the smell of propane . . .

Then I painted nail polish on the back of each of the 6 leaves to use as a stop out for the mordant. Ah, the smell of nail polish . . . Then, I used a permanent felt tipped pen to mark the flower shapes, etc on the front of the earring. You really can’t see them in this photo. I tried hard not to inhale the marker.

Next I mixed an acid with hydrogen peroxide (outdoors, of course) and produced a smelly mordant for the etching. Yucky odor!

After the etching was complete, all that nail polish had to come off with that sweet smelling polish remover and the black ink had to be removed with alcohol. Can you smell it?

Since I needed the metal to have a red patina, I again used the torch and heated all six leaves until they glowed red hot. While still hot, I plunged them into a container of cooking oil producing an almost pleasant aroma. It was similar to that of chicken fried steak and all I could think was that finally I could fry something that wasn’t fattening.

Once the clean up was completed after the oil bath, I polished the metal with Renaissance Wax which I can also say produces an odor. Even the dog doesn’t like it!

I made the ear wires out of copper wire and used liver of sulphur to give them a dark patina. Ah, it was like the sweet smell of boiled eggs . . . After the earwires’ tumbler bath, the odors were all gone and I was able to assemble the earrings.

Now why in the world did I end up with a headache?

Bracelets, Earrings, Necklaces, Techniques, Torch Work, Wire Work

When Gold Turns to Silver

October 6, 2010 Karen

I believe this saying has to do with the color of someone’s hair (Knoffler sang something about when the gold of her hair has turned to silver). It might also represent a tact for saving money in the jewelry design business. With today’s spot price for silver at a practically intolerable $22.70/ounce, it’s still more economical to use than gold which lists at $1,330.50 per ounce. You won’t see me using any gold any time soon.

Of course, that’s the same thing I said about silver last year. I was working exclusively with copper, a good deal of which came from the recycling establishment. Lately, however, feeling that my skill has progressed, I’ve delved a bit into silver wire. Today’s photos show the use of fine silver which fuses to itself without solder. Sterling silver requires the use of solder for fusing. One problem that arises with fine silver is just how quickly it melts. My pieces have a few bumps on them where the metal got too hot. Still, I feel it is better to see small flaws that lumpy solder.

The first pair of earrings turned out much bigger than I anticipated, but they do make a statement. I’ve wanted to incorporate seed beads with the wire for some time and enjoyed using needle and fishing line to attach these embellishments to the ovals. They are very lightweight.

The second pair of earrings is, obviously, just a simple set of ovals.

Also, I fused some fine silver circles and put them on a double strand of sterling silver wire. This piece is very simple and delicate. It was trickier than I expected when I tried to get the circles to hang correctly.

What’s a girl to do with earrings, a necklace and no bracelet? I answered that question by getting brave and using some 14 gauge sterling silver wire to make a small simple wave bracelet. I’m still debating as to whether or not to embellish it with beads.

These pieces are a very different style than what I usually make, but were fun to do once I got past my panic of cutting the expensive wire.

I suppose the title to this blog entry should really read When the Copper Turns to Silver since that’s the change I made today. I’m just too much of a tight wad to work with gold right now. They don’t ever seem to have any at the recycling place!

Color, Earrings, Metal Work, Techniques, Torch Work, Wire Work

I Think That I Shall Never See . . .

October 4, 2010 Karen

. . . an earring lovely as a tree. I must certainly apologize to Joyce Kilmer whose original work compared a poem to a tree. Didn’t many of us have to learn to recite those verses in school?

The last few days I’ve been working with tree shapes. It may be the anticipation of the changes soon to occur with the leaves on the trees or simply an inclination to get away from things that are circles. For whatever reason, I’ve been working with the shape of some trees, triangles. This is always a bit of a problem since triangular shapes in jewelry mean you must deal with three sharp corners, but I decided not to let that deter me.

The first trees are a bit large, yet interesting looking. These earrings are copper triangles sweat soldered together to imitate firs. The liver of sulphur patina seemed appropriate on these. I also made a smaller, upside down pair. fir large

The next pair is made of copper that spent several days turning blue. The household concoction worked well and I didn’t want to spoil the color; therefore, I chose not to solder them. That would have removed the blue patina. I made them into pretty good swingers by using the copper rings.

The last pair of earrings initiated with a picture of a pair that a friend gave me. I intended to use silver circles as part of the embellishment, but the bottle caps sitting on the work bench begged to be used. The star in the cold connection adds a little western flair to this pair. Yes, I do realize that this tree shape is upside down, but it seemed like the way to go.

Maybe the next tree shapes should be rounded at the top – I’ll have to give that some thought.

In the last line of her tree poem, Kilmer wrote:

Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.

I could certainly say the same about these silly earrings.

Earrings, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Philosophy, Torch Work, Wire Work

9-11

September 11, 2010 Karen

What should you do on the anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy?

I watched some of the news reports and heard some of the names of the fallen as they were read aloud, but I wasn’t sure what to do.

My family was fortunate that we did not personally lose anyone on that day. My son, who was working in NYC at that time in a building not far from the towers hadn’t gone in to work that day. My daughter, who was working at one of the high rise offices in Atlanta was evacuated and sent home since authorities feared the possibility of other attacks. When my husband and I talked with each of our children, the distance between us seemed extreme, yet we felt close, and we wished we could still protect them as we did when they were little. Alas, we wondered if any of us would ever regain the sense of security taken from us on that day.

Of particular interest to me on the news was the report on the Ground Zero Memorial that is to open in another year. I was taken by the description of the two pools, titled Reflecting Absence, that are to lie in the footprints of the towers. The reporter referred to them as the inverted vertical of the buildings that formerly rose so high above New York City.

Today was 9-11. Today I made angels. It was the least I could do.

Bracelets, Earrings, Metal Work, Techniques

“. . . I’m Gonna Let it Shine”

June 26, 2010 Karen 2 Comments

Do you remember that song from Sunday School? “This little light of mine. . . I’m gonna let it shine.” I was reminded of it as I polished some etched copper yesterday. A generous friend provided me with two types of polish and the dremel parts to use them. It’s a rare thing when someone brings you everything that you need for a task, but this friend did just that. Was she worried that I would never get to it if I had to go hunting for parts or was she just especially nice. I’m sure NICE is the key adjective here.

Having everything I needed, I shined and shined! The picture of a bracelet and some copper circles doesn’t really do justice to their shine. The dark shadows hide a bit of the glow, but you can get the idea. It was actually relaxing, listening to the hum of the dremel backed by the whir of the tumbler containing other pieces. Relaxing until . . . the bark of the puppy informed me the noises weren’t all that pleasant for canine ears. I etched the bracelet with a row of flowers at the bottom and a snail and dragonfly amongst them. The circles have a flower in the middle and some decorative markings around the edges. Following a light patina in liver of sulfur, they were tumbled and then polished. I’m not sure yet what the circles will be. (perhaps earrings or a bracelet) I’m incubating on that one. Any suggestions?

Unfortunately, today the only shining I’m doing is on my dirty house. It appears that between my dust producing design work, the dogs (who aren’t really house animals) and the yuk from this week’s cattle work, the house has been the real loser. I think the word for today is “attack” so it can shine, shine, shine.

Earrings, Metal Work, Wire Work

Earrings Du Jour

May 12, 2010 Karen

Since I don’t do soup . . . may I offer you the earrings “of the day”? First, however, you should know that the light on the right of my photo tent is out right now creating somewhat difficult picture-taking circumstances. This appears to have caused the large circle earrings to show as different colors when they are exactly the same. It did not cause the second amethyst earring to completely disappear. I couldn’t get them both to hang well for the photo.

I got started making earrings today when a store that sold one of my necklaces requested the large circle copper earrings to match. I hurriedly made a pair and took them to the store only to learn that I had the wrong patina. I was given the customer’s daughter’s phone number to gather further details and learned that she “didn’t know what her Mother wanted” and that the necklace had gone to the other side of the state. She kindly gave me her mother’s number and after calling her, I learned, she really didn’t want big earrings at all . . . just small copper rounds that matched. Hmm . . . how do I figure out what “small” means and how do I match the patina to a necklace that I can’t see? I suggested sending a photo to the mother, but the daughter explained that Mother doesn’t compute. Finally we agreed that I would make the earrings, send a digital photo to the daughter here in town, she would forward it to her sister who lives near the mother and the sister would show it to the mother. Do you think there is much chance that the earrings I make will match? By the way, if you are one of the daughters reading this blog, I truly appreciate your efforts for your mom.

I had another call from out of state for a pair of earrings to match a copper necklace sold by that boutique. Luckily, the owner matched the necklace to the stone in a pair of silver earrings she had in the store before letting the customer get away with the necklace. She mailed the earrings to me and I think I have a chance at that one.

So, what’s the point? I’ve told myself this before, but I’m absolutely sticking to it this time. If I have the beads to make earrings for a necklace, I should do it before the necklace goes out. Secondly, if I’m going to patina metal for a necklace, I MUST patina enough to make earrings in the same liver of sulfur bath. Does anyone wish to bet on how long I remember these statements? The hurrieder I go the more I forget my promises

Bracelets, Earrings, Metal Work, Pendants, Wire Work

Puppy Shot

May 5, 2010 Karen 2 Comments

The day started just like any other day. I had carved out some time to design and shape some copper sheet metal and then patina the pieces with liver of sulphur. I never know just exactly what color the patina will produce due to varying factors including water temperature, amount of product, whether or not a piece has been torched, etc. On this particular day, everything was working well. I liked the color produced and was pleased at its richness when I took it out of the tumbler. If you aren’t used to this process, I use a rock tumbler to remove the excess grime created by the liver of sulphur and to polish the pieces. The tumbler is partially filled with steel shot, a drop of liquid detergent and water. The shine it produces is largely a product of the length of time a piece tumbles. Following the tumbling, I pour the tumbler contents into a metal kitchen strainer in order to rinse the pieces without losing any of the shot. I then place the strainer on the top shelf of my laundry room work cabinet. That’s what set the stage for trouble.

As I continued my clean up process, our exuberant 3 1/2 month old puppy raced into the laundry room for his food. He spied the strainer, leapt up and grabbed it and then we were both showered with flying shot. I tried hard not to yell at the little guy, but when I got the broom to sweep up the shot, he kept grabbing it and trying to run away with it. (I’m thinking of rewriting the nursery rhyme to read “the DOG ran away with the BROOM) Picture a little black and white puppy scurrying down the hall with the broom head in his mouth dragging the handle. That was the end of my patience. Slipping on the rolling shot, I managed to grab the puppy by the collar and drag him out to his pen. Then I set out to sweep the shot. Sound easy? When I tried to sweep part of the shot, it would quickly roll to the other side of the room. Eventually, I put up little shoe barriers to catch it as it rolled. That shot was everywhere . . . under the washer, under the dryer, under the freezer, behind the sink, in the shoes, in the boots, buried in the rugs and even in my apron pockets. Two days later, I’m still finding shot - - - puppy shot!

Just so you won’t worry, let me say that I did not shoot the puppy. That’s just the new name for what I put in the tumbler. By the way, this is the same puppy who while waiting inside the running car while the trash was emptied from the car into the container on the street managed to lock one of us out of our own car. He’s such a good little fellow!

Earrings, Necklaces, Wire Work

Chain, Chain, Chain

March 18, 2010 Karen 1 Comment

. . . chain of fools . . . I can’t help but hope that I’m not a fool for having purchased three complete spools of silver plated chain. I usually get it by the foot and then when I get home I can’t figure out anything cool to do with it. The chain usually ends up becoming part of the extender for a lobster clasp. So, in a moment where “the devil made me do it”, I bought the bullet and am so far thankful for my action. I’m having the best time using chain and finding multiple ways to incorporate it into the designs.

Pictured herein are just a few of the pieces incorporating the chain. The first necklace pictured includes the earrings hanging on the side. The beads are inexpensive dyed magnesite heishi beads.

The purple piece is also dyed magnesite and the photo makes it look a bit washed out. The nuggets are really a nice color. The butterfly and flower charms are pewter.

The final picture displays a heavier piece, again made from dyed magnesite. I thought these big nuggets were odd at first, but they are beginning to grow on me.

I’ve also fashioned multi strands of just chain into necklaces that may be layered with other things. Now I’m thinking . . . BELTS!

Am I a fool to no longer think I MUST purchase sterling silver chain? The newer plated chain has come a long way and I need to go along with it. While there are still those who will only purchase true silver, I’m beginning to think that many of my customers want to look good while saving their pennies. Here’s hoping magnesite and plated silver chain works for them. Chain, chain, chain . . .

Dreamcatcher Designs