Category Archives: Metal Work

Cold Connections, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Techniques, Torch Work, Wire Work

Cold Connections

April 16, 2011 Karen

If you are not a jewelry designer you may not recognize the term in the title. Thinking outside of the design realm, I can think of a few “cold” connections I’ve had with people. You know, those encounters that leave you feeling unwelcomed and flat. These are the opposite of those warm welcomes you get from real friends.

Cold connections in jewelry making refer to the way we put things together, often in layers without using heat. I’ve been experimenting with the type of cold connections called riveting. Yes, my spouse is calling me Karen the Riveter, but luckily, I doubt you will be seeing my picture on any soon-to-be famous posters like Rosy the Riveter.

I would call a plain wire rivet the foundation for this technique. Constructing this requires creating holes in the pieces to be layered and inserting a piece of wire through the holes. You then flatten each end of the wire creating a small head that holds things together. This is done on both the top and bottom of your piece. This is easier said than done and it has taken considerable practice to make this type rivet work. Below is a photo of a necklace using a plain wire rivet. The rivets connect the large S’s to the focal.

I riveted a small piece of sheet metal to each wire component It’s easier to see from the back of this piece.

The pendants/charms below show more riveting I just finished.

I used the same plain wire method for E.T.’s bicycle and flower. The other two pieces are riveted with wire on which I balled the ends with my torch. I know that I said “no heat”, but I was just making a big head pin, not connecting!

I really like using the balled wire since this means you only have to flare the backside of the rivet. It’s much easier. The problem that I’ve experienced is in balling the 14 gauge wire required to go in my 1/16 inch holes. This gauge of wire does not melt and ball very quickly and I’ve ended up creating a little oven type structure to aid the process. This structure, composed of old charcoal blocks and solderite has two walls and a bottom. Using the tweezers, I hold the wire in this little structure while I torch and this helps reflect the heat back toward the wire instead of out into space. It still takes a good length of time, but I think it’s worth it.

The last photo shows my first attempt at riveting ceramic beads . . . without breaking them. If you look closely, you can see that each part has 4 layers. From the top down, these are a brass daisy spacer, the bead, a dark copper disc and a teal colored copper disc to which I applied alcohol ink. This will become a necklace, but I’m still playing with how to connect or hang the pieces. They will have a propensity to flip and I’m trying to preplan and avoid that problem in the finished necklace. At the moment, I’m just feeling good about the riveting and not ready for the next challenge. You may notice that some of the wire balls became a bit flat as I worked on the bottom of the rivet. I’ve got to go back and fix that.

There are all sorts of other types of rivets including nail heads, tubes and decorative manufactured rivets. I have tried to nail down the basic technique before doing much with the others.

I hope rivets won’t leave you feeling cold. They really are a great connection!

Creativity, Metal Work, Philosophy, Rings, Torch Work, Wire Work

Mamaw’s Hands

March 24, 2011 Karen

Hands tell a story. We all know people who talk with their hands. There are those dramatic soles who use their hands to accentuate their words with grand gestures. There are others who snap their fingers or clap their hands while speaking to emphasize words or secure your attention. I think some preachers do this to keep us awake in church. Yet, hands also help tell a story when they are perfectly still.

I remember my Daddy’s hands. His fingers were short and stubby and his nails were broken and brittle. As a woodworker and gardener in his retirement years, those hands met with sand paper, dirt, varnish and all manner of stress. His left thumb was shorter than his right having met with the table saw several years before he died. I used to hold his hands and worry about the nicks and cuts, but they didn’t bother Papaw who would just say “oh well, it can’t be helped.“ This man’s hands showed that he was a worker.

My Mother’s hands tell another story. She, too, was a worker. I remember those hands that not only cooked and cleaned in our home, but also stayed busy with knitting, needlework and constant sewing. Hers depict the pain of arthritis that she has endured for so many years. Now they are gnarled and the enlarged knuckles keep Mamaw from her preferred activities. We have tried numerous things to solve the problem, but alas her days of creating are past. It is as though her body is saying that it’s time to rest. The picture below shows a snapshot of my Mother’s hands with my daughter’s hands taken on the latter’s wedding day.

Mamaw’s hands also depict the pride she takes in her looks. I cannot ever remember her wearing much nail polish, but she is still taking care of her own nails and stays well manicured.

For several years she has wanted to wear more rings. A wonderful group of bridge-playing ladies volunteer at the nursing home each week and Mother plays cards with them. Evidently several of them wear beautiful wings and Mother wants to do the same. I cannot, however, get her old rings over those substantial knuckles and have tried to make her something she would wear. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to create anything to suit her. She won’t wear bling and she won’t wear anything plain. I made her a sterling silver S ring that was adjustable, but it didn’t make a hit. This week, I may have finally found the answer. First I had to convince Mamaw that I could NOT work with diamonds and I could not work in gold! Thank goodness she likes lapis. You can see the one I created for her on her finger below. I finally made something both adjustable to go over her large knuckles and acceptable to her.

It’s a bit difficult to see in the second photo that the ring is open in the back. I was able to open it up and slide it past her knuckles and then squeeze it back shut when it reached the base of her finger. She was pleased since lapis is one of her favorite stones. You can see the configuration of the ring better in the photos that follow. The back was not yet cleaned in one of them.

Mother was pleased with her new ring and I hope it will help her hands tell her story. This ring says “I’m still beautiful at 90 years of age and I still take great pride in the way I look.” It also says that someone cares enough about her to try and make her happy.

Today, I’m looking at my own hands and realizing the story they tell. My hands show broken, liver of sulphur colored nails and short stubby fingers that are scraped and marred. My fingers do, however, wear multiple rings when I go out in public. My hands are a combination of both my Mother’s and my Father’s hands. They, too, are hands that work. These hands will create until nature says I must stop. I’m hoping that’s a long time from now.

What do your hands say?

Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Torch Work, Wire Work

An Idle Mind

March 19, 2011 Karen

Today was the day. I tried to get someone else to do it; but no one would. I’d put it off for weeks feigning back problems and all sorts of other problems; but today I simply had to wash the windows. I do NOT like to wash windows. It seems to me to be a truly mindless household chore, but the winter muck, particularly on my studio window, was marring the view of any harbinger of Spring. Therefore, with ladder, newspaper and bucket in hand I marched dutifully out the door to do the deed. (Just in case you don’t wash my way, the newspaper was for wiping, not reading.)

After finishing one small part of the job, I decided it might be more pleasant if I exercised my idle mind with something meaningful. Alas, I couldn’t think of anything . . . but then . . . the words started coming. Idioms and common sayings started creeping in waves across the hills and valleys of my brain until I almost wished I could go back to those idle thoughts. When I thought I couldn’t stand climbing up that ladder to the high windows one more time I realized that only the strong will survive and knew that where there’s a will there’s a way. Telling myself that I surely wasn’t too old to cut the mustard, I just drop(ped my rag) in the bucket and kept working. I climbed that ladder as high as a kite and got down to brass tacks. Unfortunately, I tried to rush the task and my bucket fell off the ladder, dousing my shoes and scaring the poor porch cat. That’s when I remembered that haste makes waste. I was more careful thereafter and glad I didn’t have to hire someone to wash my windows since a penny saved is a penny earned.

After the window episode, I was glad to get back to the workbench and hoped no more sayings would pop into my mind. I was able to complete a dragonfly necklace that I started last night. I appreciate the friend who kindly showed me how to make wire dragonflies. Take a look at her beautiful dichroic glass work at www.wendyhardingdesigns.com. I wanted to use the two dragonflies together, but felt they needed to be stabilized and soldered them onto a copper disc. Then there was that little issue of how to keep any solder from showing and the small copper flower soldered over the dragonfly tails provided the solution. I used mookite beads in this piece. Although I realize the dragonflies are not birds, I just kept thinking how birds of a feather flock together. If I don’t quit thinking this way, I may have to scream. Please don’t tell me if there is a saying about that!

Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Torch Work, Wire Work

Green Time

March 15, 2011 Karen

I usually try to stay home on St. Patrick’s Day. This was surely brought on by some childhood trauma involving pinching, but I’m not sure of the exact incident. I don’t remember wearing any green garments when I was a child and even today, you can look in my closet and find it basically void of this color. This creates a problem on St. Patrick’s Day. I seem to always encounter someone who believes it’s OK to pinch a person who doesn’t wear green in celebration.

This year, I’ve outsmarted any would-be pincher! I’ve got green jewelry to wear. Actually, I’ve got lots of green jewelry to wear!

While you probably can’t see the wire work on the second piece, it sports hand made copper spacers made from jump rings. They were interesting to make as you hook one ring into the others until they create a beady form.

This cabachon on the left is a very subtle, but beautiful green and white seraphinite that I wired and hung on a handmade chain. The gemstone comes from Magpie Gemstones. (www.magpiegemstones.com)

I layered the pendant on the right, using a simple textured oval with a copper star soldered to it as the base for the bezel. I’ve been cutting a few shapes from very thin copper with scrapbooking punches. I don’t know how long the punches will hold up, but this is certainly easier and neater than when I was trying to cut the more detailed shapes by hand. I have this star and a flower.

Finally, the last necklace wears both greens and blues including turquoise and lapis. I like this combination and think it will be nice with denim as well as other things.

Now there’s a brand new problem for St. Patrick’s Day. Which green necklace am I going to wear? Oh well, this is better than getting pinched! I think I like this problem.

Bracelets, gifts, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants

Commissioned Pieces

March 6, 2011 Karen

I recently had the fortunate experience of making some special jewelry as a gift. Although the request came from someone I do not know well, the gift was for someone I do know well. This made it much easier. The unique thing about this commissioned work was that the only parameters were to create something the recipient would like within the price range given. Since I know which pieces of my jewelry the person receiving the gift already has, I was able to make something she would not have seen before. It was also fortunate that the giver trusted me and there was no need to email preliminary photos back and forth. Below is a picture of the recipient wearing her new sterling silver and rodochrosite jewelry.

I regret the photographer didn’t show her pretty face with the pieces, so you’ll just have to trust me that she’s a pretty lady. She doesn’t wear many bracelets, possibly because she is a musician and choral director. We wouldn’t want some bracelet to go flying into the choir as she makes a grand motion. That’s why this bracelet has a firm clasp. You can also see that she has a relatively small wrist and custom pieces for her size are a necessity. It was good that I knew all this information prior to making her pieces; otherwise I might have made a dangling bracelet that could have gone flying as she directed.

I guess that what I’m trying to say is that it’s a really good idea to find out all you can if you are asked to make a special piece. Along with inquiring about what colors, stones and metals the person likes, the person’s style, size and even occupation and hobbies might be important. I’m pleased that the recipient of these pieces is happy with them.

Metal Work, Philosophy

Hearts to You: A Family Tale

February 14, 2011 Karen

Happy Valentine’s Day! We’ve all been hammered for weeks with the commercialism of this day; so it seemed only fitting to acknowledge the other side of “buying diamonds to show you care.”

Since today is a very busy cattle day here at Dreamcatcher Ranch, I took Mamaw her valentine yesterday. I arrived with my pretty package only to find her holding a lovely paper valentine sent to her from one of her “younger” men friends who had recently moved to another “home”. She could hardly open her package from me for talking about that valentine.

When I took her chocolate on her birthday, so did many other people and by mid week she was sick at her stomach. Therefore, I thought I’d do something different for Valentine’s Day. I bought her a pretty light blue knit top at a favorite boutique. She’s always wanting something from Dovetails of Wimberley and it seemed like the perfect time to fulfill that wish. She was thrilled, tried it on and then I stepped back to look at her. Wow, where was my camera? She looked beautiful and I was pleased for her to have something to wear that wasn’t from Walmart!

The gifts helped her remember when . . . She talked about Valentine’s Day when she was a young girl That was when valentines were either very fancy and intricate or very homemade. Mamaw said she always tried to hide the fact that she received valentines from the little boys. She was embarrassed and didn’t want anyone to know she got them. “Did you get more than one,” I asked. “Oh yes, I got them from all the boys,” she replied. “But I didn’t want anyone to know it.” I queried why she got them from the boys and she was sure that she did not know. I asked if it was because she was pretty. Was it because she flirted? Embarrassed even now, she assured me that she had not encouraged their interest.

She told me about one boy that had his mother order a big heart box for her. She used her crooked arthritic hands to show me the size and indicate the puffed red satin top of the box. It was filled with papers for writing. It was stationery. “Did you thank him,” I asked. She didn’t remember. It was at least 80 years ago; so I guess I can understand. All she could remember was her embarrassment. It is, of course, the emotions of long lost moments that we can recall the best.

Lest you think with the telling of this tale that Mamaw has gone soft on us, let me assure you that she has not and finish the rest of the story. As I prepared to leave, I asked if she needed anything. We discussed her makeup, since she will not go to breakfast without her Clinique on. There was some disagreement between us regarding this and in the end I had to admit that she was right. “I think I’m probably right a good deal of the time,” she said. “I just don’t know it.” Hmmm . . . it could be that I just don’t know she’s right either. Yet, I always listen to my mother.

I hope all those little boys Mother shunned as a young girl found their true valentines and never pined for our Mamaw!

Bracelets, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Wire Work

Adventures in Silver

February 9, 2011 Karen

I’ve previously mentioned the astonishing price of sterling silver. Today it is listed by Rio Grande Jewelry Supply (http://www.riogrande.com/news.aspx) at $31.18/ounce. Ouch! It hurts to order sterling silver wire, but I’m making it a practice to look at the current price per ounce on the day my package arrives. It is usually higher the day it comes than the day that I ordered it. I keep thinking it will make me feel better . . . I’m not sure that’s working.

The next step after ordering that sterling silver wire is cutting it. I’m getting much braver and last night, making the bracelet shown here, I actually forgot about the price. Later, when I looked up the amount of wire used and the price for the silver I was extremely glad I didn’t mess up the bracelet!

The armature for this one is an attempt at another style, besides the wave, that is slightly adjustable. This one has some play in it.

Supported by successful feelings about the bracelet, I worked on a sterling silver necklace this morning. It features fused silver pieces in the front and I completed it with a hand made chain. (I AM going to get those handmade jump rings to be my friend . . . soon. I hope. It’s amazing how much better a job I do when I put on those silly reading glasses. (The optometrist told me what would happen to my eyes after age 40. He forgot to warn me about 60.)

I also finished a much simpler sterling piece where I soldered a bezel to sheet metal and then soldered a small part of that metal to a wire armature. I purchased chain for this longer necklace.

Finally, the last photo shows one of the mixed metal pendants I mentioned in another blog entry. It has a pretty modern look which isn’t normal for me, but it’s a start on the mixed metal layers!

Now that I have completed a few sterling silver pieces, the next step is to price them and then see if there are customers out there who don’t mind paying more for this metal. If so, there will be less pain the next time I place an order for sterling silver wire and sheet metal. If not . . . well, I guess I’ll be sticking with copper.

Creativity, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Torch Work, Wire Work

Layering

February 7, 2011 Karen

The cold snap that has fallen upon my warm climate location has resulted in considerable layering of clothing. Since we are not used to frigid temperatures, I don’t have wool sweaters and warm leggings. Yet, I learned last week that if you just put on enough layers of what you do have, warm cometh! There is, obviously a concomitant issue: how many layers can one person don and still be able to move around?

Having successfully layered my clothing, I felt the need to explore the layering of metal. Most of my metal pendants are pretty large and I was attempting to created something a bit smaller.

The first pendant shown, all in copper, happened accidentally when a small piece of copper I had cut from the middle of a circle fell upon a larger piece. This is a really good reason (or excuse) for not keeping the workbench too neat and tidy. The layers of the pendant are soldered together. I like this pendant, but kept hearing a little voice in my ear saying “where’s the gemstone?” For the next pendant, I added another parameter. I wanted something small, layered and with a gemstone.

Finally, I wanted one more addition to the pendant factory process. . . sawing. I was gifted a saw for Christmas and have had minor success with it. Sunday it was time for real saw action. Sawing is not easy and I can see that it will take considerable time to refine this technique. Yet, the organic look in the next pendant is a start. the problem statement for it was “in what ways might I combine sawing, layering and a gemstone in a metal pendant?”

This one, too, is interesting, but I didn’t achieve smaller . . . I left that term out of my problem statement and it didn’t happen. Actually, I do not think I’m ready to saw “smaller” at this time.

I found the most difficult part of the process for the pendant with gemstones pertains to the order of events. On the silver pendant, I soldered the bezel to the sheet metal first and then attached the wire stem and finally the leaves. I tried to change this order on the last pendant. I soldered the small copper pieces on first and then when I heated the metal during the bezel soldering process, the copper pieces fell off. That, of course, makes sense to me now, but I guess you learn by doing.

Today, I’m interested in trying some mixed sheet metal in the pendants. I’ll let you know if that process is worth sharing. The next time you put on all the layers of clothing just pretend you’re a gorgeous pendant!

Metal Work, Philosophy, Rings, Torch Work, Wire Work

Ring a ding ding . . .

February 1, 2011 Karen 2 Comments

I think it’s interesting to discover what others believe about gemstones and/or specific shapes that may be used in jewelry design. I’ve enjoyed writing for Magpie Gemstones and researching information pertaining to the properties of various stones (http://www.magpiegemstones.com/properties.html); but today I became interested in whether there might be symbolism behind the rings many of us wear. Of course, I understood the symbolism surrounding wedding rings, having worn the same one for over 42 years; yet, I didn’t realize that some believe this ring is on the third finger of the left hand because this is closest connection to the heart (flutter, flutter . . . and a collective “ahhh”).

Some people, married or not, however, wear rings on other fingers and I wondered if these also have symbolism. While researching, I began to wonder if the ring I wear on the third finger of my right hand was symbolizing something to others that I had not intended. Therefore, I had to dig deeper.

I’m a pretty stubborn researcher and always try to verify the information in one source by finding the same information in at least one or two other places. Based on that requirement, here’s what I learned. Some cultures do believe that the finger on which a ring is worn is indicative of something about the wearer. This may vary by culture, but the following seems predominant:

Thumb: A person who wears a ring on their thumb can be telling the world that he/she has strong willpower, is self assertive and insists on freedom and independence.

Index: If a person wears a ring on the index finger, the wearer can be emphasizing personal assertiveness and ambition. Supposedly, that person makes up his/her own mind.

Middle: Wearing a ring on the middle finger is purported to symbolize strength and balance.

Third Finger: A ring on this finger tells the world that the wearer is creative, optimistic and has a sense of well being. As previously mentioned, this finger on the left hand commonly holds the wedding ring.

Pinkie: Wearing a ring on the pinkie may be telling folks that the wearer considers himself/herself appealing and easily expresses things to others. This finger wears the relationship ring.

. . . and here I thought people just wore a ring on which ever finger it fit! That’s what I’ve always done; if it fit and felt comfortable, I wore it. Now I’m going to have to pay attention to which finger I have a ring on. But wait, there’s still hope. Is it possible that other people, like me, do NOT know the symbolism just described? If so, then I may as well wear those rings on any finger I choose. But, just in case I want to SAY SOMETHING by wearing the ring on a particular finger, I’m well prepared with the rings I have made this week.

I learned to make the rings in the picture at the top at a wire workers meetup where my friend was kind enough to share her expertise. You can check out Sherry’s Jewels on her Artifire site (http://www.artfire.com/users/sherrysjewels) Directions for the rings at the bottom come from Kim St. Jean’s new book, Mixed Metal Mania. She calls these “old bones” rings, but I just call them “earth” rings.

The final photo shows a turquoise ring that I am just finishing. It still needs a bit of work. This ring just happens to fit my index finger; so when you see me, be sure to realize that I’m ambitious! In the mean time, maybe you should go try on your rings and figure out if they display any symbolism.

By the way, if you need any rings, I think I know where you can get some!

Earrings, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Wire Work

Bird Brain

January 23, 2011 Karen

It’s Cedar Fever season in my neck of the woods and it tends to make me feel a bit dull. After doing a few things that I felt weren’t too smart the past few days, the term “bird brain” popped into my mind. I don’t actually think that anyone has ever called me that derogatory term, but I have heard it used before. So, I wondered. Is it right that when you aren’t functioning at a real high level could you be experiencing the “bird brain” phenomenon?

As it turns out, being called “bird brain” might be a compliment. While scientists used to believe that most of a bird’s brain was a primitive and instinctual structure, recent discoveries indicate that about 75 percent of the brains of songbirds actually serve as a sophisticated information processing center. Many songbirds actually have a more powerful processing center than mammals. The bird’s brain is pretty small, but it’s also quite mighty.

I made a bird necklace yesterday in honor of those little brains everywhere.

The bird is difficult to spot on the copper pendant. I used a nice stamp pad of a bird scene to apply stop out to the metal and then etched it. A close up photo follows. It is much clearer in reality.

I hung the earrings on the necklace for photo taking purposes and wanted to show you the new twisted wire I’m trying out. Although the ends are difficult to deal with, I like the look of this wire. I also used it for a couple of swirls in the handmade chain on the necklace shown in the next photo.

From now on, when I’m struggling with those high cognitive processes, I will not think about bird brains. I will simply hope that my brain is half as power packed as those little song birds.

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Dreamcatcher Designs