Category Archives: Metal Work

Bracelets, Color, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Wire Work

Spring is in the Cold Air

January 21, 2011 Karen 2 Comments

Yesterday was one of the coldest days we’ve had this season in South Texas. Although I am seldom chilled while hammering, torching and working with my tools, yesterday was an exception. I was trying to imagine warm Spring breezes blowing across the bluebonnets and women in cotton dresses and floppy hats out enjoying the day. Alas, it was a very big stretch to say the least.

If you are a designer or type of merchant who makes changes in merchandise with the seasons, you may be experiencing my difficulty. At the height of a given season or perhaps even before that season begins, we need to switch gears and plan for the next one. So here goes. I’m layered in warm clothes from head to toe and I have the Spring palette of colors laid out to work with. It just doesn’t seem right, but it IS necessary.

Luckily, the owner of Dovetails of Wimberley gave me the Casual Corners catalogue displaying the Spring line. I’m using it to help plan jewelry to go with the garments. Take a look at the beautiful mixture of colors shown in the catalogue.

Inspired by these photos, I began to play with the fiber I had on hand. This included yarns, ribbons and cording.

This gave me a better understanding of what colors coordinated and might work best in beads.

I’ve begun now to work with the beads matching these colors that I got from Magpie Gemstones (www.magpiegemstones.com). I can show you the one new bracelet below and the lapis necklace that just went into my etsy shop (www.dreamcatcherdesigns.etsy.com).

I used a new style armature for the bracelet and think it will be nice for those customers who have enjoyed the wave bracelets. This one is not as wide and displays more gemstones and pearls.

The lapis necklace is a piece that finally hatched. I made the pendant at least two months ago and then it sat and sat on the work table waiting for further inspiration. The blues from the Casual Corner catalogue finally led me to finish this piece. Just a few charoite beads help set off the color of the lapis and make it look more like Spring.

Today, the sun is out even though it is still cold outside. I guess I’ll have to continue to imagine the warmth of the Spring breezes. I think I’ll go put on a floppy hat to get in the right frame of mind.

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.

Bracelets, kits, Metal Work, Tutorials, Wire Work

Nuts and Bolts

January 3, 2011 Karen

Today is the first day of the new year and it’s time to get back to the real world. For my little jewelry business that means getting back to the nuts and bolts of producing. January, for me, always means “try something new” during the lull when my boutique customers are clearing out rather than stocking up.

This year my initial “new” something comes in the form of Dream Kits. The name was suggested by a friend and it represents a package of metal components that may be purchased as a set. Kits are highly popular in other avenues of bead work. For example, one can easily find seed bead kits that contain all the components needed for a particular design plus the tutorial for making the piece. There are also kits for making chain maille designs that include lots of jump rings in the size required for the included pattern. Yesterday, I listed a couple of handmade chain kits on my etsy site (www.dreamcatcherdesigns.etsy.com) and I’ll be adding more as I produce them.

My thought with these kits is that some excellent designers don’t want to do any wire work, yet would enjoy using handmade components in their pieces. I enjoy making these and can offer a good product. We shall see if there are any takers.

The next kits are going to also have sheet metal components. These may be needed since working with metal requires so many tools and not every one wants to make that investment. I would greatly appreciate your thoughts and suggestions about what types of kits are needed. Do you think it would be better to offer the components separately?

I also wrote a new bracelet tutorial yesterday which will soon be ready for consumers. This flower cuff bracelet tutorial is in the proof reading stage and should be on etsy later in the week.

I’m also trying to learn to use a jewelry saw – currently a slow-go process. My first piano teacher told me to always begin with technique. It appears that the technique of sawing will take some time and practice, practice, practice. I guess its like working on scales on the piano every single day. Practice usually does produce. I find that this practice also requires patience. (My teacher forgot to tell me about that!)

All in all, the nuts and bolts of January 2011 are starting to come together and I’m looking forward to the year’s journey. How about you?

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

Charming: Another Word for Sharing

December 20, 2010 Karen

I have previously mentioned a group with which I meet once a month. We get together and share ideas about working with wire and other materials for jewelry design. Although I’m not a “joiner”, I really enjoy this group and we’ve met together for over a year without any big arguments. That’s probably because we are a “faux” society. We have no rules, no officers, no dues and no big events to plan. This is probably why we get along so well.

We decided to exchange charms for Christmas. Rather than the usual exchange by designers where participants bring one thing and leave with someone else’s piece, we brought a charm for each person. I walked away with 12 different charms. Some were wired while others were soldered creating an array of very different looking objects. It was fun to see how each person approached the task of making charms in her own unique way.

I used the charms on the necklace shown here. They hang from copper tubing purchased at the hardware store. The charms are separated in a few places by larger copper tubing cut into small links. Without these pieces and the extra wire wrappings all the charms sat right on top of one another and refused to show their personality.

The tubing hangs from several types of fibers including yarn, silk cord and ribbon. I also attached a small copper chain. These hang down in the back where the closure is a handmade hook and oval. You may have seen something similar to this piece (minus the wonderful charms) in a recent beading magazine.

It’s fun to wear this piece and look down at the charms. I know who made each one and the piece reminds me that we are all so unique; yet, we can come together and make a beautiful whole.

After the experience of sharing with this group and creating this piece, I read about a group where each person contributed to necklaces that traveled around the world. The latest Belle Armoire Jewelry, Winter 2011 shares Around the World: A Necklace Round-Robin starting on page 24. I gleaned from the article that each participant started a necklace, creating several inches, and then mailed it to the next person. Individuals added specified lengths to each necklace when it arrived. The gals also kept a blog or journal about what they were adding and how it was created. In the end, each person received a necklace that had been “around the world” having traveled to several different countries. Pictures of these necklace show them to be as eclectic as mine above.

There are so many ways to share this time of year. Christmas, hopefully, brings out the best in all of us. The simple sharing of your talent is priceless. Whether you share a visual art form, the gift of gab, the sound of your music or a simple glow that makes others feel good, we all seem to feel better when we give and share.

Yesterday, as I left the nursing home where my mother resides, one of the aides waved at me and said he hoped I got everything I wanted for Christmas. You know, I couldn’t think of a thing I really wanted except healthy and happy friends and family. When I told him that, he knowingly smiled and understood. I wish the same for all of you.

Merry Christmas!

Bracelets, Metal Work, Techniques, Tutorials

Tutorials

December 14, 2010 Karen

I truly enjoy writing. After I finished my dissertation, I thought I might never like writing another thing, but that didn’t last long. My mind constantly chatters and the words seem to flow more clearly through my fingertips than my mouth. The few books I wrote for teachers were joyful to do because they helped me formulate better teaching procedures for myself. Then, there have been those countless articles I’ve written about parenting, creativity, gifted children, early childhood education, etc. Retiring from my consulting business, I felt all that writing was behind me. Therefore, when my son first suggested several years ago that I begin a blog, I just shook my head; yet, here I am writing a blog! Lately, I’m also truly enjoying writing very short articles for Magpie Gemstones (www.magpiegemstones.com). Now, I’m trying something new. For a couple of months, friends who were unable to attend the little workshop I held on how to make a dimensional bracelet have asked me to write a tutorial for it. If you’re not in the jewelry making arena, you may not realize that tutorials are popular and contain both directions for making something but also provide a large number of pictures showing the process. After telling people that I “would not” write a tutorial because it would be too much like writing an educational handout or course syllabus, Sunday I wrote one! http://www.etsy.com/listing/64285495/dimensional-cuff-bracelet-tutorial The tutorial is for the basic bracelet shown in the picture at the top. It features layers of wire on the top part allowing the designer to create depth with the gemstones. You can see it better in the following pictures of another dimensional bracelet made using the same process. Although I had typed the written instructions on Saturday, I worked on this tutorial all day Sunday in order to take and add the 40 or so photos. Who knew it would take so long?

My guest “editors” have read the tutorial and other than a couple of mess-ups, it seems to be ready for use. Perhaps someone will enjoy making it after the holidays when life slows a bit. I’m anxious to see what variations other designers develop for this basic process. As for the writing . . . creating a tutorial was not nearly as interesting as the other types of writing I like to do. Will there be more? I don’t know as this depends upon the reception for this one. My questions is “does anyone else benefit from or enjoy the results of this type writing?” If so, perhaps there will be more tutorials from this pen. The real learning I take from this is that I had better quit saying I’m NOT going to do something. Eating my words is not a pleasant meal; I’ve got more interesting things to do!

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

Like a White Tornado

November 25, 2010 Karen

Like many of you have probably been doing, I’ve been racing around the last few days cleaning my house to prepare for company. The phrase “like a white tornado” kept creeping into my thoughts only I seemed to be moving like a GREY tornado. My interpretation of that means an older slower version of a cleaning wonder. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if a “white” tornado is racist. Go ahead and laugh, strange things enter my head when I’m inhaling those cleaning products.

I seized the opportunity to sit down at the computer and prove how silly my question really was. The initial information provided online was about a cleaning product, Ajax, and a slogan used to advertise it in 1972. No wonder I thought about this phrase;, that’s when my son was born and I was “into” cleaning. This link should take you to a video of one of the commercials used for Ajax. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vurmg1yffg The commercial could lead you to believe that the product makes cleaning go faster. That’s when, at the rate I was moving, I was sure I was a grey tornado this week.

I was still curious about white tornadoes and found more information which might have produced the idea behind the Ajax slogan. I learned about white tornadoes from http://www.chaseday.com/tornadoes.htm : A tornado can appear white when it is “front lit” by the sun. Since most of them are photographed with the sun behind them, they look black or dark grey. (Perhaps being a grey tornado isn’t that bad.) You may also see a white cloud of water rotating into a froth at the base of the tornado. I’m sure you’ve really been wondering about that for quite a while.

The picture at the top shows my version of what might be left behind by a white tornado. The “ditch” in it reminds me of what I was taught as a girl in tornado alley Oklahoma. If you are out when you see a tornado coming and you can’t get to shelter, lie down as flat as possible in the ditch beside the road. I’m thankful I never had to do that.

I’m also thankful for readers like you who go all the way to the end of my entries, even those that are silly like this one. Happy Thanksgiving!

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!

Bezels, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, selling, Wire Work

Who IS the Customer?

October 20, 2010 Karen

Many articles that discuss getting started selling things advise us to question “who is the customer?” Unfortunately for me, I’ve often ignored that question because the boutiques I serve are so varied. Magnify that by the fact that each store’s customers are pretty varied as well and the equation about the customer is pretty overwhelming. Yet, this week I’ve found that I really needed to stop and ask that question as I prepared to call on a particular boutique. This new boutique caters to the younger set and in the past the owner has suggested I needed some pieces made with chain or leather ropes. My more heavily beaded pieces just weren’t what she needed. One day, while in this store, a girl about high school age came in and tried on clothes. As I watched her, I finally “got it” and realized I did need some pieces with leather, chain and ribbon.

I felt this wasn’t my style initially, but as I’ve made a valid attempt at it this week, I’m excited to be trying something new. It may allow me to expand the options for all my customers.

The first two pictures show necklaces made with a good deal of chain. The mahogany bead piece has handmade copper chain in the back with handmade copper jump ring dangles in the front. The second piece is similar in style, but utilized both hand made copper chain and plated silver chain. I added beads to every other jump ring in the front.

I think these pieces turned out OK, because they have both sold before I even call on the customer for whom I made them.

I also experimented with ribbon and leather cord for a few pieces. I know designers often work with ribbon, but it was tedious for me. My thumbs are quite ruff from working with metal and wire, so the ribbon kept sticking to them and raveling. Fray check for ribbon ends has now become my friend.

The necklace on the right sports a green amber cabachon wrapped with dull aluminum wire. It hangs from a dyed silk cord I purchased at a bead show. The organza ribbon bow can be removed.

I made several other pieces on the leather cord which are not pictured here and hope to also work with the black velvet ribbon I purchased.

I do not yet know if the customer for which I designed these pieces will like them, but I do know that thinking specifically about “who” the customer is influenced what I designed. I’ve found this to be true before. Once, I was commissioned to create a pin for someone whose bout with cancer was concluding. As I thought about the patient, the pin just seemed to make itself. Another time, a western wear store that usually sells sterling silver wanted to try some copper and that influenced the design of the piece shown here.

So, “who is the customer?” Apparently, my customer is the boutique for whom I am visiting next. Today while scheduling my next trip to a specific Texas Hill Country shop, the owner said “you know what I like”. Yes, I do and in the next weeks I’ll be designing specifically with her in mind.

Know your customer. This can open some avenues of design that I never imagined. But sometimes, I want to remember that I am the customer too and create just exactly what I LIKE!

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?

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.

Dreamcatcher Designs