Easily Distracted by Lovely Textures

Spring cleaning of my garden can sometimes take way too long.

I have a recurring problem of allowing myself to be easily distracted by the textures of dead vegetation.

Dried seed pods, ornamental grasses and leaves often make me pause to think,

"Hmmmm...wonder what this would look like if I roll printed it?"

Once that thought is there, it can nag at me until I actually test out the texture with my rolling mill.

I lucked out when I bought my rolling mill years ago at a nearby Harbor Freight.

This is not my dream rolling mill, but finding it on sale for less than $100,

I decided I could live with less than my dream.

Some dried leaves appeared to be good candidates for the mill.

Each leaf was sandwiched between 2 pieces of annealed copper.

The resulting texture was definitely worth the effort even thought the brittle leaves cracked under pressure, resulting in a disjointed imprint.

I then had to figure out how these pieces of copper leaf texture could best be used.

Brief consideration was given to cutting out discs for earrings and links,

but I decided that would not be an effective way of communicating the story of my garden's leaves.

I chose to cut out the leaves with metal shears.

After filing and sanding the edges, I tried forming one by using a couple of my swage blocks.

Once I was satisfied with the shape, I treated my prototype with liver of sulfur.

This was definitely a much more interesting project direction than my initial thought of cutting discs.

The other leaves were shaped in steps

with different profiles in the swage blocks.

The plan was to use the leaves as pendants,

so I had to consider how the connection to a chain would be made.

Again, I had an initial reaction, thinking that a wire wrapping link could do the job nicely.

My smarter, inner designer wouldn't let me go down that wire wrapped path.

I think these formed leaves have a beautiful simplicity that would be compromised by the heaviness of too much wire at the top.

The solution was to shape and cut large sterling wire jump rings that I soldered closed after threading them through holes that were drilled at the top of each leaf.

The liver of sulfur treatment was done in repeated baths,

allowing the patina to build up.

Once I was satisfied with the color, 

multiple layers of microcrystalline wax were applied and buffed with a soft cotton cloth,

creating a lustrous finish.

Now I'm ready to turn these metal leaves into necklaces

and ready to get back to cleaning out my garden.

Be Wary of Praise from Strangers

I am a tiny, modest business operation. 

Cynthia Murray Design consists of me,
working away in my basement studio/workbench and at my easel. 

I am told that I have cultivated a small following at some of the local shops that carry my work. 

My blog, Flickr and Pinterest sites have groups of regulars who presumably find something of interest in what I create and write.

I am very aware that mine is a singular, quiet voice in a cacophonous sea of online entities, 

all trying to put forth some kind of message. 

That is why I’m always a bit surprised when someone pauses to hear my message and even more surprised when one of those who pause actually reaches out and contacts me.

A few months ago, I received an email from the Director of Marketing of a company that designs and creates a popular line of products, telling me that she had come across my blog while researching fellow artists. 

She found my work “absolutely beautiful” and could tell that I was “passionate about my art”.
 Because it was Artist Appreciation Month 

(?...yeah, I also wasn’t aware that this was yet another one of those 30 days of alleged ‘appreciation’), 

their company wanted to 

“learn a bit more about me as an artist”.

I readily admit to initially feeling flattered by being contacted by a successful company, 

but life experiences have inspired in me a healthy level of suspicion. 

I wrote back, asking for more information. 

The response explained that they wanted to “celebrate my work and learn what fuels my passion” by having me write a blog post, answering a series of questions that they developed. 

I was to post this on my blog.

Wait a minute….

I didn’t understand how posting something on my own blog was going to be a benefit to me. 

I already tell my own story,
in my own words. 

I had a brief, naive thought that my work might be mentioned on the site of this successful company whose Director of Marketing was only pretending to be interested in my “lovely blog”. 

As I read further, I realized that they wanted me to include a link to their web site in my blog posting with no reciprocating acknowledgment.
How convenient that they provided the link to the page that highlighted their new products.

I decided to research and immediately found many blog postings composed by artists and craftspeople who undoubtedly received the same email that I had received, 

enticing them to take part in this ‘Artist Appreciation’ campaign. 

Many of the postings communicated the excitement felt by being contacted by such a successful company. 

All of the postings included the link to the new product line.

After another minute of sleuthing, I found out that this company had made the decision to discontinue their business relationships that they long held with national retailers. 

All future sales were going to be online through their own site. 

What a surprise…

this transition coincided with their alleged interest in me and likely hundreds of other independent designers. 

We were going to be their free marketing tool.

 I could have just let it go, but I don’t appreciate being played. 

I wrote back, 

“Thanks for clarifying.
You want to use my humble blog to promote your successful company….

no thanks”. 

I will always listen to my inner, suspicious voice.

Getting Centered

I love tools.

There have been times when I've made flimsy justifications, 

giving myself permission to spend money on a new workbench tool.

I didn't even pretend to hesitate when I saw this nifty tool at a recent bead show.

This wonderful piece of plastic that cost around $8.50 is a center locator.

I can hold any size disc within the V-shaped guides and mark a centerline which is quite useful when I want to cut out inner discs and drill holes for earwires and/or dangles.

I used to operate just fine without my new, super tool,

and would locate my cutouts and drill holes by eye.

Sometimes 'by eye' failed, and I would end up a tad off-balance...

probably something that only I would notice but that would be enough to make me toss the tad off-balance piece into the scrap box.

No toss outs in the batch of discs that I'm working on right now!

A central guide line helped me position the etched brass pieces in my disc cutter.

I used the guide line again to mark the drill hole location with a center punch.

The circles were then set on a solderite board and heat treated with my propane torch.

The small discs that were cut out were added to my container of interesting metal bits,

ready for use in a future project.

Some doming, some sanding and some wire wrapping of amethyst and labradorite...

and new earrings are ready to be delivered later this week.

Still Setting Those Stones

Following the recent completion of my new jasper necklace, I decided I should continue my momentum and repurpose another of the Bead Fest acquired pendants.

I still felt the need to create a unique setting so that I could ditch the cheap, uninspired bail that came with each stone.

The pendant 2nd in from the left in the top row became the new candidate for pendant/necklace #2.

I took my time in planning out the setting because I decided I wanted to make the piece using only cold connections.

Thoughtful decisions had to be made so that each step would prepare for the next.

A template was made of the stone, and using my jeweler's saw, I cut the shape a smidge larger from a piece of 16 gauge nickel that I had etched with a cheesecloth pattern.

Like the previous necklace, I decided to use two formed bails to create a nice stability for this 2 1/2" wide pendant.

Strips of roll printed brass were cut and shaped with my large bail pliers.

Using a piece of 20 gauge brass, I cut out the shape of the stone with six extended tabs.

That piece of brass was riveted to the etched nickel base with four sterling rivets.

With the two layers secured, I was then able to situate the two brass bails, each fastened with two sterling rivets.

The tabs were then bent with flat nose pliers to secure the jasper stone in place.

A fine grit sanding block was used 

to make sure that the rivets were smooth,

and a bezel setting tool was used to tighten the grip of the tabs.

The new pendant hangs on a simple and graceful cable of stainless steel, 

finished with a sterling silver clasp.

Weekend Workshop

When I decided that 2016 was going to be my year,
part of the intended goal was to keep advancing my jewelry and painting skills.
This past weekend,
I was able to take part in a one day oil pastel workshop at Wayne Art Center with the talented
Nicole Michaud.

I left at the end of the day with three pieces...

and a better understanding of how to move in a new direction with my oil pastels. 

Labradorite Necklace

A few days ago, I had some success at the soldering bench.

(all right, some of it was a tad sloppy...the bee...whoops)

As is typical, I had no specific plans for the pieces I made.

Luckily, having no defined idea of where I'm going has never been a problem for me,

so I got to work with the bezel set labradorite.

I was already feeling good that I had the stone securely set since I had to make my own bezel wire due to the depth of the labradorite.

A strip of copper was cut, textured with some of my steel tools, annealed and recut to ensure consistent edges needed for the soldering to take.

Using my jeweler's saw, some of the base was cut away to highlight the shape of the stone.

Texturing was added with one of my old chisels,

connector holes were drilled

and all edges were filed and sanded.

Some of my recently etched copper was used for the base

so that the back of the pendant would have something of interest.

Recycled copper wire was used to make a variety of links

as well as the clasp.

All pieces were wire wrapped

with faceted tourmaline and smoky quartz.

This necklace and a small grouping of selected jewelry pieces will be on display at the 

Wallingford Community Arts Center

February 21 reception.

Those Stones Are Getting Set

As I prepared for my display of paintings at
Wallingford Community Arts Center,
I also kept busy at my workbench determined to get the pesky jasper stone set in my make-it-up-as-I-move-foward bezel.

Picking up from where I left off....

two additional sterling tabs were soldered onto the back of the etched base.

I had the great idea to solder two sterling, oval shaped links that I had previously made which would provide a way to link an eventual chain.

That's when my soldering problems began.

Compared to the other parts of my assemblage, the links were pretty fragile.

Meltage happend.

Melting a part of your piece is never good and can lead to sighing and sadness.

After a couple of failed attempts, I said, 

"Forget it."

Actually, I said something else, but I don't think it's wise to reveal that.

My attempts to remove the failed links left a bit of a ghost.

I decided to accept the ghost partly because it tells part of the story of how the piece was made,

but mostly because I didn't want to risk making the solder of the tabs flow again.

I still had a couple of segments from the sterling braclet that had been used for the tabs and decided to shape them into loops that could be riveted to the base.

Sterling rivets were made with 14 gauge wire.

With all the necessary metal in place, I could finally set the jasper.

The sterling tabs were cut back to reveal as much of the jasper as possible while still concealing the pre-drilled hole.

After a treatment with liver of sulfur, my new pendant is ready to become a necklace.

Other efforts to set stones continue.

Wanting a stash of material to use as a base for future bezels,

I etched pieces of 16 gauge nickel and copper.

The thickness will help me to avoid any warping as heat is applied during soldering.

Sections were cut...

filed and sanded.

Sterling bezels were soldered into place...

two beautiful labradorite cabochons 

and one yellow cabochon of unknown pedigree

were set in place,

also ready to become necklaces.