Painting Workshop

When I began painting around three years ago, I had the benefit of my landscape architecture background to help me understand issues like design, composition and perspective.

I did not have the benefit of understanding some of the painting basics like canvas preparation, color mixing and techniques of developing an atmospheric image.

Classes and workshops at Wayne Art Center have helped me to find a painterly voice.

I am definitely one of those who benefits from watching somebody paint as they explain the why and what of their methods.

I was very fortunate to be part of a recent workshop with Stanley Bielen, a favorite whose classes always have wait lists of those hoping to get one of the valuable studio spots.

When this most recent workshop was announced, it filled within hours and I happened to get one of the last spaces before the wait list began.

I appreciate the unique opportunity that a demonstration gives, allowing me to absorb information that will then inform my own decisions.

My Easel Day One:

My Easel Day Two Morning:

My Easel Day Two Afternoon:

When I look back at what I painted three years ago, 

I can see that I've improved

and know that I have much room for continued improvement.

Samara Texturing

I was doing the final raking of leaves last week when I focused on the abundance of samaras from the Japanese maple in my front yard.

These winged seeds are quite lovely...

and I thought that they might be a good rolling mill candidate.

Because it's inexpensive, I do all texture testing with copper.

Two small pieces of copper were cut and annealed.

I arranged a selection of samaras on one piece...

which was then covered by the other copper piece before using the mill.

I had hoped that the entire samara would be able to pass through the mill, but I learned that a samara seed is just too tough of a nut to crack under pressure.
I couldn't advance the mill while maintaining enough pressure to capture an impression of the wing portion of the samara.
Darn!

A little surgery with my X-acto knife removed the seeds

and I was able to crank the assemblage though the rolling mill with no difficulty.

After cleaning the copper, it was soaked in a liver of sulfur bath, turning the metal black with instant patina.

I'm liking the delicate texture and now think I have to get out and collect more of the samaras before the first hard frost.

November's Workbench

As is typical, November's workbench is a busy place.

Inventory has been dropped off for the 

Woodmere Art Museum Holiday Store, 

and preparation for 

Wallingford Community Arts Center Holiday Sale 

is well underway.

My stash of textured metals inspired some new pieces,like...

mixed, etched metals bracelet

with sterling bezel set labradorite caochon....

etched and roll-printed brass (and a smidge of silver nickel) bracelet

with sterling bezel set carnelian cabochon...

and etched copper ring

with sterling bezel set labradorite cabochon.

For several weeks, I've been working on another mission.
I found some great crystal briolettes at a bead show back in September.
Not sure how I would use them, I only bought ten.

I ended up wire wrapping the beads, making them the pendants of long necklaces featuring Herkimer diamonds, labradorite, citrine and amethyst.

The necklaces were well received at the Fine Art & Craft Festival in Swarthmore.

I regretted not having more and contacted the company that had sold them at the bead show only to find out that they had one left....

and they are not typically part of their inventory.

Of course.

Maybe I should have let it go at that point, but it was too late;

I was already a bit obsessed with having more of these crystals.

I also had the naive belief that 

'if I can easily Google it, I can easily find it.'

Well, not really.

These briolettes were not easy to find, even with the aid of the Google search engine.

But after emails, texts, shared photos, calls, false hopes...

I found some!

USPS dropped off my order yesterday,

and I got to work.

Wire wrapped crystals are now ready to become necklaces.

The wire wrapping sometimes had leftover pieces. 

I can't stand letting usable pieces of anything go to waste, 

so those scraps were turned into mini dangles.

How will I use the mini dangles?

I have no idea.

They'll probably still be on my workbench when next November comes around.

Taking That Extra Step

Preparing to make some necklaces with some more of my bezel pendants, I made complementary copper links.

As is typical for my mode of operation, I may or may not immediately use the links,
but I appreciate being able to surround myself with a variety of materials as I'm working so that I can make choices as I follow my intuition.

Segments were cut from my stash of recycled copper wire.

I needed to physically expand the ends of those wires that I wanted to drill, and began by using my favorite hardware store hammer to smash and flatten.
While I accomplished my goal of creating enough surface for drilling,
I wasn't completely satisfied with the result.
(small grouping of 5, 2nd from left)
The hammering left the resulting tabs a bit too thin for my liking,
and I wasn't thrilled with the paddle shape.
I decided I should do a better job.

Using my acetylene tank, I balled each end of the next group of wire segments.
When I then hammered the ends, there was enough material to maintain a more acceptable critical thickness while having the surface necessary for drilling.
A happy benefit is a more controlled and consistent circular shape instead of that less desirable paddle.

The next grouping of links was formed with one of my bail-shaping pliers before soldering.
I thought these links turned out nicely, but maybe not nice enough.
A cleaner transition between the circle and the 'tail' was the image that kept nagging at me,
so I went back to my workbench.

Wire was coiled around a mandrel and then cut with my jeweler's saw to make consistent jump rings.
Some sources will advise using a flush cutter....
don't do it 
if you're making smallish jump rings and the goal is to solder them.
Even a good flush cutter will yield one flush surface and one pinched surface
while a jeweler's saw yields two flush surfaces.
Each ring was filed to create a bit of flat surface for a good solder joint to the 'tail'.
Definitely more work
and definitely a more refined result.

Some of the new links were used in the necklace completed yesterday.

 A practice bezel featuring one of my stones of mysterious origins is the focal point.
The bezel layer is riveted to the bail layer...

 made with roll printed copper and etched silver nickel.

Agate and brass beads are wire wrapped with copper links to make the chain which features a hand made clasp.

I recently gave advice to my sister's friend who is hoping to create and market a line of jewelry.
One recommendation was to resist the temptation to make pieces as cheaply as possible since there is a mind-numbing abundance of inexpensive jewelry.
It's very easy to get lost in a sea of low-cost items.
I made the personal decision to not compete with that portion of the market and instead
hold myself accountable to producing work I can be proud of.

A Pain in My Bezel

Recent work with bezel pendants inspired me to pull out my stash of stones that have been sitting (and accumulating)
at my workbench.

Stones are my weakness when I get the chance to attend a bead show.

I like knowing that however I eventually use a stone or cabochon, the end result will almost certainly be unique.
Unfortunately, I've become convinced that my bezel pieces are unique because they have absorbed my angst and my solder-soul-crushing disappointments.

Although I did take some classes at one of the nearby art centers, most of my jewelry skills are self-taught with...
reading lots of books and trade magazines,
watching lots of YouTube tutorials,
obsessively perusing the Rio Grande catalog to try to figure out what tools do what tasks
and
lots and lots of trial and error.
While I like to think that my skills continue to evolve in a positive direction,
soldering has been, and remains, my Achilles' heel as evidenced by a recent project.

Like most of my soldering projects, I began this one with cautious optimism because I was creating a bezel for a largeish stone,
around 5.75cm squareish.

For the base, I selected metal that I had etched with a pattern created by the talented local clay master/jewelry designer,
Barbara Hanselman.

My original plan was to have a collar around the bezel, highlighting a selected view of the etched texture.

Then the soldering started,

and then my problems started.

I wasn't surprised when I didn't achieve a continuous flow of solder in my first attempt.

After a pickle bath and brass brush cleaning, I tried again.

Ughhh...

I realized that I had lost full contact between the bezel and the etched base in a few spots and gentle nudging with my solder pick was not correcting all the trouble spots.

There were repeated visits to the soldering bench, and after each clean-up, I set my stone in  place to make sure that I was maintaining the proper bezel shape.

A piece of dental floss was used to make sure I would be able to get the stone back out.

Too many attempts had me admitting defeat, and I decided to creatively cover up my solder misses.

Using my acetylene torch, I balled scraps of sterling and soldered them in place, turning my points of failure into points of interest.

The collar of etched metal no longer seemed to make sense, so I used my jeweler's saw to cut most of it away.

I will have to make better use of Barbara's lovely pattern on my next bezel project.

According to some rough calculations of time and materials,

I think I'll have to sell this pendant for $986.75.

Bezel Pendants Part Two

After completing two bezel pendants this weekend, I returned to my workbench , planning to make two necklaces....

and then I sat there, stymied.

Often, the obvious direction is already in my head and I can put all focus on the making of whatever I'm envisioning.

This was not one of those times.

Since I wasn't sure how to construct the necklace, I decided to use some of the sterling links that I had just soldered.

I shaped a section of heavy gauge wire to fit through the formed bail and drilled both ends for wire wrapped connections.

As I began to construct a chain of links, I became increasingly dissatisfied.

Nothing felt right about my approach.

The pendant, with its large stone cabochon and riveted layers, did not need competition from a busy chain of over-sized links.

I needed to simplify, letting the pendant be the unchallenged "it" of the necklace.

Sterling chain replaced my chain-of-links, although I kept two links for added interest and texture, appreciating how they mimic the shape of the bezel.

A liver of sulfur treatment and sanding block cleaning were the finishing touches.

Much better.

Bezel Pendants

While I was on a soldering-skills improvement campaign a while ago, 

I amassed a collection of bezel set stones that have been begging to become finished projects.

I successfully ignored these stones while they sat in a container on my workbench 

until last week when I decided my holiday line-up would need a few more signature/statement necklaces.

While I was working on my soldering skills, I unfortunately put no focus on how these bezeled beauties would eventually be featured as finished pieces of jewelry.

A smarter version of me might have incorporated a bail before I took the time to carefully and tenderly set the stones into their bezels, thereby eliminating the option of applying additional soldering-related heat.

I decided to revisit a previous design, soldering a bail on to a back layer that would then be riveted to the bezel layer.  

One bail-to-be was cut from a piece of etched metal.

After filing and sanding the edges, the piece was shaped with one of my bail forming pliers.

The second bail needed to be simpler, so a closed ring was joined with a previously soldered link that I cut open.

The cut link and the formed bail were soldered on to pieces of etched silver nickel that were cut to slightly larger dimensions that the bezel set pieces.

The matching layers were riveted together with segments of heavy gauge wire....

and I now have bezel set stones that can actually become pieces of jewelry.

L'Enfant Cheesecloth

This week's studio efforts have included etching and texturing different pieces of metal.

The metal will soon become earrings, necklaces and bracelets as I prepare for the holiday season.

I know, I know....it's not even Halloween yet; how dare I speak of the holiday season?

I have an appointment next week to drop off my inventory for the seasonal display at one of the galleries where I sell, 

so I am well into my sort-of-end-of-year busy schedule.

Assuming that nobody wants to see the same thing that they saw last year, I've been testing out some new textures.

A new favorite is this cheesecloth pattern that I etched into pieces of silver nickel.

I liked how the larger pieces looked after cleaning them with a brass brush post-etching, 

but I liked the pattern even more once I cut a selection of smaller pieces.

Seeing isolated bits of the cheesecloth texture made me think that they resembled plan views of an urban network of roads....

like Pierre L'Enfant's 1791 plan for Washington, DC. 

Ooooopssss...

it's the landscape architect in me coming out.

Those little sections of roadways are due to become earrings late tonight.

Flighty Necklaces

My workbench has been seeing lots of activity as I prepare for the upcoming

Fine Arts & Crafts Festival 

presented by

Wallingford Community Arts Center.

Due to the impact of the Papal Visit on local/regional transportation, the location of the fair has been shifted from State Street in Media to the lovely downtown area of Swarthmore.

As I sit in the midst of what I hope will be the final heat wave of the year, it's hard to believe that I'm also preparing for the upcoming holiday season.

Inventory for one of the seasonal sales has to be delivered next month.

Aaaaaccckkkk!

 

The previous necklaces that I made featuring roll printed cicada wings appeared to be warmly received,

so it was time to make more.

Wings went through my rolling mill, sandwiched between pieces of annealed copper.

After cutting, filing and sanding, the copper wings were riveted with sterling wire to bases of etched brass and silver nickel.

Holes were drilled for attaching my tornado wire wrapping connectors, allowing me to turn the wings into fanciful pendants.

All wings are now hanging from long chains, ready to be tagged.

Ooooops....

I kind of got in the zone while wire wrapping the ends of my chains, joining the clasps and connectors and forgot to put one of the wings on.

Doh!

Easy fix...

I cut the chain in two places, slipped on the wing, and reconnected the parts with wire wrapped, faceted amazonite beads.

 

Workbench Equation

Recently made sterling links

PLUS

recently made bezel set labradorite charms

EQUALS....

 

new sterling/labradorite bracelet.

My typical tornado wrapping of sterling wire joins the components.

Also typical....

keeping the back interesting with and etched disc riveted to the back of my labradorite charm.

This bracelet just came off my workbench this morning and I'm giving it a test drive.

Verdict?

It's very lightweight, it captures the light nicely, it's fluid enough to move freely on my wrist....

 

I LOVE IT!!!