Revisiting Old Work

With my assorted creative pursuits, 

I find that it helps to occassionally revisit earlier work.

Sometimes, 

that revisiting simply helps to affirm that I'm on a path that is evolving in a positive direction.

Other times, 

I see an opportunity to alter a piece, 

satisfying the new perspective that I have.

Around five years ago, 

I made earrings with recycled, textured brass soldered on to strips of recycled copper.

I liked the fact that I was repurposing materials and kept a pair for myself. 

As I was going through my personal stash of jewelry, 

I came across those earrings which have not been worn in around three years.

Natural oxidation left the metals tarnished, 

making the earrings less than perfect in appearance; 

however the bigger issue, in my mind, 

was the design.

The earring on the left is the original design from five years ago, 

and it makes me think, 

"Bleh!"

The strip of copper is too wide and graceless, 

making the earring appear heavy.

I pulled out a pair of metal shears and cut away some of the copper 

and then hammered the piece flat on one of my steel bench blocks.

The altered earring made me think, 

"Yes....much better. I would wear this."

From that original effort, 

I still had some of the prepared, soldered pieces of brass and copper 

that had never been made into earrings.

They were pull out, trimmed with the shears, filed and sanded.

For an even better, updated look, 

the newly shaped pieces were treatd in a liver of sulfur bath.

Now I have something I can work with!

Etching to Earrings

Preparations for upcoming holiday shows had me busy etching metal last week, 

using some of my current, favorite patterns.

Last month's Art Festival and recent deliveries to shops has left my inventory of earrings completely depleted, 

so earring making is at the top of my 

To-Do List.

After a thorough post-etching cleaning,

I punched out a small disc from some of the pieces.

Each piece had been assessed to determine the most appropriate balance, 

and I used a template to mark the location to be punched.

This extra step of marking the punch location is worthwhile since I find it challenging to accurately situate metal in my disc cutter.

The traced circle lets me double check my placement before hammering with confidence on the punch.

Once I had accurately punched the discs,

they were drilled, domed and sanded...

ready to become earrings.

With wire wrapped gemstones and sterling earwires,

the discs are coming off my workbench, 

ready for someone to find them irresistible.