New contributor, tutorial and GIVEAWAY!

Hello there! My name is Carol Dekle-Foss. Some of you may remember an interview MaryAnn Carroll did with me in 2011. You can read the post here. Back then I had just transitioned from working full time as an interior designer to selling jewelry online. I look back and remember how overwhelmed I was. I first taught myself how to sandblast with our custom built equipment and then with no jewelry experience, I had to turn my pendants into some semblance of a necklace. Here is one of my first crude attempts.

                                      

Selling online and blogging presented it's own challenges as well. Lucky for me, I had time. With my son full grown and in the military I was able to research and study. I became like a sponge absorbing tons of information. I realized jewelry design was perfect for me because there are so many materials and techniques to explore and play with. So far sandblasting is my favorite, but I also love metalwork and have now incorporated both techniques in my designs.

Also, I realize I have been supported by so many designers and bloggers, including MaryAnn Carroll and Erin Prais-Hintz. I appreciate their support and encouragement to continue on my creative journey. It is now time for me to pay it forward.  As a contributor, you can count on me for tips on booth design and display, jewelry techniques, marketing tips, and laughable hair brain concoctions. Red-neck air conditioner anyone?? I also plan on showcasing some of my favorite handmade bead artists.

If you haven't already seen my tutorial on how I made these jewelry stands you can check it out here.

For my very first post I am going to share with you a new technique I discovered to surface texture metal. There are so many ways to do it, including but not limited to, etching, roll printing, stamping, and hammering. Etching is a wonderful because you can get very fine detail. The thing I hate about it though is the chemical ferric chloride. It can be expensive, it takes forever, and you have to dispose of it at a hazardous waste facility. I've tried other ways to etch like using a car battery with film, but was unhappy with the results.

I recently took a metalworking class where we learned how to roll print. I liked it so much I bought a rolling mill. I loved the idea of simply stamping out card stock with a pretty stamp and then roll printing. I then did some research and ran into this beast. It's a cutting machine called the Silhouette Cameo and is more for scrap booking.  The amazing thing about this machine is it cuts custom designs in FINE detail. Like crazy thin lines. I am in no way affiliated with the Silhouette America and am not getting any rewards for this post. I just simply LOVE it. Ok, so for the technique.

First, draw your design, or use a royalty-free graphic. Silhouette America has many images, and some you can buy a commercial licence, which is pretty cool. The below pic is a scanned image of a leaf I drew. 

Now upload the pic to the Silhouette Cameo program and trace the pattern. Here is a screenshot of the software after tracing the leaf. I love how the background has a graph for measurements.

Now send the traced image to the cutter and let the magic happen! Here are some pics of the cut out leaves in cardstock and me rolling the design. As you can see, the copper has been annealed to get a deep impression.

Voila! Finished pieces with the leaf design.
 

So this is one of my crazy ideas that actually worked! I love this technique for many reasons and plan on using it more in the future with different applications. If you decide to give it a go, and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.


Now for the GIVEAWAY!!!!

To win these earrings simply leave a comment and a random winner will be chosen! If you follow me on one or more of my social media sights, let me know in the comments for more chances of winning. All the links are here. I will announce the winner my next blog post which is scheduled for June 18th. If you are a designer feel free to take the ear wires off and use the discs in your designs. The discs were created with the above technique and my Tree of Life pattern.

Thank you for reading my very first post!