Hold Your Fire! Cold Connections Boot Camp BLOG HOP!!!!!

Welcome to to our Hold Your Fire Cold Connection Art Jewelry Boot Camp BLOG HOP!!!!

pendant by Karen McGovern using a variety of cold connections

 Visit the links at the bottom of this page to visit blogs, flickr and Pinterest. It is not too late to sign up. If you have created jewelry using cold connections, please share a URL where we can read more about it.

If you would like to share your creations, please link your URL below using the inlinkz widget. 

You also might want to check out  LMAJ Boot Camp on.....

FACEBOOK

PINTEREST

FLICKR

So, do you have something to share? Please do.....

Please make sure that you link to a post that includes the current boot camp on cold connections.  Also, on your post or other site, please leave a link back to LMAJ for easier maneuvering.

Blog Hop Preparation for Hold Your Fire! Cold Connections - Riveting

Are you ready to get your blog post pulled together for tomorrow's blog link-up for the Boot Camp: Hold Your Fire! Cold Connections focus on Riveting?

Don't panic if you are a bit behind!

You'll have a couple of days to get your blog post up and linked up.

Remember that even though it is great to see beautiful finished work, it is also inspiring to see experimental work and things that you have learned along the way.

So please create a blog post on your blog showing your work and progress then link up starting tomorrow (there is a countdown on the InLinkz gadget that will show you when it closes).

Love My Art Jewelry Pinterest Board for Hold Your Fire! Cold Connections Boot Camp

And we have been updating our Pinterest Board with some tutorials on riveting and other cold connections to help you find some tips, tricks, and some visual inspiration to get your creative ideas flowing.

Please remember that there is that line, especially on Pinterest, where you can see things that are beautiful pieces of work, created by artists that have found their creative voice.

These things are not there for you to copy and claim as your own.

Please be mindful of this as you sit and get to work.

Letting ideas flow, trying techniques, and finding your own creative voice…

When I need a visual jumping off point, I search for terms like:

Cold Connections

Riveted Jewelry

Then after clicking on an item that interests me, scroll down, and see what else people have pinned.

Visual overload commences…

Remember to leave enough time to go make something yourself!

Then come back and share with us!

Creating From the Heart

by Staci L. Smith

When we decided to do a cold connections Boot Camp, I had something very specific in mind. I thought it was a great time of year to apply this to gifts and ornaments. 

 

Karen's art is chocked full of photo's.  Even if they are not her own personal ones, they make the piece personal, they add a human, historical piece to the puzzle.

 

She inspired me to make these pins as gifts last year. 

 

Using cold connections allows you to use fragile materials, like photos, without ruining them.  It allows you to create from the heart, with photos or memento's that have meaning to you.

 

 I just wanted to share with you a little tutorial on how to make them.  It is not detailed, I wanted to just give you guidelines so you can make it in your own style.  I am going to explain it as a pin, but you can make a pendant, or even a tree ornament or magnet.

 

Making keepsake pins with rivets:

You will need:

Two pieces of metal, one with a hole in the center- already textured and patina’d and sealed

 

Pin back with large round glue backing

(I got these at rings and things)

 

 

Laminate or mica and acrylic sealer

 

Rivets (see link for instructions on riveting and toolsand supplies for that)

or

Micro-screws (see link for instructions on using them)

 

To assemble the piece:

 

Take two layers of metal- punch or saw a hole in one of them.

Print a picture the right size to fill the middle

Laminate the picture or seal with an acrylic sealer

If not laminated, use mica sheet and cut it to the right size- same as the top layer of metal or close

Sandwich everything together and mark where your holes will go

Drill hole in your backing and your pin back, and attach them by rivet

Now sandwich all your layers and mark and drill your top layer holes and one through all the layers

Drill and Rivet carefully if you are using mica sheet, as it cracks easily

 

Rivet the layers together.  Voila!!!

 

You can also add dangles from the bottom, or rivet other accents onto your piece for decoration

 

Here are some of Karen mcGovern's wonderful riveted pieces with pictures in them!

screaming silence- read between the lines

 

I truly hope this boot camp will help to make some personalized creations for your holiday gift giving- after all, a handmade heartfelt gift is better then anything that can be purchased!

 

 

 

 

 

 



Show it Off

by Staci L. Smith
Have you been following the latest Boot Camp:  Hold your Fire- Cold Connections?  It's a good one, a tool for your tool box with limitless possibilities!  You can check for new posts each Monday on cold connections, and throughout the week as well!!

Whether you are already an expert at cold connections, or you are trying them for the first time, you can join with us, and show off your what you are making with them in our flickr group. 

If you have been doing them for years, show it off!  It's a great way to inspire those new to them. 

 

If you are trying them out for the first time, show it off- your hard work and creative ideas are what we want to see !

 

Lynnea of Designs by Lynnea gave rivets a shot, and she nailed it! 

 

You can visit Lynnea's facebook page here.

 

I must admit, her cuff, is exactly the sort of thing I hoped you guys would try out with rivets.  Layering metal and mixed media has endless possibilities!  And using photo's make it so much more personal. 

 

Stay tuned for tomorrow, on how you can make a project with a picture and rivets (or micro-screws or tube rivets).

 

 



cold connections - alexander calder

mary jane dodd

alexander calder - stabile

yesterday and today are about inspiration - 

susan lenart kazmer's book not only inspires, but teaches. 

today i wanted to share a side of one of the great masters of art that some of you may not have known about. many of you may recognize alexander calder for his sculpture - huge mobiles and stabiles that are perfectly balanced... often massive metal works that float seemingly effortlessly in the air, set in motion by only a slight breeze. 

this amazing man also made jewelry - and with his very large tools i might add.

i took some pictures from another of my favorite books, calder jewelry, to show you how he used cold connections in his work. 

alexander calder 

rivets

alexander calder

wire loops

alexander calder

tabs

alexander calder

paddle ended wire

cold connections aren't what you use because you don't know how to solder. this method isn't 'less' to soldering, it's just different. 

it's a choice. 

a choice that adds much to the overall design, a choice that will challenge you to be certain that your technical and aesthetic considerations have been thought out well. 

do you want these connections to take center stage? because they certainly can

or do you want them to be what they are? a way of connecting, providing structure, movement and a subtle design influence.

i am really excited about this challenge. 

like most of you, i have to allow things to percolate for a bit before sitting down to make. whenever i would submit to art bead scene's monthly challenge i inevitably would get my entry in on the last day. simply because ideas had to move around in my brain, get filtered and distilled.

mjd - 2010 calder challenge

enjoy your weekend - here in the midatlantic, foliage is peaking. 

life is good, yes?