One of these is not like the others......

by Staci Louise Smith

Last week I did a post on Doing it All (or NOT doing it all, actually ).

In last weeks post I touched on some ways I have been trying to make my time more efficient in the studio.

One of the ways I do this when making beads, is to make molds of them.  

  It is a great way to save yourself some time in the studio- and a way to preserve a design you were really happy with.  Here is a post I did awhile back on how to use a two part silicone compound to make a mold of your polymer clay beads.

http://lovemyartjewelry.blogspot.com/2013/04/i-wanna-do-that-again.html

The only problem is, I never want to have too many beads that are too similar out there in the world.  I want everyone to be able to make unique art with my beads, so the beads themselves need to be different.

I paint them each a million different ways, the colors are never the same twice.  However, there are other ways to change it up too.

I have recently been making these awesome Gold Rush beads, with the gold crackle, and then carving them as well.  The carving of each bead is immensely time consuming, and then you have the painting on top that too.  I just could not make them fast enough. 

So I decided to make a mold of them.  I made blank white beads, and then after curing them, I carved the parts I wanted designed.  Then I made molds.  That gave me the carved design quickly.  Then I was free to add my crackle and other embellishments to each one.

For example- here are some of the molds I made.  You can see the shapes and carved pattern are the same, however, I have added elements such as crystals, and holes and other textures to make each one unique.  They are painted different and the gold crackle on each is a little different.  

At first I felt a bit like a sell out not hand carving each one.  However, I was quite happy with the results, and found it allowed more time for other details to be added!

Also, here is ONE fossil Ammonite (shown at the bottom of the picture) I use as a mold, and all the many different designs I make from it.  The key here is to play, and try things a different way so you don't get stuck in a rut!!!  I mean, you KNOW I love ammonites!  So I am always trying to do them in a new and fun way.

So what is the take away here?  Make a mold, re-create your favorite beads, but you don't have to stop there.  Use your texture tools to add dots, or stripes or embed beads and crystals, layer them on top of patterned bases.  Make each one unique anyhow!!!  There is no limit to what you can do!

(Please note that you may not re-create MY beads.....the carved crackle beads are my design and not to be replicated, as well as the spins on the ammonites.  These beads are not shown to be copied but merely as samples of what you can do to your own handmade beads to make them original while using a mold- THANK YOU for respecting that!)

Speaking of the Gold Rush technique and carving polymer, I can finally announce my two pieces got accepted into the Polymer category of the Bead Dreams Competition, which is held at the Bead and Button Show.  Right now voting is open for the Peoples Choice award.  If you are so inclined, you can vote up to 5x per day.  You just need to create a login or login with Facebook.  Here are links to my two pieces that are entered.  If viewing all the pieces- the polymer ones are one page 6.

Sunset Gold Rush

to vote for this one go here

http://jewelrycontests.upickem.net/engine/Details.aspx?p=V&c=236447&s=83027944&i=1

and Zen Cairn

To vote for this one go here

http://jewelrycontests.upickem.net/engine/Details.aspx?p=V&c=236447&s=83027960&i=1

Thank you for the support!

Prong Setting Tutorial

by staci smith


So, I wrote a tutorial for the new Artisan Whimsy blog. It's a great site, and you should hop on over there. There are teams for everything from polymer to metal, desingers to bead hoarders. There are tutorials and challenges, and lots and lots of people to meet. It's a great place for resources and information.

My tutorial is just an easy, beginners way to prong set.  Here it is....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Easy Prong Setting

by Staci Louise Smith

Materials: 

cab
sheet metal
rivets
hole punch or drill
metal shears
sharpie marker
rivet hammer
file
sanding pad or steel wool
raw hide mallet
silver solder paste
butane torch
pickle
liver of sulphur
prong setting tool or wood dowel
burnisher
flush cutters

1.  Select your cab

2.  Place it on your sheet metal and trace it with a sharpie

3.  Cut out your backplate with the metal shears

4.  trace your cab and mark where you want your holes to be- make sure your holes are close to you cab line, but not ON it, or too far from it

5.  file and sand the edges

6.  texture as desired, I used the back of a rivet hammer to add texture- you must texture before punching holes or the holes will distort

7.  Flatten back plate with your raw hide mallet

8.  punch or drill your holes - you must match your rivet wire gauge with the correct size drill bit or hole punch.  This can be a guessing game, since drill bits and hole punches aren't sized by wire gauge.  A chart like this one from Rio Grande can be very helpful.  Make sure your rivet fits snugly into the hole.

9.  Place rivets into the holes

10.  Add solder paste to the flat bottom part of the rivets, then push the down flush onto the back

11.  place on your soldering block and heat until solder flows (or until its red hot, easy solder paste should surely flow by then)

12.  Quench, pickle, clean

13.  add your cab

14.  Now its time to set your cab- fold the prongs over using one of these tools. 

I used the prong setting tool with the groove, but you can use a wood dowel or something similar if you don't have that particular tool. 

15.  Burnish the prongs to strengthen them

16.  Cut them down with flush cutters- make sure to leave enough prong to just come over the curve of your cab and hold it secure

17.  File edges of prongs- careful not to damage your cab
18.  Add liver of sulphur and polish it back when its done

19.  You now have a prong set cab. 

 

 

 

 I am also part of a blog hop taking part today, where everyone gets to show off what they made for the prong setting challenge.  If you want to check it out, you can go to my blog www.stacilouiseoriginals.com

 

I went big for this one.....................................

 

 

Lavender Mica and black fossil ammonite prong set

 

Enjoy the tutorial, and let me know if you have any questions.

 

PS- the Art Bead Love Tour is at Genea Beads- and not only can you win a chance to host the chain, but there are also two additional people who will get to win little charm packages.  So this time there are three chances to win!