Inspiration, Metal and a little Fold Forming Picture Tutorial

by Staci Louise Smith

It is spring in the studio and lots of things are going on.  I am prepping for new shows this spring......which is always fun for me.  I also have work in the Spring show at Bethlehem House Gallery- a contemporary art gallery in the heart of Bethlehem, who has featured my work on and off for the last couple years.

While at the opening of the Spring show,   I fell in love with the work of Dominick Naccarato.  

You can view his work for sale on the galleries website

http://www.bethlehemhousegallery.com/artists/domenick-naccarato/

His work is industrial.  It looks worn and old....and of course, that spoke to me.  I mean, :swoon:....its dreamy to girl who loves to destroy metal!  I grew up in a home who a mom and brother who love to go antiquing.  so, old things, in art, its bringing together a couple loves of mine

http://www.domenicknaccarato.com/markings-feed-sprocket-access/

I do hope you will take a minute to follow the links and check out the gallery site and his personal website as well.  His work is amazing.

Anyhow, there was that, which of course, made me long to play with metal again right away.  I am always inspired fresh and new after a trip to the gallery.


I have always loved the process of disintegration.  It fascinates me, the way nature breaks down organic and inorganic matter over time.  Rust, fungus, all these sort of things always grab my attention and draw me in.  I love how the sea changes things as well, takes rough bright things and washes the color away and smooths them.  Worn, old things were once new things, full of life.  And as they decompose, they lose one life, yet take on another.  This process is just amazing, and watching the beauty of this process is endlessly inspiring to me.  

That is why, I love taking white polymer clay, and turning it into something that looks like you pulls it out of nature.  Or taking bright copper sheet, and making it look as if it had been out in the elements for decades.

Anyhow.............

Then I ended up at a Clover Market with my mom for the day.  I am doing that show in May and June, and wanted to check out the lay of the land, the crowd, and all that good stuff.  

The show is full of antique vendors, mixed in with artisans.  It is such a cool show!  I love that you can buy rusty old stuff next to handmade items!

I picked up some rusty old keys to use for something some day!  For now they are laying on my work table.

I did not take any pictures at Clover Market, but here is their facebook banner, and it is good picture of some of the unique items you can find there.

My mom loves old tin ceiling tiles, and there was a vendor there who had a booth full!

The vendor was Olde Good Things

And here is a picture of the tiles from his website

http://www.altered-antiques.com/tinstuff.html

The textures of the metal tiles had me newly inspired as I browsed through them.  Each so different.  I loved the washed out old paint added to them.............everything about them was amazing.

In checking out the vibe of the market, I thought, I need to have more metal.  I have gotten away from all that copper in my work because of time constraints the last couple years.  I have been so focused on polymer it hasn't left a lot of play time.

So I got to work.  I decided to have fun and cut out lots of copper shapes to make fun, fold formed, patina earrings for Clover Market and the gallery.  And man, let me tell you, I am so happy I did.  I really missed playing around with fire, metal and chemicals!

I loved texturing them, and definitely felt the influence of those wall tiles coming through as I hammered in little raised spots and such.

Here are the components before I started making them into jewelry.

And here are just some of the earrings I made.

I had so much fun!  I really missed working with the metal and patina.  Though I also forgot how labor intensive it is.  Thank goodness I love what I do!

Do you also find that what you see and places you go inspire you go in a different direction, or revisit an old one?  Tell me about it.............

And, as promised, a little picture tutorial on fold forming.  If you want more information, there are lots of great online classes you can take!  But, if you have already played a bit with metal and a torch, this may be all you need to try it out!

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Cut some shapes in copper sheet, I used 26g since they are going to be for earrings.  This keeps it light, but you can use any gauge.  File the edges smooth.

Line them up on a solder block, and use your torch to heat them until they glow red, and then quench right away

Once they are quenched, dry them off a little bit.  The process of heating and then quickly cooling them,  anneals them and now they are softer and easier to manipulate

Fold it over at a place where you want a fold line

Use a chasing hammer to flatten at the seam

Torch them again to soften them.  It is important to do this between each step to keep the metal malleable.  Otherwise it could break.

Quenched 

Now you can open it up.  If you need to, you can slip a razor blade in the fold to open it enough to grab.  Place it on your steel block and hammer again.  You can add other hammered designs, or use hole punches to make divets and such.  Use a hole punch or drill to make your holes as well.

Here is a close up of some finished pieces with patina and all on them!

I hope you will try it out, because let me tell you, fold forming is FUN!!!!!

Reticulation Silver Experimentation

Carol Dekle-Foss

Rain has finally come to California. Hallelujah! The weather has been BEAUTIFUL. The rain has been coming down is soft sheets, and it's comforting knowing it's filling the empty lakes and reservoirs. I made a visual for you guys, so you can see just how bad the drought was. Look for the arrows showing a rock as a landmark. This is a park near my house that has a walking path along the South Fork American River. This river is one of the major rivers in California and flows from Lake Tahoe.

We are on the right path to putting a big dent in this drought. Thank god! It was heartbreaking watching its effects on the landscape and animals.

Okay, on to jewelry making! I wanted to give reticulation silver a try because I just LOVE the look. 

The texture reminds me of ridges and valleys of the earth's landscape. So beautiful! 

 I bought this 3" x 1.5" piece from Rio. It cost me about $3.80 per square inch. Not too bad considering sterling silver sheet in the same gauge is about $3.50 per square inch right now. They have another type called Crinkle silver. The texture is smaller, and it looks amazing, but it's so expensive! I guess it all depends on what you are making and how much you are willing to charge.

It's simple and fun to do. Here are some instructions from Rio on how it's done and what you will need. 

I only used half of the piece I purchased. It didn't shrink all that much like I thought it would, so you still get almost the same size metal to work with after its reticulated.

Here's a close up video of me doing the reticulation. I sped it up so it's less than a minute and plays one of my all time favorite songs by Katie Melua. Pretty cool watching the silver follow the torch flame! 

So yesterday, while I was getting ready to try reticulation for the first time, a video came through on my Youtube feed from Nancy T Hamilton. The title was "Fusing Silver and Reticulation on Copper". I thought, what perfect timing! I tried the reticulation on copper part so I could show you guys the results and do a mini comparison! 

I cut a piece of 20 gauge copper about 1.5" square and added little scraps of sterling silver. I also had to use a larger tip on my torch to get the silver to melt. Below is a short, less than a minute video of the melting process!

Here's how it turned out.

VERY cool texture. Its more wavy , sorta looks like tree branches to me. Here's a side by side comparison.

You can really see the difference in color. Also the one with the copper backplate has a bunch of teeny pitted holes. I think next time I will flux the backplate to see if that will help. Still, not a bad texture for metal that's already lying around the studio!

I've yet to create jewelry with these beauties because I've been busy opening a brand new Etsy shop for our ceramic pieces! 

I'm offering a 25% off discount through the end of January. Just use coupon code winter25. Etsy has a 'bug' right now, so my shop isn't offering Paypal as a payment option as of yet. If you would like to pay that way, all products are on my website, and the same discount code will apply.

Thank you for reading!

where jewelry and small objects meet

mary jane dodd

mjd - 2014 offering bowl 

i've been pretty absent - i haven't felt like what i have been doing related to the blog - i mean, we have these powerhouse jewelry and component designers and makers. i had kind of wandered off down a spiritual and slightly bigger scale of working. 

mjd - 2014 sacred space

late last year i had a strong desire to make offering bowls - to use as part of sacred spaces. i am a firm believer that life is stressful and harried and we all need places to stop. to breathe. to be. whether they are religious or spiritual or not is up to you. 

at first, they had a short phrase, a mantra or something specifically requested.

mjd - 2014 offering bowls

mjd - 2015 bowl foot

they also filled my desire to make something on a scale larger than jewelry.

but that small scale used for adornment always calls - 

mjd - 2015 be still

and they got scaled down to use as the most portable offering bowls.

i was asked to use a full piece of writing in a bowl - and had gone up from my first ones in size a bit, so i set approx. 250 characters. 

mjd - 2015 live your truth

so the writing that went with 'live your truth' became this - 

mjd - 2015 offering bowl

mjd - 2015

and then the portable wearables followed -

mjd - 2015

foot

and the mats/pouches i put them in came into have matured as well.

what has been interesting is going back and seeing how things developed. i didn't foresee where i am now. and i have ideas for them being used on walls and such. 

this has been a rather new experience  - really sticking with something and working with it thoroughly. there is a lot to be said for the process. and i plan on continuing it. even though it may be boring for followers on instagram or facebook, it is rewarding. 

have you done any work that is larger than jewelry? or did you start as a different kind of maker and found yourself going to the smaller scale? 

Inspiration and Evololution

by Staci L. Smith

It is no secret, that most of us who make beads and / or jewelry......LOVE beads and jewelry.

I am no exception.  So when Karen McGovern made these rings, I had to have one.

She made me one special, just for me....

(I added the wire to make it just a hair smaller so I could wear it on my pink.....i love it!)

She also sent me some of that wonderful aquamarine, and some citrine crystals too.  I was thrilled to have some, and I loved this design so much, I wanted to make myself a necklace to match.

Of course, I added some more rustic elements- mastadon bone beads.....and i  am not one for measuring, so, its a bit rougher.  However, I am so happy with how it turned out.  

I didn't measure at all, just cut some silver that looked like enough to fold up, made a few cuts so I could fold it, and added my beads, and worked it like a huge bezel.  I added some balled headpins on the ends to add the chain.  I love little cabinet curiosities, and boxes always always always had my heart, so this got the ball rolling in my mind.

I made another in copper, and then I made some shallow, large copper boxes, and added some large and small gemstones to make a sort of shadow box pendant.  I also made another silver one that is really rustic looking, not sure I love it, but it has sea glass and a fossil shell.

 I just love when another artist inspires me so much.  The process of watching a simple concept, like "box"  or "capture" evolve and change into many forms.  That is why I love surrounding myself with art.  I see color schemes that inspire me, or a texture, or a shape......and I have to try it in jewelry.  

"Marriage of Metals" technique & tutorial

Carol Dekle-Foss

I learned this cool technique a couple months ago in my intermediate metalsmith class. I just LOVE it! I have always been attracted to geometric patterns and also mixing different metals. This technique was perfect for me to explore in my jewelry designs. These earrings are my latest creation, and for my first Boot Camp post, I'm going to show the readers of LMAJ how I made them. Tools & Materials on the bottom of the page.

Step one

Create the shapes you want on a computer software program such as Photoshop and print on regular paper.

Step two

Select your sheet metals, making sure they are all the same gauge. For the earrings I used sterling silver, copper and brass.

Step three

With a triangle, sharpie and a ruler, mark your shapes on the metal using the printout as a guide. Make sure your lines are a bit larger due to loss when cutting out and sanding. You will only need the basic geometric shapes for now.

Step four

 Cut out the sheet metal. I prefer a metal shear for the most accurate cuts. Here is my throatless shear from harbor freight. It's great for cutting accurate lines, and saves me tons of time in the studio.

Step five

Place sandpaper on a flat surface and run metal edges over it lightly to remove burs and even out the metals edges. 

Step six

Place metal pieces on flat surface and line up making sure every piece touches with no gaps for best results. Also for earrings, position pieces to form a mirror image.

Next, flux and then with the flux brush pick up solder pieces and place where joins meet. In the pic below you can see the solder pieces positioned. I cut them in thin rectangle shapes to try and prevent solder from flowing all over the metal, and hopefully to only go in the cracks of the joins. Keep in mind, solder flows wherever the heck it wants too anyway.

Step seven

Solder the pieces with a fairly large flame. Copper and brass have a higher melting temperature so you want to focus your flame on those pieces and avoid the sterling silver so you don't melt it. I use the Smith torch purchased from Cyberweld. This is where my teacher referred me to purchase mine in case you are in the market for one. NOTE: Soldering is a technique you have to practice to master. It takes time and patience, so don't be too hard on yourself if you are having difficulty. I know I struggled for a long time. If you want to learn I recommend taking a metalsmith class, or find a mentor to teach you the basics. If you have specific questions feel free to contact me and I will try to help! Also if you haven't discovered Nancy Hamilton you are in for a treat! She is so much fun to learn from. Here is a youtube video from her on soldering basics.

Here is the front of the pieces after pickling. You can see the solder flowed through in some areas. The back is a hot mess, as you can see in the below pics.

Step eight

Place paper shape onto metal and mark with sharpie. Then cut out with jewelers saw.

Step nine

 Sand edges with a belt sander or a bastard file.
Here is my sander from Harbor Freight. Again, a major time saver, and you can't beat the price. I hate filing and will avoid it at all costs.

Next, place the piece on top of the other and line up. Mark with sharpie and then saw out with jewelers saw.

Final finishing techniques

Ok, here are the two pieces. One is the front, and one the back. Yucky solder flow right? The next steps are all finishing techniques. So for my next post, which is scheduled for this Wednesday, I will show how I got the pieces to look like the above earrings! Plus some awesome techniques to speed up your finishing.

Here are some other designs utilizing the above technique.

My first pair of earrings finished in class.

For this necklace I used a lentil bead from Heather Powers of Humblebeads. I fell in love when I first saw it! 

 She was inspired by the Vincent Van Gogh Sunflower painting below. 

I used the "marriage of metals" technique and combined brass and bronze to form the vase. I then soldered it to a solid copper backing.

I love this technique and feel the design options are endless. So what do you think? Is it something that you might want to try? I would love to hear your thoughts!

TOOLS & MATERIALS
Torch                                                            
pickle pot
solder, medium
flux
different sheet metals
geometric shapes on paper
sandpaper, various grits
permanent sharpie, fine tip
jewelers saw
Photoshop or similiar program
paper
Sheet metals
triangle
metal ruler
sander or bastard file
metal shear
flat soldering surface
safety goggles
dust mask