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!!!!!

Follow Up: Steel Clay

by Staci Louise Smith

I did a post on my playtime with steel clay not long ago.  You can read that here

http://lovemyartjewelry.blogspot.com/2015/12/steel-clay-peek-into-my-playtime-with.html

I had purchased some back in August, but then realized my kiln wasn't hot enough to fire it.  I finally got around to playing with it near the end of the year, and realized, wow, it really rusts quite easily.  To be expected of course, it's steel.

This is the follow up post to see how the sealer holds us- and see how the steel rusts, or doesn't.  I am pretty nutty when it comes to making sure things stay the way I make them, either with or without a patina.  So, sealing things is a really important step to me, and hopefully should be for anyone who works with things that rust, or have a patina on them, ect...

So, this first picture is actually two pieces, that I clean up with the a sanding pad.  They were NOT sealed at all.  I sprayed some water on them each day for a week and just let them sit for a few weeks.  This is all the rust they got.  Not too bad really.

The other pieces got sealed with Clear Guard (you can find that at Sculpt Nouveau).  I did 2 coats of that on each side, AND just to be sure, I waxed them with Renaissance Wax as well.  

After that, I took a few pieces and also sprayed them with water on and off for a week.  The only thing that happened was this, a tiny speck here and there rusted.  All I can think is those spots got missed with sealer or something.

You can see the piece on the right, on the lower right corner has a bit of rust.

It was cold when I went outside to seal them, and there is a good possibility that they overlapped a bit and I was bringing them in and out to spray and then to dry.  

Anyhow, I am really liking the steel a lot and plan to sell some tomorrow during my little Facebook bead update.  They are light, and have a great antique pewter look to them.  

I can't wait to make more!  

Have any of you played with the steel clays?  What have you found that you like / dislike about them?