Just Catching You Up On Some of My Jewelry Creations

I’m WAY behind in showing you the new creations.

Let’s start with one from the Ancient Artifact line. I saw a rough sketch of a piece of jewelry found in Szilágysomlyó, Transylvania in Romania. It was quite old and inspired me to take a flight of fancy and create something that could have belonged to Elizabeth Bathory (Bathory family owned the property where the original jewelry was dug up).

Elizabeth Bathory is believed by some to be the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Anyway, I made a few of these “caged” stone necklaces…







Made another Swarovski crystal cuff bracelet, but due to the fact that I can’t get the sparkle to show in photographs, I’m going to lay off any new crystal creations for my online shop and only sell them in person. They really look SO different in person.



Every once in a while I feel the need for some simple wire-wrapping. Made two pair (the Pyrite ones sold right away). This pair is Lapis, Aventurine, and Prasiolite.



And still having fun with creations inspired by ancient jewelry, here’s a pair of silver and gold earrings that was my take on a pair excavated in Bulgaria. The original earrings featured a Serbian coin where I have chosen a plain disk that reminded me of a battle shield.



Coming up, experiments in Etching and Sgraffito Enameling.

Learning to Etch Sterling Silver

Etching sterling silver for the first time. A few things to purchse and a lot to learn.

Had to order silver nitrate (ground shipping only), stole one of the cats’ stainless steel food bowls (don’t worry; they won’t get it back), picked up coffee filters, aluminum wire, and more protective gloves.

I cut my 2-inch square out of the only piece of silver sheet I have then decided to experiment on a bead-cap size silver disk first.

The problem arose instantly… black gunk coming out of the etching project and blocking the connection of electricity to silver disk. My aluminum wire, apparently.

So I have to wonder… is my wire not really solid aluminum (although the package just states “aluminum” so I think that’s what it is) or is aluminum NOT the best conductor when using silver nitrate?

Small flat disk came out okay so I domed it and am awaiting a round of patinization.

Took the leap and tried the larger silver square next. Taped and nail-polished over most of the aluminum wire for minimal gunkitude.

The silver, however, still makes quite the mess on the face of the piece as it’s etching. Enough to interfere with the etching process. Not sure what if anything can be done about that. I took the piece out and rinsed it twice, but there still seemed to be stuff adhering to the places I wanted etched. So then I took a brush to it and (as expected) some of the resist started coming off. At that point I decided a shallow etch was better than a crappy etch (my silver sheet is only 26 gauge anyway so maybe shallow is best all around).

Cleaned the piece up and see some pitting where the more solid places of resist were (PNP) so will go over those areas with nail polish next time.

Won’t really be able to form an opinion until I file and patina these guys.

So for my special project I have the same design in copper (and one in reverse on copper), one in bronze, and one in sterling.

Since this is a design I was commissioned to make for a company, I’m not sure I can show you photos of the finished products, but I can show you the bead cap (after I patina it).

Well, have to try to get to bed now… long day tomorrow (driving to San Jose rink and back).

Update on Enameling Project... and Wildlife Distractions

Back in May, I did an experiment with translucent enamels on textured pure silver. I made the flawed pendant (the silver was broken at the top) into a pendant that I wore without removing for a at least a month.

Just noticed today that some of enamel has come off.



I’m going to agree with my good friend Patty and say it is most likely a case of me not cleaning the piece well enough before enameling.

The piece is small (maybe an inch tall) and counter-enameled on the back. This was sifted enamel and torch fired. Probably only one layer.

Alas, my enameling experiments won’t continue for a few weeks now as I am working on a commissioned project.

As I work on this and other projects, I’m more clearly defining this mythical book I am writing. Well, the current writing part is not mythical… just the idea that I will one day publish it. I *plan* to, but it’s a long time in the making and we’ll just take it one day at a time with no promise of its end date.

What is it about? Kind of everything Laura knows about and works on. Aside from photo tutorials on lots of techniques (etching, Viking knit, torch enameling, patina, bead weaving, etc), I am including little bits of info along the way about storage, purchasing, testing, designing, etc.

The wildlife (such as it is) continues to entertain me. The fox has turned into four foxes and don’t seem nocturnal at all. Things I have learned about foxes this year. They growl and they climb trees.

I think this is the mom…



And these are the babies…



When it gets really hot, they seem to enjoy drinking the cats’ water…



We leave them alone, and so far they’ve left us alone. I caught one of the pups trying to play with one of the cats, but it happened to be the same day the deer were in the yard and the deer went after the cat which broke up the cat and fox game, thank goodness.

Here’s one of the baby deer in the driveway…



Well, that’s it for tonight. I’ve been busy with the kids this past month… helping them to get situation with hockey and school (still some situating to be done, but we’re getting there). Learning a lot about the college system… trial by fire mostly, I’m afraid.

But we’re taking things one day at a time and so far so good.

With a little luck, I’ll be back tomorrow to show you a few of my latest creations.

New Pieces in Cold Enamel and Resin

Took some time off to get my assistant up and running (listing supplies I no longer need or simply have too much of). Those items, btw, are in my Etsy store if you’re interested.

Taking care of lots of other odds and ends, but now starting to go stir-crazy for some jewelry making.

Did a little experimenting with resin…


And then resin and enamels…


And other odds and ends…


Made one ancient Egyptian-style necklace that’s actually listed for $9.99 at the moment…


I’ll keep you posted with any of my upcoming experiments.

Continued Experiments in Enameling

I do the counter-enamel first, using a torch (it’s just easier).



Normally, I like to torch until the enamel is smooth (past the sugar stage, past the orange peel stage). But my logic for not taking it to the smooth stage for these counter-enamels was that if my piece is going into the kiln anyway… and this already enameled side is facing the hottest part of the kiln… then I don’t need to take the first enameling (flux… aka clear counter-enamel base coat) to the “smooth” stage. I can leave it somewhere between the sugar and orange peel stages since it’s going to get fired again when I put the piece into the kiln for the front enamel coats.

These are today’s test pieces after counter-enameling (you’re looking at the backs of the charms; they have one coat of flux on them).



You see more solder on some than others because I was trying out different ways of soldering.

These are the fronts of those same pieces. This is after firing (and after cooling). This is what the direct flame did to unprotected copper.



And the same fronts after I cleaned them (you have to clean the metal before you enamel it… and that includes cleaning between stages of enameling.



BTW, here are my handy (and well-labeled) mist bottles. I go through gallons of distilled water in my workshop. But you don’t want to get your distilled water mixed up with your KlyrFire.



So I took test pieces 1 and 2 and added some cloisonné wire as well as a couple balled up fine silver things. It was going to be three fine silver balls but one of them dropped into the Blu-Stic and sank to the bottom immediately.



I didn’t know some of my test pieces had pitted flux. These pieces are 17mm in diameter (about dime sized) and my close-up vision isn’t what it used to be. It wasn’t until I saw the photo close-up that I noticed the pitting. Otherwise I might have put another coat of flux on there.

I brushed the flux onto the fronts of my first two test pieces today and sifted it onto the second two.

But this brings me to another issue I need to solve. I am SO not mastering the use of KlyrFire. I realize I can’t work on flat pieces my whole life, but look at the result of brushed on KlyrFire and then sifting.



Sorry for the mega-sized photo, but I wanted you to see what it is I’m talking about. Why does it CLUMP up like snow? Bare patches, fat patches… I’d like to wonder if 80-mesh is just too fat, but it’s more likely USER error than materials error.

Anyway, here’s my first “wet-pack”.



I’m not sure how one is supposed to achieve a thin layer when wet-packing, but it’s definitely something I’ll have to practice.

And this is after firing that first layer of enamel.



And after firing with a second layer of enamel.



Here is test piece #2, after the first layer and then after the second layer as well as initial grinding down of the cloisonné wire.





I think I’m discovering that it’s infinitely easier to experiment with flat pieces rather than domed pieced. But I domed all my test pieces, so I’ll just forge ahead.

For my large piece (test piece 4), I really should have made a bigger nichrome holder, but I was impatient and just used the little one. The nichrome was touching the counter-enamel so stuck a bit (normally, the wire holder just touches the outer most edges of the piece, so no fusing of glass to nichrome wires).

And apparently I AM forced to build a new wire-holder thing in the middle of my enameling today because… duh!... the enamel that stuck to the wire when I fired my big piece… is still on the nichrome wire and thus sticking to other things (like my tweezers) when heated up.

I admit I’m not thrilled with the idea of heating nickel (which is what nichrome has in it), y’know what with the fumes and all. By that logic, however, maybe I’m not so thrilled with toasters either.

Anyway I had a thought/idea. When I torch enamel, I use a steel screen (see first photo). What if I took one of my torching screens and cut and shaped it as a trivet for my beehive? It’s worth a try.

Okay, cutting didn’t work, but freeing one of the wires from the mesh was all I needed.

Much sturdier (sorry, I didn’t get a picture… maybe next time).

This is as far as I got today. Tomorrow I’ll finishing enameling the second two test pieces and try to learn how to grind off the tops of the pieces so the cloisonné wires aren’t sticking out above the enamel and to clean off the bits of enamel that got onto my silver frames.

It doesn’t seem like much was accomplished, but that’s beginner’s enameling for you, I guess.

I’ll leave you with a photo I took the other night as the sun was setting and lighting up the sides of the Eucalyptus trees. It reminded me of a Maxfield Parrish painting so I grabbed my camera and voila!