Got My Metal Smithing Table Back!

I have not had access to my meta smithing space for about 9 months.  I had an unexpected "guest" take over my work space. ( My work spaces are divided into separate areas, so there isn't any cross contamination).  My son (who's room is very small) decided he needed to move the cage to the basement.  Unfortunately, my work table was the only flat surface that was big enough and stable enough to put the cage on.  I finally got enough space cleared that I could move the cage and reclaim my space.  I am very excited to be getting back into the metal smithing!

Here is the culprit. Pretty, isn't he?

Holiday Sale Extended

Wow, it sure has been super busy at my house since Thanksgiving! We had a great meal and family get together, I hope all of you had the same. I think that was the least tense Thanksgiving in years lol, no bickering going on at all. I think everyone was just too stuffed! I hope everyone is ready for Christmas! No? Me neither lol and we are celebrating with my side of the family on Sunday ( oh my gosh I have 5 days, eek, I hope I get everything done in time!)

I have decided to extend my sale in my artfire shop until the 1st of the year. 10% off everything in my shop using coupon code Holidays1. I can't get anymore custom orders like the rings and some of the pendants done in time for Christmas though.

I sincerely wish each and every one a fabulous Christmas, with lots of love and joy, and happy, prosperous New Year!

Holiday Sale Starts

I am having a holiday sale starting Thanksgiving day and running until the 13th of December. Everything in my Artfire studio is on sale for 10% off. Enter the coupon code Holidays at check out and the 10% off will be taken off. Please note that if you want a custom order, I am currently at two weeks and my last day for Christmas shipping via first class mail is December 14th. After that I don't know if it will make it in time without a shipping upgrade or not. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving if you are in the United States and that everyone has a wonderful holiday season no matter what part of the world you are in!

P.S. The coupon code won't be valid until Thursday!

Things Have Been Crazy!

Things have been a little crazy at my house lately. I am getting that "I really need a break" feeling lol! My oldest (19) just left for a trip to Tahiti which kind of freaked me out a bit lol! Its not a vacation but a research trip for a college biology class. (Ya I know, if you have to work, you might as well do it in Tahiti lol). This was his first time flying and his first time out of the country so it was a little hard on mom! However I am so glad that he has the opportunity to do something like this! He will be back in a couiple of weeks.

My youngest (almost 16) is learning to drive. I have to say I was a lot more nervous with her than I was with my son (because I know both of my children very well lol!) and I have been very pleasantly surprised by how well she is doing! Still nerve wracking but not nearly as bad as I expected!

Summertime is always busy with all the added outdoor activities (since its only nice around here for about 5 to 6 months of the year we have to sqeeze all the fun stuff into that time lol). I am also working on REALLY cleaning out the house, all the STUFF that has accumulated over the years that we don't use needs to go! And working a day job and finding time to make new pieces on top of all of this is proving to be difficult. Not to mention doing a semi regular blog post.

I am working on a whole new technique and am really loving it (in what little time I can squeeze out lol). I have taken up metal etching and am beyond thrilled that I can now combine my love of metal and jewelry making with my love of drawing. AND I can also use this combined with bezel setting my cabs etc so its really the best of both worlds. I am sooo excited lol!

Why I Like to Play With Fire

Actually there are a lot of reasons why I like to play with fire. I have always had a fascination with flames (feel free to insert pyro here lol), I was the kid who was always adding more sticks to the fire, can I help you light it Daddy, etc.! The play of colors in the fire pit, the way the flames dance and change color are fascinating to me to this day. And I still am the person who tends the fire when we gather around the fire pit in the summer. It also brings people together, we all gather round the fire, watch the flames and socialize, grateful for the warmth as the sun starts to go down.

You can imagine my excitement when I found out about metal work! Wow I can play with fire inside the house (mind you, my husband made it abundantly clear that this was going to take place downstairs with the appropriate safety measured etc. and NOT by the living room curtains!) and I can actually use it to MAKE something beautiful and wearable (instead of a small pile of ashes at the end of a night around the fire pit).

Once I started learning (and you REALLY don't want to know how many pieces I have melted lol) and playing and trying things I only became more fascinated. The fire not only melts things, but it attaches pieces of metal together, and it makes the most beautiful color changes occur when applied to said metal correctly (see the part about melting lol). With the flame I can meld my love of lapidary (rocks) and my love of metal and flame and begin to create a piece from scratch with no purchased components. I am looking forward to many more years of playing with fire and hope that my skill and imagination will continue to grow and make many more beautiful and wearable pieces.

Spring Give Away!

So spring is right around the corner and Ohio got a little taste of it over the weekend (including heavy downpours lol). It was such a nice change from icy winds, lots of snow and gloomy gray skies. In fact it put me in such a good mood I decided to do a give away of my own. I will be giving away my Vintage Glass Sky Blue Cat's Eye Sterling Silver Ring. I will make this in your size if you win. (sizes 4 to 15 available and it will take a week or two for me to mail since it will be custom sized for you).

The rules are simple. Go to either my 1000Markets shop or my Artfire shop and choose the item that you like the best and then leave your pick in the comments along with a way to reach you if you win. Also please leave your ring size in the comments. The winner will be chosen by random.org on Sunday March 15th 2009.

"Lovely vintage blue cats eye glass cabochon set in a fine silver bezel with a sterling silver hammered band. This ring is oxidized to give it a lovely aged finish."

Have fun and good luck! If you decide to make a purchase during this give away simply put Spring Blog Giveaway in the notes to seller and I will refund 10% of the price.

New Shop

So I have opened a new shop on etsy named Silver River Metal (silverrivermetal.etsy.com). I struggled with this a little bit since I already have two shops on etsy, silverriverjewelry.etsy.com and silverriverstitches.etsy.com. I am expanding my skills in the metal smithing area and truth be told I love it! It meshes better with my addiction to lapidary (rocks) than the wire wrapping does and broadens my horizans by leaps and bounds. The lapidary addiction comes from taking and ugly rock out of the ground and turning it into something gorgeous and wearable. It's like a treasure hunt and you never know what you are going to get when you open that rock up, slab it, trim, grind it and polish it. Plus I find the whole process very relaxing. Weird I know lol! The metal work just compliments the stone work. I don't have to stress about finding the perfect setting, I can make my own. (I haven't achieved perfection yet lol, in fact I am perfecting melting bezels into small balls of silver more than I am anything but it is improving.) Plus I really like playing with fire, at least this way I am using that for a useful purpose! While I am not giving up the wire wrapping and beading, I will be shifting my purpose more toward the metal work at this point. As you can see there is a big difference in the two styles. Should be interesting to see where it will go.

Next Round of Etsy Artists

Sorry it took so long, it has been really nuts around my house. (See previous post to see why!). Everyone comes to my house for Thanksgiving also so I need to clean and cook and ..... I have called my daughter off of school tomorrow to help ( she is fourteen). She asked to stay home and help cook and since she is a 4.0 student and has only missed one day I said yes. (and I really need the help). So anyway here are two more of my favorite Etsy artists with some really unique and fun things.

HIPHOSTAGE

Donna has some really cool vintage items in her shop. I don't know a whole lot about vintage but I keep going back to check and see if she has made any other great finds! Donna has done some selling on the other e site (whose name shall not be mentioned lol!) and has decided that Etsy has some unique features and that she would give it a try. She is also a member of the CASTTEAM (Christian Artist Street Team) and Etsy Believers. Not only does she have super cool items in her shop, she is a great person too. I have never seen a negative post from her in the forums (mind you this can be difficult to do some days!) and she is always encouraging. Check out her shop for some great items!

STEREOETTE

Joi is originally from Texas and currently in New York with some really unique things. She makes jewelry, sews clothing, makes bags, fuses glass and screen prints cards and fabric. In her spare time. I found her items to be unique and interesting and I have never seen anyone meld acrylic with metal in the way that she does. Very cool! If you are looking for something unique and different and just a little bit quirky then her shop is the one you want to check out!
I also have to mention that she is one of the people who generously shared some information on beginning metal smithing with me that was very helpful and saved me a good bit of time and money in my search for what I needed to get started. Not everyone is willing to take the extra time to help out a beginner. So thanks Joi!

Metal Weaving

Well I wanted to share a new technique that I learned last week at my local labidary club. I took a class on metal weaving (yes just like weaving with wool with a few adjustments I imagine, I don't know how to weave with yarn or wool). I thought the end result was quite nice and now have a head full of plans to adapt, change and challenge myself to come up with new designs using this technique.

As you can see you do need some type of vise to hold the ends firmly in place. I use masking tape to protect the wire from being damaged by the vise. You also need to tape the wires at the bottom in order to keep them together and to mark which side is the front. Because you have to lower the pattern into the vice at least every other time you weave it is important to know which way is the front and which is the back. (trust me on this I am speaking from experience. While you can make an interesting pattern by swithching front to back if you aren't doing it on purpose it is a disaster!)

So once you get to the desired length you cut off the ends and take your frame wire and attach them together with more wire. This can be kind of tricky and does take some practice. Not too tight and not too loose. I will be practicng this with copper and plated metals until I have the technique down well. I actually find the

weaving part to be the easiest of the entire design. So from this point it is just a matter of wrapping and forming into the actual bracelet shape. You can of course make or attach any type of clasp that you wish. All in all it was two, well-spent Saturday mornings to learn this technique. It took about three hours to do the actual weaving and another three to finish it completely. I am hoping that with experience I will get just a wee bit quicker at it. I would also like to come up with some ways to embelish and play with it. Well that's it for now.

I will be posting another blog on some more of my favorite Etsy artists later this week and hopefully will have an update on our puppies (who haven't arrived yet by the way)